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Articles by John Rowe

Making Book Keeping Easy, Simple and Clear

AUTHOR: John Rowe

POSTED: 05 November 2012

At GRA we understand that you want to keep things as simple and hassle-free as possible. We understand that time is a valuable commodity. That you'd like to spend less time managing your accounts, and more time running your business and living your life - and we have the answer. Magic wand? No. But we have the next best thing:

Xero.

Xero is an online accounting system designed here in New Zealand. A publicly listed company, it has been growing well and is now expanding into Australia and the US.

We're very impressed with Xero, and are encouraging our business, contractor and property investor clients to jump on board with us. Why? The features are plentiful, as you'll see listed below, but at the end of the day you'll save a whole heap of time and effort by using it compared to other available accounting packages or manual record keeping.

Very simple, clear and easy to use compared to other systems
Being based online, there is no software to install, update or troubleshoot, and everything is automatically backed up - you just log on to the website and it works!
You can access it from anywhere
You can share your information with your team (including your accountant), and because it's online they see exactly the same screen as you do
Xero has a direct feed to your bank and keeps an up-to-the-day record of your transactions - what's coming in and what's going out
Transactions can be easily categorised and matched so you don't have to hunt for them, markedly reducing time you need to spend on data entry
It's safe with bank-level security
You can create and manage invoices, and see at a glance what's outstanding
You can generate multiple reports e.g. profit and loss, GST
The dashboard graphs give you an instant picture of where things are at

You can find out more about the features of Xero and why so many people love it already at xero.com.

The added advantage for GRA clients is it increases the likelihood that the quotation for doing your annual accounts can be adhered to, as your information is provided in a reconciled and easy-to-use format.

The annual fees are as outlined below:

Xero Standard (with invoicing capabilities) $744
Xero GST version (no invoicing) $300
Xero No-GST version (no invoicing) $300
All prices are plus GST and include the Xero subscription

Talk to us about setting Xero up for you - it's easy for us to get you going, and it's easy for you to learn. If you have any questions, there is help readily available - with a team of Xero experts in-house. We're sure you'll find it will make managing your accounts much easier!

To find out more about Xero, including pricing and how it could help you, please contact us. We are here to help.

Request a Meeting

John Rowe
Director
Business Accounting Services

09 522-7955

jr@gra.co.nz

© Gilligan Rowe & Associates LP

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Disclaimer: This article is intended to provide only a summary of the issues associated with the topics covered. It does not purport to be comprehensive nor to provide specific advice. No person should act in reliance on any statement contained within this article without first obtaining specific professional advice. If you require any further information or advice on any matter covered within this article, please contact the author.

Comments

Testimonials

This letter is to express my appreciation for the assistance and encouragement of both Anthony Lipscombe and particularly John Heaslip over the last financial year. The period since activating my trading trust has been one of considerable stress, as well as personal development, as I embarked on this as a relative business neophyte with virtually no awareness of the contemporary requirements of running a business, particularly the financial records aspect. During much of this period I have therefore felt considerable out of my depth. However I have been lucky enough to have had the benefit of the advice and support of John Heaslip in rationalizing what was a fairly chaotic set of records of the first year property trading. I am able to say that John in particular, has been unstinting in his attention to my needs and has done so in a manner which has never alluded to my extremely rudimentary grasp of managing a business, or even of being unable to set out a spread sheet properly. The result of the above guidance is that now, although my trading trust would still not be able to operate without the advice of GRA, I do least feel a sense of satisfaction that I have got to my present point without major disaster and that my property trust does now have some kind of firmer basis for any future activities - Name withheld by request

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