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Gidday

Hi Guys

My wife and I run a small business in Te Kauwhata (New Zealand) making Affordable Gourmet Foods. We've been using Xero for a year now ... and have been feeling very "ho hum" about it for some time now ... it is a very very basic accounting package.

I'm really pleased to have stumbled across this Forum ... we need to learn how to get more out of it.

Cheers

Tony

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Permalink Reply by Catherine (Xero) on May 12, 2011 at 5:42

We don't want the accounting activities to be too overwhelming to business owners who want to enter and largely manage their own finances so we're trying to strike a balance between good visibility of your business finances, daily business/accounting processes and full-on accountant-style activities - if there's anything you'd like to be able to do, or shortcomings you see - please feel free to share!

Thanks & regards, Catherine

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Permalink Reply by Tony on May 12, 2011 at 23:17

"We don't want the accounting activities to be too overwhelming."

This sounds more like a justification for a limited system rather than a reason why Xero lacks a lot of basic functionality. Over the past 6 months I have sent dozens of suggestions in to you, so I wont overwhelm you by republishing them all here.

I will express some of them in the hope there are simple work arounds.

a) Why is there a 6 step process to print an invoice?

b) Why no facility to generate a remittance advice or packing slip?

c) Can a purchase order system be included?

d) How come delivery addresses cannot be included?

e) Allow new invoices to default with more than 5 lines - and include functionality to insert a invoice line above an existing line.

f) We need a report that shows "Item Sales by Contact" so we can see who's buying which items and, just as importantly, who's not buying particular items.

g) Cashflow forecast (especially tied to a Purchase Order system) that includes regular payments and receipts would be an enormous help to relieve overwhelmed business owners. Managing Cashflow is one of the most important (and sleep depriving) things any small business owner faces ... way more important than things like depreciation or movements in equity.

I wont go on ... I'll just keep hoping that you guys will strike a better balance between business owners (who pay for everything) and accountants (who charge for everything).

Cheers

Tony

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Permalink Reply by Catherine (Xero) on May 13, 2011 at 2:53

Not a justification all, and it's with great feedback and requests from our customers that we gather everyone's opinion of what basic functionality is - we're trying to do everything but it has to be in the best logical, prioritised order that we can - so much to do & so many requests!

If you've sent these suggestions in, then rest assured they are logged and discussed and off the top of my head I know of all of them so your voice has not been lost. You'll have had responses from our Customer Support team already I'm sure but for the benefit of others reading this:

a) Shouldn't be 6 steps - typically 3 steps (add (from Dashboard), enter & approve, print) - but I can understand that depending on entry point & some of the other items you note it could stretch - I'll make sure this is passed on to the team.

b) Had this feedback, we're looking at it - I guess you mean customers? We're looking at supplier side too. For customers, the statement can be used to remind of amounts outstanding & contains a payment advice strip.

c) & d) Looking into these as well - for customers wanting purchase order/invoice workflow, a lot use our partners like Workflow Max or Freshbooks. The MS Word templates we introduced a while ago also give some powerful options and opportunity to use draft invoices to achieve a process feel - they can also be used to display a delivery address as explained in the comments on our invoice templates blog post.

e) Just had someone on Twitter the other day asking if invoices could default to just 1 line item! But the insert line item is a good suggestion and I know we've noted the suggestion before.

f) I know the report showing individual item sales lists contacts who've purchased the item but that's a good suggestion to expand it.

g) Definitely know this important and we're definitely thinking how we might best display/report on it.

Thanks again for letting us know what you'd like to see - we do have all of this in our mind and we're definitely not finished! This is a good forum and I know members have helped each other out with processes before so it's great you joined.

Catherine

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Permalink Reply by Rod on July 5, 2011 at 2:36

Hi Catherine

I refer to your response; c) & d).

You're wrong. Invoice templates, as it's presently implemented only affects the accounts receivable side. There is no option to select a "Branded" template when printing from the Accounts Payable screen. Users don't need any more BS Spin on the issue of PO's. The only option for now and forever is to use an add-on.

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Permalink Reply by Tony on July 5, 2011 at 4:28

Mate, you're right. Xero needs add-ons ... and each add on brings its own set of issues and challenges.

We had a business owners meeting last night, and there is a common misconception that Xero's actually a lot better than what it really is.

Tomorrow we begin testing our "bridge" .... that will allow our desktop system (InvoiceIt) to feed information into Xero. This will reduce Xero to an online cashbook ... which is essentially what it really is.

Cheers

Tony

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Permalink Reply by Catherine (Xero) on July 5, 2011 at 6:19

@Rod, apologies, my misunderstanding - I was referring to accounts receivable. You're right, branding not yet applied to payable invoices but it's a reasonable and fairly popular request so definitely on our radar.