Hi there, I’m Nick Roberts, I am an accountant who has been working in public practice for the last 12 years.
I was an early adopter of Xero in 2007, and have been working with this platform (as well as other accounting systems since). I would like to use my expertise to help people with their use of Xero and other accounting software solutions.
For this blog post I am going to cover the function in Xero where you can attach files directly to your transactions in Xero.
Let’s face it the majority of bills sent to your business are emailed now, and when you need something you end up searching through your email looking for the bill or you feel guilty for the environment when you print the bill out and place it in a physical file.
Well Xero has a function that allows you to attach files to the transactions in your Xero and makes them very easy to find, and better yet your accountant doesn’t need to ask you for them when preparing the end of year accounts.
Xero has very good instructions on how to setup and use Filing in Xero, as below what I want to cover here is how to use this function to make Xero work harder for you and to cut down the information you need to find and compile for sending to your accountant for your end of year accounts.
Xero Instructions on How to Setup and Use Filing
File Library
Email Files to your File Library Inbox
Attach View and Download Files
Why You Should Use The Filing Function in Xero.
You can take photos of invoices and receipts on the go which are added to Xero automatically
Xero has the functionally through it’s mobile app to take photos of receipts and invoices and to upload them to your accounting system and to pre-populate most of the required details.
This is very useful when you are going through the drive through at your building supplier or taking a client out for lunch.
You can take a snapshot of the receipt and not worry about what you have done with the receipt, or forget to invoice the building supplies to the client.
You can attach your workings for Quotes and Invoices:
Quotes and invoices for clients can be very time consuming and involve a lot of calculations, and the client comes back asking for changes or clarification on the quote or invoice.
If the calculations are attached to the quote in Xero you can easily find them and adjust or explain as necessary.
Your accountant has access to your source documents
Your accountant needs to know what your major transactions are for, and sometimes the description in Xero just Isn’t enough, this is where the filing function in Xero makes their job easier and hopefully cost you less.
This is particularly important with fixed asset purchases, repairs to your current assets or determining if the software you have purchased is a one off cost or a yearly subscription.
Your accountant is also required to have copies of supporting documents including the following;
- Bank / Credit Card Statements at Balance date
- Term Deposit Statements
- Loan Statements
- RWT Certificates
- Dividend Advice
- Insurance Documents
The majority of these statements and documents are emailed to you, so via the email functionality in the filing system you can add this easily to Xero and your accountant doesn’t need to request them off you.
The benefits of this to you are as all the information that your accountant requires to prepare your end of year accounts is already in Xero and this will reduce or even eliminate any questions they may have regarding your end of year accounts, so they have more time to focus on helping you grow your business.
Thank you for your time in reading this, if you have any questions or suggestions for future posts please contact me at nick@zero-tohero.com or on 022 405 9312.
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