Software to raise similar and many invoices

Recommended software which manages many invoices and projects?

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I have been asked to do the bookkeeping for a prospect who started as a sole consultant using Xero but has grown incredibly, with turnover of >£1M and more than 300 invoices per month. The Director is still manually raising the invoices from Xero (accounting software he chose in the first place). 

At the moment he keeps track of all the projects in an Excel spreadsheet and from there he inputs the data into Xero but he feels sometimes he does a job and forgets to invoice it. 

Another problem he had was reconciling by mistake the wrong invoice to the wrong client as Xero would try to guess invoices based on amount and similar invoices are raised all the time to different clients. I think I can sort this out a bit with bank rules. I have this problem myself with Freeagent as there are not bank rules yet and I charge the same fee monthly to all my sole trader clients, so thinking of moving to Xero unless someone suggests something different.

Do you recommend any software which manages chargeable Projects and integrates with Xero or could you please advise how you would assess this task?

 

Replies (12)

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John Toon
By John Toon
07th Jan 2022 10:49

Xero has Projects but it's not clear what your client does - consultant is vague...

If he's worried about missing invoice raising opportunities I'd be looking at a CRM to manage customers/prospects from which you'd be able to track quotes/bills etc

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Replying to johnt27:
seneca
By Seneca
07th Jan 2022 11:56

Thanks for the response Johnt27.
The business provides multi-utility engineering design services for construction companies. Therefore, there are many projects and changes to the projects all the time.

When I googled "CRM for consulting companies", there were lots of them and I don't know any.

I had a look at Xero Projects but I found it a bit clumsy so probably there are CRMs out there more efficient.
Do you have experience with any CRM for consulting companies? This should have been the title of my post I guess.

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Replying to Seneca:
John Toon
By John Toon
07th Jan 2022 15:47

My starting point would always be the Xero App store. Projectworks or Scoro might be a good fit but this would be the kind of work I'd spend a couple of days (at least) scoping and researching.

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By paul.benny
07th Jan 2022 13:12

Prospect's business sounds similar to an accounting practice (or for that matter a law firm): instructions are received, hours are booked against it and someone makes a decision based on value of wip to generate an invoice.

Right now Prospect is probably at the point where he needs something more than Excel to manage billable time and recoveries.

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Replying to paul.benny:
seneca
By Seneca
07th Jan 2022 14:15

Thank you Paul. I will research around CRMs. Do you have any recommendation? The client is growing and growing so going for the most expensive ones in the market would not be a problem if they are economical in terms o value.

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Replying to Seneca:
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By paul.benny
07th Jan 2022 15:42

Sorry - I don't have experience of specific products.
I don't think CRM products are quite what you want. How do you manage time recording and billing in your practice? This is the sort of product I think you should be looking at.

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Replying to paul.benny:
seneca
By Seneca
07th Jan 2022 17:48

At the moment I don't track it, I am just focusing on building the portfolio of clients, approximately 30 sole traders + 30 VAT registered couriers + 3 PSC Limited Companies.

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By davidpforster
20th Jan 2022 10:22

Xero is an excellent product, but there comes that time where a successful business outgrows the capabilities of the system. If this is the case with your client and perhaps youself (with FreeAgent), take a look at iplicit as a potential next step. Projects, timesheets, billing, etc are all there in iplicit. Will be more expensive than Xero but will be able to support your client as they continue to grow.

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Replying to davidpforster:
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By Hugo Fair
20th Jan 2022 16:00

There's no harm in recommending your own product ... but it's regarded as polite to declare that relationship.

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Replying to Hugo Fair:
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By davidpforster
20th Jan 2022 22:25

Thanks, I'll try to remember that in future. Apologies for the slip in Etiquette.

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Noel Fraser
By noelfraser
28th Jan 2022 10:54

Hi Seneca - it would be worth your while checking out Aqilla which includes project accounting and has industry leading MS Excel integration for a similar fee to Xero.

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Replying to noelfraser:
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By Hugo Fair
28th Jan 2022 12:33

As before, there's no harm in recommending your own product ... but it's regarded as polite to declare that relationship.

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