What should I expect from working with a Xero accountant?

9 Jun

For many small business owners, Xero sits somewhere between a helpful tool and a mild source of anxiety.

You know it’s doing useful things in the background. But you’re less sure whether everything’s set up correctly, whether your figures are 100% accurate, or whether the reports it creates reflect what’s really happening in your business.

That’s why the accountant behind the software matters. There’s a big difference between an accountant who dips into Xero only at year-end and one who works in Xero every day, across multiple businesses, in different industries.

This blog is for small business owners who already use Xero and want a clearer picture of what good looks like. If you’re wondering what an accountant who uses Xero every day can bring to your business, read on.

Migration and setup done right from day one

If you’ve moved to Xero from Sage or QuickBooks, or you’re considering it, the quality of the setup dictates everything that follows. Get it right, and it makes everything easier. Get it wrong, and you could end up spending months cleaning up problems that shouldn’t exist.

The things that can go wrong in a poorly implemented Xero migration include:

Opening balances that don’t match the final accounts from your previous system
A chart of accounts that hasn’t been restructured for Xero
VAT periods that don’t line up correctly
Bank feeds connected but not reconciled back to the switchover date
Old Invoices, Bills and Credits lingering around despite being paid ages ago

Any one of these can create significant extra work further down the line. Accountants with Xero Gold Partner status, like we have here at Progression Accountancy, have done this many times before. We know which migration steps get skipped most often, which data needs to be checked carefully, and how to configure your new Xero setup so it works for your business from day one, so you don’t have to keep tinkering with it.

Automation that’s configured properly

Xero has a lot of automation capability. When used well, automated bank rules, repeating invoices, payment reminders, capturing expenses and a raft of other useful features can save you hours each week and make your bookkeeping far more reliable. Used badly, they can introduce errors that can take months to unravel.

Having a bank rule switched on isn’t the same as having it set up in a way that suits your business. A rule that miscategorises a regular transaction will do so every time until someone checks. A repeating invoice sent to the wrong contact, or with the wrong VAT code, can create a recurring customer service problem.

As accountants who work in Xero every day, we’ve seen these mistakes often enough to know where to look. We’ll configure Xero’s automated features around how your business runs, rather than leaving everything on the default settings, which might not work the way you need them to.

When your automation is configured correctly, your reporting is based on accurate, trustworthy data. When it isn’t, your numbers might look fine until something goes wrong and you can’t work out why.

A chart of accounts that works for your business

Many small business owners accept the chart of accounts they were given at setup and never think about it again. It’s just there. It came with Xero, or their accountant set it up once, and it’s been ticking along ever since.

The problem is, a poorly structured chart of accounts can undermine everything else in Xero.

A well-structured chart of accounts does the opposite. It reflects how your business operates. Your income streams are separated clearly, your costs sit in the right places, and when you pull a report, the numbers are accurate.

Here at Progression, we review the chart of accounts with every new client as one of the first things we look at. It’s often where the most obvious issues are hiding and have accumulated over time to create a cluttered, unreliable picture of the business.

Getting your chart of accounts right makes every report that follows more useful and reduces the number of corrections you need when your accounts are finalised.

Apps and integrations that suit your business

Xero can connect with more than 1,000 third-party apps. That’s one of its strengths. But it’s also where a lack of experience with Xero can lead to problems.

The apps are easy to browse and easy to install. What’s less obvious is whether a particular app is right for your business, how to configure it properly, and whether it will save you time or create more admin than it solves.

Having your ePOS app sending your daily sales into Xero is amazing, until you find out you've been paying the wrong amount of VAT on them! We can configure this correctly from day one, and spot mapping errors before they cause a big problem.

As specialist Xero accountants, we’ve set up and reviewed these integrations across a wide range of businesses and industries. We can help you add tools for data capture, cash flow forecasting, inventory management and payroll, to help you get maximum value from your Xero setup.

Getting the right apps connected and configured properly ensures your systems talk to each other, your data flows into Xero without needing to be rekeyed, and your reporting is more complete.

Catching problems early

When we start working with a new client, messy Xero files are common, often because nobody was looking at the detail regularly enough to catch things as they happened.

Miscategorised expenses, unreconciled transactions, VAT codes applied incorrectly and out-of-date bank feeds can all build up without triggering any kind of alert in Xero. The system has no way of knowing they’re wrong. Left unaddressed, they can take time to unpick, and produce accounts that don’t reflect what happened in your business.

When you choose us as your accountant, we’ll catch these things early. Our quarterly reviews and ongoing bookkeeping, VAT and payroll support mean issues get spotted and fixed as we go, while they’re still manageable.

We also build in Xero training where it’s needed. If we spot something wrong, we’d rather show you how to handle it correctly than just fix it. Our goal is to ensure your Xero reflects your business accurately, month in, month out, so when year-end comes around, there are no surprises for anyone.

A relationship that makes you more independent

At Progression Accountancy, we’re here to help you feel confident running Xero day-to-day by yourself, not to keep you reliant on us for every query. When your Xero is set up correctly and you understand how to use it, you can spend less time sorting out avoidable errors and more time growing your business.

We don’t just do Xero setup and training. We also provide a full range of accounting and tax services, including year-end accounts, Self-Assessment, VAT and company tax returns, Companies House filing, and day-to-day support with your bookkeeping, bank reconciliation and payroll.

We’ll build a bespoke accounting and tax package based on what your business needs and what you’re looking to achieve. If you want us to do everything, we can. If you just need occasional support to make sure there’s nothing amiss in your accounts and everything in Xero is working as it should, we can do that, too.

So, if you’re not sure your Xero setup or your current accountant is delivering what you need, get in touch, and we’ll take a look at where things stand.