Uploaded October 12, 2016
Sep 13, 2016
“Xero (NZE:XRO), a Software as a Service (SaaS) firm that develops cloud-based accounting software for small businesses, recently unveiled Xero HQ — a new open practice platform for accountants and bookkeepers that allows you and your staff to plan out work more efficiently and unlock your small business data and display it in a way that is as useful to you as it is to your customers.
New Xero HQ Platform
According to the online accounting and bookkeeping company, you can now more conveniently find out which clients had GST or VAT due to file, which clients had bank statement lines left un-reconciled, when you were assigned Workpapers, who has tax to pay, who hasn’t paid their tax, and much more with Xero HQ.
You don’t have to dig deep into your clients’ Xero file on a regular basis and painstakingly review each client’s needs manually when planning your work anymore, writes Neill Fraser, a product manager and Partner Specialist at Xero, in a post announcing the new open practice platform on the official Xero blog.
“A lot has changed in the accounting profession in the past decade,” Fraser says. “There’s now better technology, better integration, and for accounting and bookkeeping practices — more opportunity than ever.” The “game-changing” Xero HQ will help you know “what to do and when to do it,” he added.
Key Features of Xero HQ
The New Zealand-based accounting and bookkeeping software company that boasts more than 717,000 subscribers lists the following as key features of Xero HQ:
- Activity feed – Prioritize your work using the activity feed to see which clients need actions and when. Remove the actions you don’t want to see and setup custom actions for others.
- Client list – View a list of all of your clients. Create new Xero organizations for clients not already on Xero. Easily search for clients and view all their contact information in one place.
- Explorer – Drill into your clients based on their industry, apps, or banking partners they use. Gain better insight into how your clients work and use this to help upskill your practice and build better relationships in the Xero ecosystem.
- Reporting – Xero renowned report templates functionality is still available and will work just the same as it did within My Xero Partner Edition.
- Advisor Directory – For practice administrators; get leads with great marketing by keeping your listing updated on the Xero Advisor Directory with this improved administrative tool.
- Staff management – New tools include visibility over your staff’s certification status.
Xero HQ Connects You to Over 500 Accounting Industry Apps
As an open practice platform, Xero HQ will also allow accountants and bookkeepers to connect to the company’s ecosystem of over 500 apps and integrations, as well as selected Xero Practice App Partners to enable them access to industry apps that they want to use.
Additionally, with the Xero HQ Explorer feature, the company touted as a QuickBooks alternative says accountants, bookkeepers, small businesses and their advisors can also easily see which apps their clients are using, how they relate to the industries they’re in and their banking relationships, and use this information to increase their own knowledge in the apps that matter most to their clients.
“At Xero, we don’t believe you should have to use one software vendor to run your entire business. We also think that working together in partnerships we can deliver a far more efficient and flexible practice solution. Choice is good. Choice allows you to run your business the way you want, without being limited by the product capabilities of a single vendor,” Fraser writes in the announcement.
All Xero partners will have the opportunity to opt-in to the new Xero HQ platform that was reportedly built in response to feedback from Xero’s network of accounting partners and small business owners beginning in November. “In the interim, My Xero Partner Edition will continue to be available as we transition features into the new Xero HQ,” Fraser ads.”
Image: Xero