Cloud Accountants, Bookkeepers & 100% Xero

There has been a lot of talk on LinkedIn and other forums around the use of bookkeepers with accountants, when the businesses are using an online accounting system such as Xero.

I believe that it is a misconception that bookkeepers will become redundant, if a business was to move to Xero.

At Cloud Accountants we are a 100% Xero practice. We use bookkeepers (we call them Xero Consultants!) with many of our clients, and they (the Clients) tend to fit into one of the following groups:

  • ‘We love Xero, and the way we can access real time information around who owes us money at anytime. But we would prefer your team to process all of the transactions, GST and Payroll for us. Our time is better spent focusing on marketing initiatives and growing our business’
  • ‘We are happy to process transactions in Xero, but we would like a ‘checks and balances’ around GST return filing time to make sure that we have coded the transactions correctly’
  • ‘Can you assist with setting us up in Xero, and ‘hold our hand’ for a period of time until we become familiar with the system’

I would make this point as well:

Although Xero is a simple system to use, we have not been afraid to communicate to some clients that they are probably better off letting our Xero consultants assist with (or process completely :)) the transactions, GST and Payroll for their business. Because after all, the cleaner we receive the information at year end (or for periodic reporting) the more efficient we can be at completing with accurate statements!

And we are all about working smarter and more efficiently!

Our chief Xero Consultant, Emma Laing (pictured), says that clients are loving working closer with us in Xero.  ‘It gives them piece of mind knowing that transactions are processed correctly and especially getting that green reconciled tick!’

We work very closely with Glennis and the team from Katalyst Office Management with many of our clients, and the partnership works very well!

And the work that Melanie and the team are putting in with the NZ Bookkeepers Association is great for further collaboration with accounting firms.

So is Xero negating the need for a bookkeeper?

We don’t think so here at Cloud Accountants.