I've donned my flame suit for this but does anyone up and downgrade their clients plan based on the requirement throughout the year? I ask this as for a large chunk of clients I only use Xero once a quarter or once a year, so for 9 or 11 months of the year its unused.
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We tried this and recommended the starter package for couple smaller clients and it was not worth the hassle.
No cash coding, limited number of invoices and transactions each month. After one quarter we asked the clients to move back to £24pm. If it's a very small client then Xero starter is suitable, but then again what's the point to pay for software if the number of reconcilable bank transactions is 120 per year.
You might as well to provide clients with Excel template for invoicing, use Wave or Albert accounting. It will probably take longer to set up Xero than to reconcile manually very limited number of transactions allowed be the starter sub.
Does the client use them in the other months though? Or does the client not have/need access?
If not, then surely you’d stick them all on bureau plans?
But don't you need like a 100 clients to get the gold plan and 30% off?
I think sage allows 10 clients per month for 900 pa
I think it's better if you can go large at the outset, as you can then keep the minimum costing for all, forever, whereas if you build it up more gently then you are stuck paying about twice as much. I think we had to sign up to 50 to get them all at £5 per month (6 or 12 months half price as well) , but I cant remember exactly.
I don't agree with their push on bulk buying to force you to Xero-ise everyone, even the clients it's not really suitable for. Luckily we had about 140 clients we had identified for migration anyway so we were able to get the price breaks. Most of our clients still aren't on it, and in all likelihood never will be.
My understanding was though that you could still access the Bureau network on a very low number - it just cost more than bulk buying.
Rather than downgrading the package, isn't it easier to just stop using Xero for these clients? Must be quicker to just download the bank transactions as csv file and prepare accounts from that data in excel?
They seem to be improving it all the time, check here to see if bank feeds for the ones unavailable when you test ran it are available now:-
https://www.pandle.com/uk/supported-banks/
Also for CSV uploads for ones without pre-formatted upload:-
https://support.pandle.com/en/articles/2033329-creating-custom-file-imports
Just ask Xero to switch you to bureau licencing as has already been suggested. If your clients aren't interested in logging in and doing anything then you'll be fine as they can only have read only access for a bureau licence. It's £5 or £9 per month depending on the product you need
You can apply to become a Xero partner so you have access to Xero Ledger which costs £2.40pm. There is no cost for becoming a partner as far as I am aware - check with your account manager. I switch between Xero Ledger and Xero Cashbook for a client that wants his VAT done quarterly using cash accounting but doesn’t need any bookkeeping done in between.