Things have been up and down for trade businesses recently, from feverishly busy, to the slow pace of the lockdown and out the other side into fluctuating levels of work. We appreciate tradespeople have a lot to keep track of, and not much free time to do it. Xero’s online construction accounting software can help you review your profitability and track performance to make the best decisions for your business.
Here are some quick tips for keeping your business moving forward with Xero whilst you’re on the go.
Business performance at a glance
Avoid any nasty cash flow surprises – with Xero dashboard you can easily keep track of your overall business performance at a glance.
Keep a watchful eye on your KPIs, follow your bank balances and expenses, see how much you are owed, upcoming bills, and monitor your monthly cash trends. Personalise for your business to keep all your important info in one place.
Run your business from anywhere, any time
Keep it simple! Send quotes and invoices from your phone while your apprentice packs the van. You can even capture expenses and reconcile bank transactions all from your mobile phone. With Xero’s accounting app you can create and send personalised estimates or quotes from your phone, then convert them to invoices when they’re accepted.
You can also accept payment on the spot with PayPal or a credit card, so less time-consuming invoice chasing. The app is free with every online Xero subscription.
Project management made easy
Don’t keep it all in your head – with Projects in Xero you can see which projects are profitable and which ones are slowing you down, monitor budgets, costs, staff time and most importantly profitability.
Make every project profitable – know how much each project is going to cost, track costs and time, enter expenses and record deposits against projects so you can bill accurately, on time and quote accurately in future.
Keep on top of your budget as detailed reports help you review how you’re doing compared to estimated and how much you could potentially invoice.
Import bank transactions in an instant
Taking care of the tedious! Connect your bank accounts, credit cards and loans to Xero to see your transactions flow in automatically, making bank reconciliation a simple task that takes only a few minutes a day.
More about bank reconciliation
Easy payroll and compliance
We love the simplicity of online payroll processing with Xero. Xero payroll makes it easy to pay employees, track hours, approve leave, adjust pay rate and calculate PAYE, ACC, KiwiSaver and student loan contributions as it’s all all done automatically for you. When you’re done, submit to the IRD at the click of a button.
Uncomplicate expense & bill tracking
Xero Expenses will eliminate the costly hassles of processing expense claims wherever you are, whenever you want. Throw out that old box of receipts as now you can simply snap photos of receipts to capture costs and Xero will take care of the details for you.
Review, approve and pay expense claims on the go. Receive mobile notifications when expenses are submitted, reviewed, approved and paid.
In addition, the newly formed Xero and Hubdoc integration means that you can streamline data collection, record keeping and processing. You scan or upload invoices and receipts which are stored in Hubdoc, creating one digitalized record system.
What’s even better is that Hubdoc is included for free with all Xero Business subscriptions (Cashbook subscribers can add Hubdoc for a monthly fee of $27.50).
Want to hear more?
With over 2 million subscribers worldwide, Xero is fast becoming one of the most popular online accounting software options available today. Whether you want to hear more about better cash flow, saving time or tracking profitability please give us a call, we would love to chat it through.
Read what local builders, Richard Coudret and Wendy Sherlock of RAW Building have to say about working with Xero and the team at McClean & Co: here.