Xuru

Well I was very embarrassed at the recent (and wonderful) Xero Conference to be asked what had happened to my blog! And there I was thinking they were just filling up space and no one was following them.

So that has inspired me to start posting again. I guess this is a great example of me working in my business and not on by business – totally guilty of not following something that I always preach to my customers.

Well what has Xuru been up to in the past (gulp) 11 months since my last blog post? We have redefined what we do and what we offer to all those fantastic Xero customers to a few core areas. And here they are:

• Always 100% Xero -
• Across every Xero release – we know about new functionality, how this works  and how it fits your business
• The best Xero training available – by living and breathing Xero 24/7 we know how everything works. In fact I am proud to have the nick name the Xero encyclopedia
• To provide plain english advice to all our customers – or if you want the accounting jargon explained we can do that too
• We support  Xero customers, Xero book keepers and Xero accountants with the best advice on Xero

What don’t we do?

We don’t do book keeping - but are always happy to provide you with names in your area

We don’t do annual accounts – but can provide you with the names of wonderful accountants who do.

So thanks to Xero for the excellent conference – and the inspiring team of people who were there. Keep watching this space as I shall be posting more often.

Sharon Campbell has recently joined us as our newest Xuru. She is a chartered accountant with a wealth of experience in businesses of all sizes. She will be looking after our expanding Auckland customer base.

Sharon has held accounting roles in many industries including information technology, recruitment, pharmaceutical and property development - in New Zealand and the UK.

Welcome Sharon – we are really excited about having you on our team.

 http://xuru.co.nz/thegurus

Saturday morning was a busy time for the chief Xuru – the opportunity to present a Xero overview and provide training to the nationwide Markhams team at their annual company event.

With 54 registered for 9.00am on a Saturday we were unsure on all the registered attendees showing up – but as the people started arriving I knew we were going to be pretty close to the magic 54.

With a slight nervousness I took the stage – was wired for sound and started to present Xero. How exciting to see our Xuru brand up on the big screen followed by my passion and addiction Xero.

Always proud to present Xero thank you Markhams for engaging Xuru to provide training to your team.

We are really excited to announce that the Xuru team are winners of the Xero Knowledge award at the recent Xero Partner Conference.

When we started Xuru just over 18 months ago we were determined to be the best, and to receive that recognition through this award is very gratifying. We bet our business on Xero and look forward to future success, together with our customers.

Moving to our new office I had to choose a provider for phones and broadband.

Currently using Telstra I thought I’d take the simple option and choose them – however the ad on tv is true. They have packed up their sun chairs and gone to the beach. No technicians available until around the 17th Jan.

So Telecom it is - presume they take turns at setting up their sun chairs. Will be interesting to compare the service (internet speed and customer) to Telstra. Telecom Customer service has been excellent so far

All they need to do to get another gold star is turn up on Tuesday…oh and not slow down the internet speed for TiVo

With Christmas approaching next week I wanted to say a very Merry Christmas and a big thank you to all our Xuru customers, supporters and the Xero Team.

This year has been really exciting and we couldn’t have done it without you all!

To our customers – for your support and very kind words. We pride ourselves on service and will always go the extra mile to make sure you are happy. Yes even emailing you at 1.00am in the morning when we have found the solution for your Xero query

To Xero – we love working with you all – we love the software and are just as passionate as we were 3 years ago. Xero just keeps getting better

To the Xuru team – we are at 3 about to go to 4 in the New Year. New office, new adventure – thank you for I am proud to have you on my team

Addicted to Xero – yes we are        The Guru’s on Xero – absolutely

Merry Christmas to you all!!

One of the biggest changes (and possibly challenges) that people notice when they switch to Xero from another accounting system is the ‘flat’ chart of accounts.

What – no headers? How can I show a header (title) and sub accounts e.g.

Telephone

Internet

Landline

Don’t panic – you still have all of this in Xero – you just need to create the layout in the reports area of Xero and not the chart of accounts.

We use this option for lots of our customers and they love being able to create different layouts to meet their needs.

When you are creating a manager’s report you may choose to group all of your telephone expenses together as you are not required to provide the details of each account. The board may still wish to know the details – simple - create a board  report and a manager report.

You can save the report and change them as your reporting requirements change – how clever is that!

If you haven’t used the layout option give it a go – make sure you publish them for an even more professional look.

Well another GST filing has passed us by – phew what a relief!

A few things that you should be doing each time you file your gst return are:

• Reconcile your bank accounts – all accounts including your business credit cards. Compare the final bank balances back to the balances in Xero – they should be the same
• Run the audit report in Xero – check the codes. Have you coded everything with the correct gst treatment? I.e. loans and bank fees do not have gst
• Make any changes to the gst at this stage
• Once you are satisfied that everything looks ok select the ‘publish’ option. This takes a snapshot of your gst return including the audit report that sits behind the return.

The report will be stored in Xero under the Reports option. It means that your accountant can easily do a year end reconciliation of gst in Xero and have all of the required information at their fingertips.

If you need to make any changes to prior period gst returns you will have the information stored in Xero to refer back to

Why not ask your financial advisor to run their eye over your audit report prior to filing – always good to have someone check this for you. Another great benefit of Xero – no one has to leave their office to do this!

As always comment/queries always welcome.

Looking for a list of transactions that have been posted against a certain contact?

In Xero you need to go to the Contacts, All Contacts, and select the ‘outstanding balance’ amount – even if this is 0.00 you can still view the transactions that were applied to this contact.

Xero has a great video showing you how to do this:

http://blog.xero.com/2009/01/customer-soa-report/

It works for both accounts payable and receivable

We are helping people out a lot with lately balancing their bank accounts – and it often is a very simple problem.

Setting up your bank feeds in Xero when you sign up is a great idea. Something that we would recommend you get done asap. Xero will then advise you a couple of days prior to the feeds starting.

However did you know – these bank feeds do NOT bring in any historical transactions? You will need to do this yourself by using the import statement option in Xero.

Your bank account will never balance unless you have all of the transactions in Xero. The Help Centre in Xero has lots of help/assistance around this – so try this first if you can’t balance your account.

Of course if it still looks wrong – give us a call.