An innovative small business platform has announced the global availability of its improved financial reporting tools.
Xero has accelerated the rollout of its expanded reporting pilots in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has impacted small businesses around the world. Xero has also introduced new features so businesses and their advisors can quickly see crucial financial metrics and manage business continuity.
“We know small businesses around the world are facing an uncertain future right now,” explained Anna Curzon, Xero’s Chief Product Officer.
“So our mission of making life easier for small businesses and advisors is now more important than ever. One way we can help is by making financial information real-time and insightful, making it easier for businesses to be paid faster and control their cash.”
As part of Xero’s efforts to help small businesses and advisors manage through COVID-19, it is accelerating development and availability of three pilot tools, to quickly provide high-level information on revenue, profitability and cash flow.
Business Snapshot
First announced in November 2019, Business Snapshot helps easily compare profit and loss, revenue, expenses and cash balances in different periods through a real-time, single report, instead of needing to generate additional reports or spreadsheets. By delivering a single, streamlined report for clients, advisors can help their small business clients understand crucial health metrics quickly, providing a starting point for deeper conversations around business performance, and possible risks or opportunities. View the demo here.
Short-Term Cash Flow
First announced in September 2019, this enables businesses to project their bank balances 30 days ahead, showing the impact of existing bills and invoices if they’re paid on time and has been built in close consultation with the small business and accounting communities. The short- term cash flow pilot will be rolled out in the next two weeks.
The two tools are still in development and testing with the broader Xero community, but are now being rolled out for free to all Xero customers in Business Edition plans until the end of August 2020.
Accountants and bookkeepers using Xero HQ can now quickly download a monthly revenue export of client organisations to get a high-level view of the health of their clients. The report shows year-on- year revenue changes, current cash balances and their primary banking relationships, giving advisors oversight on which clients are impacted most, potential eligibility for banking support packages, and creating a starting point for conversations with those that need the most help.
The export forms part of a new COVID-19 Support Page, with links to supporting resources. View the demo here.
E-invoicing launched to help New Zealand and Australian businesses get paid faster
With cash flow more important than ever, e-invoicing provides one way for small businesses to get paid faster and streamline their accounts receivable function. Now, New Zealand and Australian small businesses on Xero will be able to send e-invoices to participating government agencies.
Xero is the first major provider of small-business accounting software to offer sending of e-invoices in New Zealand and Australia, with more advanced functionality being added over time.
E-invoicing enables a faster, automated and safer way to send and receive invoices. Unlike traditional PDF invoices, e-invoices are automatically exchanged between software systems via a secure network.
By automating and streamlining invoicing, e-invoices reduce the time spent by the back office to process and send invoices, helps reduce costs in processing and potential administrative errors, and speeds time to payment for suppliers.
According to the latest Xero Small Business Insights data, New Zealand small businesses on Xero were paid 7.6 days late on average across all invoices paid in February. While those in Australia were paid 4.6 days late for invoices with 30-day payment terms.
E-invoicing will help speed time to payment by cutting down on administration time and streamlining the process.
Government suppliers will significantly benefit from the rollout. The New Zealand Government is using e-invoicing as part of its pledge to pay 95 percent of domestic invoices within 10 days and participating Australian government agencies have committed to paying e-invoices sent by small businesses in as little as five days.
Xero’s global platform will mean that in the future small businesses around the world will benefit from the same functionality as e-invoicing is made available in other countries.
The company has worked closely with international standards bodies and governments to integrate these capabilities through the Pan European Public Procurement Online (PEPPOL) interoperability framework, which is being used by 30 countries globally and hundreds of large organisations.
Xero provides a beautiful and easy-to-use cloud-based accounting software service for small businesses and their advisors around the world. Xero connects more than two million subscribers with an ecosystem of over 800 third-party apps and 200 plus connections to banks and financial service providers.
Visit xero.com/nz
