Anyone here use Xero?

[eek]

I use FreeAgent for my Ltd, and Xero for a Community Interest Company I'm a director of (and have used things like Sage and others in past)

I find FA straightforward and easy, it's got a few rough edges and limitations that annoy me from time to time but mostly it's OK

I dislike Xero with vengeance and dread having to update the CICs books even though they're simpler than my Ltds - everything seems way more complicated than it needs to be, that might be because it's aimed at larger Cos than the CIC but even then I can see ways the UI could make things so much easier.

Of course this isn't an objective assessment and YMMV

Got to say my reaction to Xero when I looked at it in the past was this is way more complex than it needs to be.

What comes of targeting a world audience and not caring that much about localizations...

[Andy2022]

I use FreeAgent for my Ltd, and Xero for a Community Interest Company I'm a director of (and have used things like Sage and others in past)

I find FA straightforward and easy, it's got a few rough edges and limitations that annoy me from time to time but mostly it's OK

I dislike Xero with vengeance and dread having to update the CICs books even though they're simpler than my Ltds - everything seems way more complicated than it needs to be, that might be because it's aimed at larger Cos than the CIC but even then I can see ways the UI could make things so much easier.

Of course this isn't an objective assessment and YMMV

[Maslins]

As we've grown from 2 people to have ~10 people on payroll they basically want to switch us from their "basic Ltd" package which uses FA as standard, to their "small business" package for which they use Xero and includes payroll. Effectively they want to transition us to the 'grown up' package which seems somewhat reasonable we're not the only one using different software. We plan to ask them about how this affects us but in the main, they do nearly everything anyway apart from us reviewing transactions.

That seems fair enough then. FreeAgent does aim at the micro business, and it works brilliantly for that.

If you grow (and at 10 staff you're already beyond FreeAgent's target market), there will be pain points. Sounds like possibly you've not experienced any personally yet, but perhaps your accountant has.

It sounds like you're fairly hands off in terms of bookkeeping etc, so I'm unsure what you personally do on FreeAgent. Just review balance sheet/P&L occasionally? You'll be able to still do those easily. Indeed another thing I'm hoping to get from Xero that FreeAgent doesn't cater well to is fancier reporting, potentially via 3rd party app integrations.

[ladymuck]

As a side note, I just had a nosy around their website.

Fees seem a little high to me!

Multiple Currenciews not supported unless you use the premium version at £33 per month, + another £5 for payroll +£2.50 for expenses + £5 to track projects?

They like an add on sale don't they!

I only pay for the basic module plus payroll. It was cheaper than Sage when I took it out but with the recent price hike I'm not so sure.

I trialled Projects for a while (on a discount) but it assumes that everyone works on an hourly rate (no option to select daily or hourly) and doesn't tell you what's left to invoice against a project budget, only what you have invoiced. I did also use Expenses for a while but, to be honest, it added no value. I can just as easily raise a 'Bill to pay', which is where expenses end up anyway once you've processed them. Maybe it would have nicely tracked mileage for me but it's not something I need to claim regularly enough to care about paying a fiver a month for.

[d000hg]

TBH if the only reason you're considering switching to Xero is your accountant is pushing you (ie you can't see any benefits), I'd fight against it if I were you. Lots of upheaval, learning new things...what's in it for you?

As we've grown from 2 people to have ~10 people on payroll they basically want to switch us from their "basic Ltd" package which uses FA as standard, to their "small business" package for which they use Xero and includes payroll. Effectively they want to transition us to the 'grown up' package which seems somewhat reasonable we're not the only one using different software. We plan to ask them about how this affects us but in the main, they do nearly everything anyway apart from us reviewing transactions.

[Maslins]

I more mean the transition between software as a user - I assume the accountant will handle any data migration although that's another question to raise, whether that will happen for historical data.

How do you find it as a tool once it is configured?

Your accountant may well help with opening trial balance. That's not the same as importing lots of separate transactions. I'm currently trying to do the latter (I'm obvs not an IT whizz) and it's not easy.

As a user, too early to tell. Inevitably I know my way around FreeAgent very well. Things have different names/are in different places on Xero. I'm sure I'll be able to do most things, will just take longer in the short term.

TBH if the only reason you're considering switching to Xero is your accountant is pushing you (ie you can't see any benefits), I'd fight against it if I were you. Lots of upheaval, learning new things...what's in it for you?

We're doing it due to lack of FreeAgent integration we need, and reality being our situation is v niche for FreeAgent users, hence v low on their developer roadmap to improve.

[Bodger]

As a side note, I just had a nosy around their website.

Fees seem a little high to me!

Multiple Currenciews not supported unless you use the premium version at £33 per month, + another £5 for payroll +£2.50 for expenses + £5 to track projects?

They like an add on sale don't they!

[ladymuck]

I more mean the transition between software as a user - I assume the accountant will handle any data migration although that's another question to raise, whether that will happen for historical data.

How do you find it as a tool once it is configured?

It's crashed a lot recently. Some aspects are completely non-intuitive. Despite being told otherwise by their sales chap, it doesn't do a year end journal to zero out the P&L when you close your year end. Sage dropped that when they moved from desktop to online as apparently small business owners don't care about that and it seems that Xero feel the same but sales don't know how their product works.

The dashboard is reasonably good once you chuck out all the default stuff and rearrange it. Sadly PAYE and VAT are too difficult to display the status of so I have to flag them as 'tracked accounts' to see them. I fail to understand why they can't show me key dates for PAYE and VAT with any balances due by taking the values from their payroll and VAT modules. It's a common question that has come up on the 'request a feature' area and it would seem that it's in the 'too hard' bucket.

It's took a good six months of regular use to feel comfortable with it so prepare to be frustrated. Even as the admin for my own company, I had to separately enable extra admin functions in order to do basic things like manage fixed assets. That took a good couple of hours of trying to decrypt their help pages.

That said, if I had moved to FA or Quickbooks, I'd still find it a frustrating experience. I trialled loads but it's hard to fully assess in 30 days.

[ladymuck]

I use Xero.

I was previously on Sage One (as it then was) after moving off desktop applications (MYOB then Sage if you really want to know).

There is a 'movemybooks' tool/utility/service that accountants can use to migrate data from some online accounting systems but I took the lazy route and simply entered the previous financial years' trial balance as my opening balances. I exported as CSVs all my Sage data for historical reference.

I am tempted to figure out a way to import all the Sage One data but I'd need to be on the bench for long enough to get that bored.

[Guy Incognito]

I use it. No experience of Free Agent but I find Xero easy to use.

I can imagine the data migration will be a nightmare though tbh. I would never switch from one to the other, not worth the hassle.

[d000hg]

It's extremely early days for us on Xero (we may not even stick with it), but I can confirm the transition isn't slick, unless you're prepared to pay a fair whack for a third party to import data. If you align it with a year end nicely, perhaps less of an issue.

I more mean the transition between software as a user - I assume the accountant will handle any data migration although that's another question to raise, whether that will happen for historical data.

How do you find it as a tool once it is configured?

[Maslins]

Coincidentally I'm in the process of attempting to set up Xero for our own Maslins bookkeeping. I still think FreeAgent's way better for a one person contracting company...but we're not that. Main reason I'm toying with switching is better integrations to help us allocate lots of bank receipts against lots of invoices.

It's extremely early days for us on Xero (we may not even stick with it), but I can confirm the transition isn't slick, unless you're prepared to pay a fair whack for a third party to import data. If you align it with a year end nicely, perhaps less of an issue.

[Lance]

I'm not sure if many contractors use Xero as I get the impression that while it and FreeAgent are both suitable for small businesses, FA has an edge for 1-man bands? Our non-contracting business uses FA but our accountant wants to switch to Xero and I just wondered what that transition is like, if anyone has switched.

I trialed it a few years ago and it was crap for FRS VAT. That's no longer relevant now.
It's a small business accounts package. Too big for a one-man band IMO. Even one that has multiple customers and revenue streams.
If you have a more product based offering I think it's better, but for pure T&M and a contractor it's just a pain in the arse to use.

[d000hg]

I'm not sure if many contractors use Xero as I get the impression that while it and FreeAgent are both suitable for small businesses, FA has an edge for 1-man bands? Our non-contracting business uses FA but our accountant wants to switch to Xero and I just wondered what that transition is like, if anyone has switched.