You’re fairly new to cloud accounting but after some time to get used to it, you feel confident about using the basic features. So, what’s next? Exploring Xero’s app marketplace could be your next step if you’re looking to solve an admin problem, develop your business or streamline your bookkeeping.
A good place to start is with some simple apps that fully integrate with Xero and use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to post all your bills automatically. There is no longer a need to build up stacks of bills and manually enter them into Xero one by one at the end of each month.
Xero apps can help you save time with your invoices
Apps such as AutoEntry and Receipt Bank can take a PDF of a bill, analyse it and post it directly to Xero, reducing and almost eliminating the need for manual entry.
Both Auto Entry and Receipt Bank are cloud-based apps meaning that there is no need for a lengthy desktop download and you can conveniently access your data from anywhere, at any time.
How does Receipt Bank and AutoEntry work?
Simply upload your bills by taking a picture of it on your mobile phone and let the app do the work for you. These apps use Artificial Intelligence (AI) which enables them to learn how you post certain bills and copies this for future bills. The more you use it, the more accurate it becomes and the more time you save.
They also attach a PDF copy of the bill to the transaction that is posted to Xero. So not only does it analyse and post the bill, it also electronically files the bill in Xero for you to view whenever you need it.
The systems are now so advanced that they now have the ability to fetch invoices from online accounts when they are raised. Therefore no more logging into different websites to get your electricity/gas bill, telephone bill or Amazon invoice as they can be imported directly into Xero.
How much does AutoEntry and Receipt Bank cost?
Both systems work on credit bases. You pay for a certain amount of credits and then each invoice, depending on its complexity, is a certain amount of credits. You will get a discount if you bulk buy the credits upfront.
AutoEntry’s beginner package (No bulk discounts) is £9 for 50 credits. This works out at about 18p per basic invoice. This could be considered a little steep for just posting a bill. However, it depends on the number of bills you usually have. If you have lots of monthly bills, £9 for an app that can analyse your bills, post them into your bookkeeping software and electronically file them, you really start to see the value for money in the time that it saves you.
Also, it could be the end of the month and you don’t have time, or quite frankly don’t want to sit down and post bills to Xero and would rather spend the time with friends and family or be out picking up more work.
When you take into account the amount of time you will save by automating a simple but essential task and what you could be doing with this time to develop your business, it really is a no brainer. You may even instantly save money by not having to pay a bookkeeper to post the invoices for you.
Ellacotts have partnered with Receipt Bank which means we can offer it to you for free.
Would you like more information on Xero Apps?
Contact Harry Hale on hhale@ellacotts.co.uk or 01295 250401 for expert advice on AutoEntry and Receipt Bank or any other Xero Apps that can help you run your business.
