Our Top 10 Xero Hacks…

We highly recommend using an online accounting software to manage your business finances. There are plenty of options suitable for all business types, but Xero is a popular one.

We’re compiled the ultimate ‘top 10 list’ for hacks and tips on Xero you probably didn’t know about, that will make your life a lot easier as a busy business owner!

Create customised roles

This one is ideal for small-medium sized businesses with multiple team members needing access to Xero. Within the Xero software, you can assign specific roles to team members which gives them access to just the sections they need access to as they may not need access to all the information on your Xero account.

Split screen

Xero offers a feature where you can have multiple pages of Xero open at the same time. This lets you access different sections faster and complete tasks that require more than 1 section of your Xero account.

Invoice reminders

The accounting software offers highly customisable invoice reminder features. Set the dates, frequency and message that your clients receive in their invoice reminders. You can even set different reminder patterns for different invoice templates you have saved.

Integrated calculator

Did you know Xero has a built-in calculator?! A very handy feature. To find it, just type in an equation into a field. Press enter or tab and Xero calculates the results.

Cash coding

You can find the cash coding tab alongside the bank statements and transitions tab in the reconciling dashboard.

Cash coding is used for efficient bulk coding of spend and receive money transactions and when doing bulk bank rules. It lets you sort the transitions by column headers, as well as giving you the ability to add tracking.

Demo company feature

We guarantee you aren’t using this feature as much as you should! You can test out anything here that you might want to do in your actual Xero account.

Using incognito windows

Do you use Xero for more than one business? Use the incognito window to stay logged into one of your Xero accounts while your non-incognito window is logged into the other. This is an easy hack that comes especially handy around tax time!

Recurring sales invoices

Utilise recurring invoice templates for repeat sales invoices. If your customer is charged a regular fixed fee, this makes it even easier. Once the invoice is set up, you can set it to continue automatically billing the customer as per the frequency you need.

Lock dates

This is particularly handy for your year-end returns or your accounting period coming to an end. Setting a lock date will stop changes being made to transactions when they have occurred in the past. They can be changed or removed anytime. But makes life a lot easier as it helps avoid serious errors that could impact your tax returns and year-end balance sheets.

Email bill PDFs to Xero

When sending your invoices your clients have a variety of options in how they pay their bill. It could be bank transfer, PayPal, card payment through Stripe, or automatic monthly payment taken as per the payment play through GoCardless. The handy thing about Xero is when sending your clients their invoice, you can also choose for it to be attached as a PDF in the email, regardless of their payment method.