The accounting software market has exploded.
There are more brands than ever before. There is a vast array of features and price tags to navigate through. And with all this variety, choosing the right accounting software for your bookkeeping business remains vital.
In our experience, here’s what bookkeepers want out of accounting software:
- Easy to use
- Capable of generating reports that everyone finds valuable
- Able to grow and flex with your bookkeeping business
When I started Fresh Financials back in 1999, we used the desktop version of QuickBooks. When moving over to a cloud-based model, my first instinct was to change to QuickBooks Online. This was short lived and we now use Xero exclusively.
This negative experience has resulted in three simple rules I would encourage you as a bookkeeper to follow when choosing your accounting software:
- Don’t choose based on familiarity: It’s a real trap (which many bookkeepers fall into) when you move from one SAGE or QuickBooks product to another simply because your prior experience leads you to think the online version will work in the same way.
- Don’t choose based upon price: As with most things in business and life, this choice will have the best results when you look far beyond the cash cost. Make your decision based upon efficiency and functionality.
- Don’t be influenced by whitelabeling: Choosing accounting software simply because you can whitelabel is not enough – because in my experience, your clients really don’t care. They care more about the functionality and useability.
So, why should bookkeepers choose Xero?
It’s quick to set up and easy to use. You can start using the software with as little as a bank account opening balance. It doesn’t need to be fully set up before you start using it, which is handy if you are on a tight timescale. Plus, you can become an Xero partner and take advantage of their free certification training and ongoing support.
You will save so much time. The bank reconciliation on Xero is like playing Snap. Using the cash coding option will power through bank transactions. You can set up bank rules to make it even easier. And that’s just the bank. Xero are regularly updating the software to make it faster to use; continually helping you to streamline your bookkeeping processes.
It will grow with your business. Just because you work at your kitchen table and you fit your jobs around the school run now doesn’t mean that will be the situation forever. Equally, just because you and your staff are happy to work on purely compliance tasks doesn’t mean that the advisory role is out of reach. Xero has six different options from ledgers to cash books through to multi-currency versions, so there is something to suit every client.
The Xero App ecosystem can transform the services you can offer to your clients. Forget the image of a bookkeeper being a data entry clerk. Now your clients can use ReceiptBank to send you their purchases electronically. You can use Futrli to provide your clients with dashboards that will update in real time. The opportunities are endless.
Clients will come to you. No really, they will. Xero spends about a gazillion pounds a year on marketing (give or take) so business owners are being prepped on what software they want to use and they’ll go looking for a bookkeeper who can use that software. Even as you read this, people are searching for bookkeepers in your area who use Xero.
It’s a community. From Fresh Bookkeepers to the Xero roadshows and XeroCon; the community of Xero accountants and bookkeepers are some of the friendliest people you are likely to meet.
If the accounting software choice sounds overwhelming….
You may be feeling torn. On the one hand, you have Xero, with all its capabilities – but on the other, you’re looking at the SAGE you were taught to use at college and the free to use Pandle.
There’s the Xero price tag to consider, too.
Don’t worry. That’s why we’ve set up Fresh Bookkeepers to help bookkeepers like you either make the switch, or start your business confident that you’ve made the right software choices. We’re here to support you on your journey, from choosing the right apps to suit your goals through to helping you to introduce the services you wish to offer to your clients.
We know that a change in software can also lead to a change in how you price your services. It can change how you market your business and the type of clients you’ll attract.
Your bookkeeping business should never be restricted by software, so you need to choose one that will help you to achieve your goals.
To get the right support on your bookkeeping journey, register your interest in Fresh Bookkeepers now.