Xero : 02/03/2021 - Xero News March 2021

Xero News March 2021

The latest in product, ecosystem, partnerships and business at Xero

What we've been working on

New matchmaking tool helps small businesses find the right expert

In recent weeks, we launched a new matchmaking tool to match small business owners with the right accountant or bookkeeper based on their industry, maturity and growth expertise from within the Advisor Directory.

The directory was originally built to help small businesses find a Xero certified accountant or bookkeeper in the same city or region. As the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way businesses and accounting and bookkeeping firms think about how and where they work, we have evolved the Advisor Directory to include a new matchmaking tool that makes it easier for small businesses to find the right advisor.

The new matchmaking tool lists individual advisors, and markets their unique expertise and skills to potential clients. By matching small businesses with the right accountant, not just the right firm, the directory is making it easier for accountants to build their practices, demonstrate their unique expertise, and focus on helping their clients grow.

It is the latest in a series of product launches that form Xero's next generation practice vision for accountants and bookkeepers to onboard, collaborate and manage client work in the cloud.

Find out more at the Advisor Directory

While businesses can still use the Advisor Directory to search by location, the new tool will give those who sign up a tailored list of potential individual advisors, curated by Xero's matchmaking algorithms.

Once connected, advisors can focus on providing small businesses with the professional advice they need to bolster their cash flow, build on new financial opportunities and find the right business and technology tools to operate effectively.

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We've made a number of other updates on the Xero platform over the past month, including:

Block invoices that exceed a credit limit

When multiple people are creating invoices, it can be hard to control the amount of credit extended to customers.

Our latest feature in credit limits automatically blocks someone from sending or approving an invoice, if the amount exceeds the credit limit for that contact (only available in new invoicing). If it's a repeating invoice, the blocked invoice will go to drafts instead.

Find expenses with new filtersSplit payments across multiple transactions

Businesses can now split payments across as many transactions as they like using the Xero Accounting App. When reconciling an invoice, Xero now applies the part payment amount automatically, edit and remove the payment amount, as well as choose how much they want to allocate to each transaction. This feature is available in both iOS and Android.

We've introduced new filters that make it easier to track claims in Xero Expenses. Businesses can now filter them by claim type, labels and employee to easily see where their money is spent. From there, they can click on the expense to see more detail, then either edit, approve or decline.

Claim JobMaker payments using Xero Payroll

We've made it easy to nominate eligible employees and claim payments as a part of the JobMaker Hiring Credit scheme. JobMaker claim codes are automatically created in Xero Payroll and filed to the Australian Tax Office via Single Touch Payroll.

PAYROLL

Other Xero updates

We've made a number of other updates on the Xero platform over the past month, including:

US

Get one-click access to common reports

Businesses can now find common formats for Income Statement (Profit and Loss) reports in just one click. This enhancement speeds up reporting workflow using common date ranges and tracking categories for a standard format, or creating custom reports that suit your needs. This feature will be rolled out globally in the coming months.

Generate 1099s with ease

We've made a number of updates to our 1099 generation process in Xero. Businesses can now generate 1099 rules with any account, and have better visibility to missing contact information. They can easily select and deselect transactions from the details page and use the search functionality to quickly find contact groups and accounts.

New apps to join the Xero app marketplace

We had over 20 newcomers to the Xero app marketplace last month, including the following:

Learn more about Xero updates

Senior financial services experts join Xero to bolster partnerships

We appointed two senior leaders to Xero in recent weeks to bolster our financial expertise. Leigh O'Neill, a former executive from National Australia Bank, has joined in the newly created role of Executive General Manager for Financial Services.

In this role, O'Neill will be responsible for expanding Xero's partnerships with banks and other financial services in our ecosystem to create seamless workflows inside Xero's product.

Danielle Smith, former Client Director for NSW Government at KPMG Australia, will join as Xero's Head of Financial Partnerships (Australia & New Zealand).

Smith will drive Xero's relationships with major banks, payment providers and non-bank lenders in the two countries.

Xero's Roadshow Australia goes virtual with tools, tips and community

We hosted our accounting and bookkeeping partners at Xero's first-ever digital Roadshow Australia. This year's theme was 'The road to renewal', a reflection on what we've learnt from the events of 2020 and how we can use our knowledge to be better prepared for the future.

Some of the product updates and announcements we covered include:

• • Conversion features: to help partners easily convert practice data from SAGE, Reckon and MYOB into Xero's practice tools.

• • Payroll history: to enable partners to track changes to employee pay rates and ensure these match up with Fair Work guidelines.

• • Tax Payable Annual Report (TPAR) modifications: to improve the workflow and user experience, and make it easier to lodge from Xero directly to the ATO.

Lastly, we created our first digital Partner Pages - a collection of stories, insights and practical advice from our accounting and bookkeeping community, for our community.

Find out more at the Roadshow