Reply to: xero or freeagent?

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

£350ish yearly just for accounting software is not a lot of money?

No, it’s not. If it saves me a day of my time vs not having the software then I’m already quids in.

[TonyF]

£350ish yearly just for accounting software is not a lot of money?

What's the opportunity cost?

[css_jay99]

Even if you're on a low-ish day rate (e.g. £300-400/day), £29/month or just less than £1/day is not "a lot of money".

£350ish yearly just for accounting software is not a lot of money?

[Fred Bloggs]

Even cheaper with a Nat West business bank account.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Free agent on its website £29+vat monthly. That's a lot of money assuming you are not using an accountant or you just need a accountant for a cursory glance at year end.

Even if you're on a low-ish day rate (e.g. £300-400/day), £29/month or just less than £1/day is not "a lot of money".

[css_jay99]

Free agent on its website £29+vat monthly. That's a lot of money assuming you are not using an accountant or you just need a accountant for a cursory glance at year end. similar sage offering admittedly more complicated (if not used accustomed to) works out cheaper

[The Procrastinator]

I've just recently signed up with FreeAgent (via my accountant) for my new solo ltd and it covers all the core requirements for contractors. XERO is nice but much more geared for SMBs and has a much broader functionality that may not be that useful, but can certainly be used by contractors. FreeAgent also as some handy features for IR35 calculations. Unless you have some specific requirements that relate to your business i dont think you can too far wrong with FreeAgent. Very easy to use, so far so good!

[Chart Accountancy]

Xero is more sophisticated software in terms of reporting functionality which could make it feel slightly more complex for a one person contractor company. FreeAgent is perfect for contractors as it offers everything for a contractor company. It terms of comparison, FreeAgent calculates an estimate of the corporation tax and also has the mileage rates,fuel rates synched with the HMRC rates. In Xero unfortunatelly, you would have to manually calculate this but nevertheless is still great software. As suggested, you can run trials on both and see which would win for you. It is also important to have an accountant who understands the software.

[Darren at Fox-Bartfield]

Freeagent

Excel is perfect for my needs still...

How are you managing Making Tax Digital when it comes online from next year? Manual submissions?

[vwdan]

Excel is perfect for my needs still...

What kind of point are you trying to make? Excel is not designed for running small company accounts, but FreeAgent is and it does it very well.

[kaiser78]

This.....

Xero is a nice piece of software but overkill for contractors.

Excel is perfect for my needs still...

[Darren at Fox-Bartfield]

Software

to me all that speaks is that it's cheaper for them to run freeagent than xero, either by how much work they need / don't need to do or how much the subscription costs them :-p

If it was a cost decision then wouldn't be either of these. The usability of Freeagent is much better than Xero, etc. From a cost perspective it's about mid-tier, especially with the discounts received.

[Darren at Fox-Bartfield]

Freeagent

Both are good. Both have strengths and weaknesses. FreeAgent is probably more suited to freelancers/contractors. Xero for small business.

This.....

Xero is a nice piece of software but overkill for contractors.

[pr1]

That's more because it's the standard offering of the accountants rather than by choice between the two. The fact FA is the choice of contractor specialist accountants speaks volumes though.

to me all that speaks is that it's cheaper for them to run freeagent than xero, either by how much work they need / don't need to do or how much the subscription costs them :-p

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Both are good. Both have strengths and weaknesses. FreeAgent is probably more suited to freelancers/contractors. Xero for small business.