Our Xero Hero has compiled her Top 5 time saving tips to help you get the most out of Xero in the most time efficient way.
1. Speed up the reconciliation process
While bank feeds automatically import transactions from your financial institution directly in your Xero file on a daily basis, eliminating the need to import transactions manually, setting up bank rules will speed up the time it takes to reconcile the frequently recurring (spend and receive money) transactions.
Once your bank rules are set up you can also use cash coding to reconcile hundreds of statement lines in seconds.
2. Repeating invoices and bills
If you have regular bills to pay or invoices to send, using Xero’s repeating invoices or bills feature will save time on data entry.
Set up a template and Xero will automatically create an invoice or template for you according to the specifications you have selected and drop it into the draft tab ( if needed to vary the amount monthly) or awaiting payment tab (if it’s the same every time).
3. Batch payments
ABA files can be downloaded from your posted pay run and uploaded into your internet banking to pay your employees in a batch payment to their nominated accounts. This is a safe and secure way to pay your employees while eliminating manual entry and prevent errors
You can also pay your suppliers in bulk with an ABA file. In Xero select multiple bills from different suppliers, create a batch payment file and upload to your internet banking.
This can reduce the risk of paying the wrong amount or supplier in error and increasing your efficiency.
4. Use Auto Super to make employee superannuation contributions
Not only will this save time manually processing superannuation through a clearing house, it will also ensure that your superannuation payments amount match your payroll and ensure that it is paid on time
5. Use Xero apps and add-ons
Xero have a large variety of time saving add on, apps and integrations. These are well worth investigating to what may be beneficial for your business https://apps.xero.com/au
Below is a snapshot of a few we would recommend:
Hubdoc is a data capture tool that can capture bills and receipts using any device. Once uploaded the key data is automatically extracted and ready to publish to Xero. This is currently included in the cost of starter, standard and premium plans (Oct 2020).
Xero expenses - If you own a business where you have a lot of employee expenses Xero expenses can help capture track and manage employee expenses by taking a snapshot of the receipt and Xero automates every step of the expense management process from data entry to reconciliation
Stripe makes it easy to accept payment for online invoices by accepting credit and debit cards. It has been shown Stripe helps you get paid faster and reconcile payments easily. Stripe processes all transactions for you, then pays out to your chosen bank account.
When a Stripe payout comes in through your bank feed, Xero will do the matching work for you. All the transactions in Xero tied to the statement line will be automatically matched against it.
You can also set recurring payments for repeat customers with auto pay in Xero.
The team at Cutcher & Neale are here to help, please get in touch if you would like further assistance.