Running a business comes with enough admin already. Chasing invoices, keeping receipts, reconciling transactions and preparing for tax all take time, time that could often be spent serving customers or growing your business.
That’s where accounting software like Xero can make a real difference.
The surprising thing is that many business owners only scratch the surface of what Xero can do. A few simple features can save hours each month, improve accuracy and give you a much clearer picture of your finances.
Here are seven ways to get more from Xero.
1. Connect Your Bank Feed
One of the biggest time-savers is connecting your bank account directly to Xero.
Instead of manually entering every transaction, your bank feed imports them automatically, making reconciliation much quicker and reducing the chance of errors.
Xero also includes tools such as automatic bank reconciliation, which uses AI to suggest matches for your bank transactions based on previous activity and bank rules. For businesses with lots of regular payments or income, this can significantly reduce the time spent reconciling accounts each week.
The result?
- Less data entry
- More accurate records
- Faster bookkeeping
- More up-to-date financial information
If you’re still entering transactions manually, this is one of the easiest improvements you can make.
2. Capture Receipts as You Go
How many receipts end up stuffed in a drawer or sitting in your wallet for months?
With the Xero app, you can simply take a photo of a receipt when you receive it and upload it straight into your accounts.
Not only does this reduce paperwork but it also makes expenses much easier to track throughout the year.
It’s particularly useful as businesses move towards Making Tax Digital, where keeping digital records is becoming increasingly important.
3. Automate Your Regular Invoices
If you invoice customers for the same amount every week or every month, there’s no need to create each invoice manually. Xero allows you to automate repeating invoices, helping you:
- Save time
- Reduce forgotten invoices
- Improve cash flow
- Keep everything running consistently
It’s a simple feature that can remove another recurring task from your to-do list.
4. See Your Business Performance in Real Time
Instead of waiting until year-end to understand how your business is performing, Xero gives you access to live financial information through its dashboard.
You can quickly see:
- Cash flow
- Money coming in
- Money going out
- Outstanding invoices
- Bank balances
Having that visibility makes it much easier to make informed decisions throughout the year.
5. Work More Easily With Your Accountant
One of the biggest benefits of cloud accounting is collaboration.
Both you and your accountant work from the same live data, there’s no need to email spreadsheets backwards and forwards or worry about whether you’re looking at the latest version.
There are also several behind-the-scenes tools within Xero, such as Cash Coding and Find & Recode, that help speed up bookkeeping and make managing large volumes of transactions much more efficient. While these are often used by accountants and bookkeepers, they ultimately save businesses time by making reviews, corrections and year-end processes quicker and more accurate.
At Venton, this means we can often answer questions more quickly, spot issues sooner and provide advice based on real-time information.
6. Get Ready for Making Tax Digital
Making Tax Digital is changing the way many sole traders and landlords report their income to HMRC, making digital record keeping more important than ever.
Xero has a dedicated Making Tax Digital for Income Tax area, making it straightforward to manage quarterly submissions and keep track of upcoming deadlines. Once your transactions have been entered and reconciled, the relevant information is pulled through into your quarterly updates, helping simplify the submission process.
If you’re unsure when MTD will apply to you, our team can help you understand the rollout, get your Xero account set up correctly and make sure you’re prepared well before the deadlines. We also have a helpful flow diagram to help you figure out when MTD applies to you HERE.
7. Spend Less Time on Admin
Ultimately, the biggest benefit of Xero isn’t the software itself. It’s the time you get back.
When your bookkeeping becomes more automated and your records stay up to date throughout the year, there’s less time spent chasing paperwork, correcting mistakes and rushing to prepare everything at year end.
That means more time to focus on your customers, your team and growing your business.
Getting the Most Out of Xero
Getting more from Xero doesn’t mean using every feature available. Making the most of the tools that suit your business can save time, improve accuracy and make day-to-day admin much easier.
The more you let Xero do the heavy lifting, the less time you spend on admin and the more time you have to focus on running your business.
If you’re already using Xero but feel like you’re only scratching the surface, or you’re considering moving across for the first time, we’d be happy to help.