Keeping your accounts in tip top condition is an important and essential part of your business but there are times when the constant demands of raising invoices, chasing payments and paying bills can totally distract you from the bigger tasks you want to be focusing your time on.
I LOVE Xero and find it really user friendly. I also think it has some great functions and tools that help to streamline and simplify the bookkeeping process - which ultimately saves time. Here are some of the functions of Xero that I use every day.
REPEATING INVOICES
Rather than setting yourself a reminder to send out your regular invoices, let Xero do it for you. Set up your regular weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual invoices to be sent out automatically - enter the invoice details and then simply choose the frequency, the start date (and end date if applicable) and due date - which leads nicely on to my next top tip which is creating automatic invoice reminders...
AUTOMATIC INVOICE REMINDERS
Nobody likes chasing payments but getting paid is essential part of your business - without it you wouldn't have one! Try setting up and tailoring some invoice reminder messages to be sent out at set intervals before or after the payment is due, to give your clients a gentle nudge!
XERO EMAIL ADDRESS
Utilise this function and it will streamline your bookkeeping process and ensure no bill gets missed. As soon as you receive a bill attachment by email, forward it to your Xero email address and it will appear in your Inbox ready to be entered. You can also upload attachments to your Inbox directly from your files. To find out your Xero email address go to your Organisation name > Files and you will see your email address in the top-right corner of your Inbox. Right-click > Copy > Save to Contacts. Go one step ahead and give your Xero email address to suppliers so that they can send their invoices directly to Xero.
FIND & RECODE
This Xero function means no more time consuming amends when you want to update a batch of transactions. For example if you want to amend the account code or tax rate on multiple transaction lines at once, you can run this tool and no longer need to search and amend one by one. Go to Accounting > Find & Recode to get started.
FAVOURITE REPORTS
Do you find yourself running the same reports on a regular basis? Then next time you do, click the star next to the report name and Xero will pin the report type to the Accounting drop-down menu.
UNRECONCILE
Made a mistake and reconciled a payment to the wrong bill? Don't panic! Simply find the incorrect transaction > Options > Unreconcile. When you go back to your Xero Dashboard to view items to reconcile, you will find the statement line has reappeared and is ready to be reconciled correctly!
BANK RULES
Save yourself time each day by setting up a combination of conditions which can be applied to the transactions imported from your bank feed so that money spent or received can be automatically reconciled. For example you can set up a Bank Rule that recognises a payee name or a reference and Xero will automatically create a transaction and reconcile. Go to Accounting > Bank Accounts > Bank Rules to create your rules.
I hope these simple bookkeeping top tips are helpful. If you still find yourself getting bogged down with your daily bookkeeping, then please contact me for further information on how I may be able to assist you. An hour a week might be all you need to get back in control. Flexible packages available - no minimum hours per month; as much or as little support as you need.
Ellie Lane
Fast Lane VA Ltd
E: ellie@fastlaneva.com
M: 07814 456740
