For many tradies in New South Wales, accounting and bookkeeping are two of the most tedious aspects of running a business but it is essential if you want to abide by the law and keep an accurate record of your finances.
To make the process as easy as possible many tradies are moving their accounts online. Technology is the way of the future and sooner or later all businesses will be required to keep a digital recording of their accounts.
Tradies can take advantage of a range of cloud-based platforms that offer a host of benefits compared to traditional methods of bookkeeping and accounting. While QuickBooks used to be the obvious choice for tradies looking for an easy way to keep track of their business’ finances online, Xero has quickly risen to become one of the leading accountancy platforms for New South Wales businesses.
The advantages of changing from QuickBooks to Xero are no secret. So, if you haven’t made the switch yet, keep reading to see if changing your accounts from QuickBooks to Xero is the right choice for your tradie business.
Xero accounting for tradies
Xero is accountancy software designed to help you manage your day-to-day accounts, record business expenses, keep track of bills and process invoices. The software allows you to keep track of your accounts in real-time so you can easily manage your cash-flow. One of the most impressive features of Xero is the ability for you to share the information with your accountant so they can keep your finances in check.
Xero comes with a whole heap of features with the most widely used being;
- Invoicing
- Reporting
- Estimate creation
- Bank account integration
- Expense tracking
- Cash flow reports
- Invoices and bills tracking
- Inventory tracking
- Budget creation
- Advanced payroll settings
What are the benefits of changing from QuickBooks to Xero?
While Xero and QuickBooks have similar features, one of the biggest advantages that Xero has on QuickBooks is how easy data entry is. It also provides more in-depth financial reporting with some of the reports being instantly updated when the transactions are received.
Unlike QuickBooks, Xero has the option to allow unlimited users to access your account instead of the maximum of five users that QuickBooks allows, making Xero a better choice for larger teams.
If you use Xero, you can also take benefit from integrating apps that are useful for trade businesses including:
Tradify: an easy-to-use job management software designed to help trade businesses control business admin. The software allows users to record notes, issue receipts, offer quotes and add timesheets.
Fergus:a smart Field Service Management Software for trade businesses. The software is designed to make job management easy and allows tradies to carry out their work better with an all-in-one solution.
To read more about the impressive list of add-ons available on Xero, read our recent blog post on the Top 6 Xero Apps for Tradies in NSW.
How can I switch from QuickBooks to Xero?
Many owners of a trade business perceive switching from Quickbooks to Xero as a hassle. After a long day at work, the last thing you want to do is spend hours transferring financial data from platform to platform but thankfully this doesn’t have to be the case when changing from QuickBooks to Xero.
LeVeon’s Xero specialists will be able to assist you throughout the entire changeover to ensure an efficient transfer between the two platforms. We will keep you up-to-date during the process and can give you a walkthrough of Xero to bring you up to speed on how the software works.
Xero pricing plans
When it comes to pricing between the two platforms, Xero is the clear winner in terms of value for money. While Xero is a little more expensive than QuickBooks, Xero simply offers a lot more tools that are beneficial to small and mid-sized tradie companies.
Xero’s pricing plans are as follows:
- $25/month Starter pack: Lets you send 5 invoices and quotes, enter 5 bills, reconcile 20 bank transactions, add payroll for 1 person and capture bills and receipts using Hubdoc.
- $50/month Standard Plan: Lets you send invoices and quotes, enter bills, reconcile bank transactions, add 2 people to payroll, capture bills and receipts using Hubdoc.
- $65/month Premium 5 Plan: Lets you send invoices and quotes, enter bills, reconcile bank transactions, add 5 people to payroll (option to add more), capture bills and receipts with Hubdoc, automate superannuation and handle multiple currencies.
Need help changing from QuickBooks to Xero?
LeVeon offers accounting, taxation and business advisory services to small and medium business owners, including tradies, in New South Wales.
We can help you to set up Xero and put a process in place to keep your bookkeeping streamlined. Get in touch with us on 0488 008 259 or fill in our online contact form and a member of our team will be in touch with you soon.