Maybe you want to go paperless this year or perhaps you already have and want to automate some of those repetitive manual tasks. Now is a great time to look at improving your accounting processes for the 2025 financial year.
Not using Xero yet?
If you are keeping a manual cashbook on paper or in Excel, you should consider migrating to Xero. Xero has a tonne of features, and you can pick and choose what works for you.
To replace your manual cashbook with Xero we start by connecting your bank feed to Xero, this allows Xero to fetch your bank transactions each day, you can then reconcile these with the click of a button or a tap on your phone. This is the core function of Xero and is the starting point to any paperless or automation journey.
Talk to your client manager if you are unsure if this is the right option for you.
Going paperless
Invoicing
Creating and sending invoices from Xero unlocks extra features, you can connect payment apps like Stripe so that customers can pay directly from your invoice, track amounts owing to you and setup payment reminders that are sent to your clients automatically. This also streamlines your year-end process as you don’t need to send us your debtors list anymore.
End of year documents
If you send your accountant a box of paperwork at year end or if you spend hours curating and organising a binder of documents, you can replace this with a digital process (and it is not as scary as it sounds!). Additional benefits can include having a digital back up of your documents which improves compliance (ie keeping records for tax purposes) and your accountant has immediate access to these documents, meaning there is no need to send year-end paperwork.
Options
- Xero Files (Free)- This is an ideal option if you don’t have many transactions throughout the year (perhaps a rental property). You can either upload documents to Xero files or you can email them to your unique Xero files email address.
- Attaching a document to a transaction (Free) – Drag and drop the file from your computer when reconciling in Xero, this can become time consuming if you have a lot of transactions but even if you attach the key documents (eg insurance docs) this will save time at year end.
- Xero bills (requires Starter plan or above) – Managing your accounts payable can be done in Xero, there is a feature which allows you to send your invoices to a unique email address, Xero will then read and process some of the information from the invoice.
- Hubdoc (requires Starter plan or above) – This app is great if you have lots of documents, it can be used to simply store documents (replacing those boxes and binders) or it can be setup to automate document processing. HubDoc’s superpower is that it can read all the information in a document (even handwritten ones).
Reporting
If you are running your numbers manually to track performance, it is most likely that this can be achieved in real time using Xero reports. Talk to your client manager about this if there is anything specific you would like to be able to report on during the year.
Automation
Bank Reconciliation
If you aren’t managing your bills in Xero then setting up bank rules will save you a lot of time.
Manage your Bills Payable
Once your bills are loaded into Xero you can track your bills payable and save time when paying your bills by using batch payments. Batch payments allow you to group together bill payments, Xero then creates a file which you can import into your online banking to pay all those bills at once rather than loading the details for each bill.
GST returns
If you are reconciling your bank transactions in Xero, then filing GST returns is as simple as pressing a button. Any year-end accounting adjustments will automatically pull through into your next GST return and you can even get a preview of the current GST period to help you with budgeting in the middle of a GST period.
