I've been looking at Accounts Portal and Xero and wondered if anyone has any comments/observations on either?
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Xero vs Accounts Portal
We use Xero and I have to say its very good indeed, very easy to understand whats going on and quick and easy to keep up to date.
I've not used Accounts Portal but I would recomend Xero, they have 20,000 + customers and a lot of good reviews. I have a few clients using it and they are also very impressed, its certainly taken the hassle out of book keeping and accounts for us.
Accounts portal is PAYGO
The accounts portal struck as being more attractive from the accountants point of view, as there is no ongoing contract, so if a client stops using it you just stop paying. Cheaper also.
Focus on the real value
Hi there,
Xero is also pay-as-you go with no contract and for accountants we have a pricing plan that starts at £2 per client.
If there was a venn diagram depicting feature comparisons between various online solutions, there would be significant areas of overlap as most systems offer the basics such as invoicing, cash and accrual accounting, comprehensive VAT support and lots of operational detail functionality.
However that would be to assume that the areas of overlap are of greater value or importance than the areas which don't overlap.
The high value areas where Xero would stand more alone on this busy diagram would include...
- Automated daily bank feed data capture.
- Integrated with PayPal.
- An API with many third party add-ons.
- A comprehensive (and free) Xero Practice Edition for accountants to manage, organise and service their Xero clients, including an Accountant only cashbook edition at £9 per client per month, and 25% off all standard pricing on other editions.
- Your own practice's branding and colours and configuration on a management report compilation tool which generates amazingly high quality management report packs for your clients at the click of a button.
- Unlimited users with full multi-level user security controls, unlimited transactions on all but one of our products.
- Personal expenses integration with Xero Personal, our personal finance app.
- More than 22,000 paying customers.
- Fixed Asset register with automatic depreciation.
- Stock control (from next week).
- Full foreign currency support.
- Smartphone clients for use with iPhone, Android & Blackberry.
- Best in class hosting, backup and operations.
- Accredited by the ICAEW.
- Award winning design and user interface.
Check out what other accountants and clients have to say about Xero on Twitter.
We'd be happy to take you through what we think makes us different in more detail over a short web presentation.
Regards,
Gary Turner
UK Managing Director, Xero
Xero doesn't charge Accountants to join
I'm sure some will chip in, but as there was a pricing misconception implied about Xero in the response you got, I hope you don't mind me jumping in.
It is free
Those requirements are the minimum requisites for an entry on our Certified Partners directory which is a useful mechanism for picking up new clients.
We categorically do not charge for you to join as a partner or to obtain all the other benefits, including discount.
Xero
I've not used Accounts Portal, but we use Xero for our practice and also recommend it to our clients. We love Xero.
Before using Xero, I couldn't have imagined just how easy it would be to use. The big thing for us is that Xero are incorporating auotmatic bank feeds into the product, so at no extra cost, we'll be able to have our bank information directly imported into our accounts package on a daily basis. The bank reconciliation in Xero is the most straightforward I've ever seen, and the bank feeds will take this to another level.
As an Accountancy practice, it's great for us to be able to help our clients. Literally at the click of a button we can see how a client is doing - without having to e-mail around back-ups, etc. - it means that the level of proactivity we can offer a client is much greater for those clients on Xero than those not.
This comment is just an overview of my opinion on Xero. If you any specific questions, I'd be more than happy to discuss - just send me a message. Hope this helps...
Can recommend Xero
Hi Happy,
We've been using Xero for both our practice and for a number of our clients. The general consensus is it's very user friendly, intuitive and, being web-based, performs a number of functions very well that other software packages can't compete with (eg: pulling in live exchange rates from the web etc). Whilst I haven't used Accounts Portal, I would definitely recommend trialling Xero (the trial is free), to see what you think. Having used an been exposed to a number of accounting packages over my 20 year Chartered Accountancy career, needless to say I was suitably impressed to use Xero as my system of choice. Give it a try - you've got nothing to lose - and I suspect you'll be very impressed too.
Catherine Davis
Managing Director - Urban Ledgers Limited
Depends on functionality required
I looked at both and opted for Accounts Portal for a client but only because they did not need sophisticated functionality and the low cost was attractive. We pay £5 per month as an AP partner which vs £15 for Xero is not insignificant for a small client.
AP is good at what it does but there is presently no departmental costing and other features listed above by Xero. I have to say the support has been good though. I had a reply to one query within 30 minutes of emailing on a Sunday evening !
Xero is a must!
I set up in practice this year and started using Xero for my practice and with a few clients. From the clients perspective it is so easy to use in comparison to other desktop based packages. From a practice perspective, the interlinkage with client affairs and the reports you can run for clients is second to none!
I am a certified advisor and have picked up referrals from the Xero webiste too. Couldn't recommend it enough. Plus the Xero business development manager covering my area of the UK tells me a Xero payroll package is in the pipeline at no extra cost to practice/clients. Plus Xero will be bringing in year-end financials and abbreviated accounts in due course - how great will that be from practising accoutants! Using the same bookkeeping package to produce the statutory accounts!
Sparkey 999
-- Complete Book-Keeping Ltd
Hi, believe you stated you are a consultant, would you be able to email me and explain more please? Ive got a few small clients and juggle back up but this may be just the answer.
if possible: [email protected]
thank you - Donna
gary turner
-- Complete Book-Keeping Ltd
Hi thanks for info - where on earth do you find such a low rate please? have looked on website looks good but no where can I see the low priced plan or free.
THANK YOU - Donna
just in case you have a link I am not looking at:
Re: Online Accounts - what happens if company goes into admin?