What’s new in Xero plus our latest hot tips
With the New Year just around the corner, we have decided to reflect on the latest Xero update. If you are still getting your head around the new Xero layout, don’t worry we have a few tips for you!
Navigation menu
Xero gave us all a big surprise when we opened the updated version of the navigation bar last month. The bar is now compressed into six columns; Dashboard, Business, Accounting, Payroll, Projects and Contacts.
Business
The business tab now has everything you need to perform your everyday tasks. This tab includes all the tools you need to enter sales and purchase activities. There is an employee expense claims section under the business tab that allows employees to take a photo of their receipts and upload it as an expense claim to the corresponding expense account. There is also now a “transfer money” bank rule which is great for businesses that transfer money from one bank account to the other, this will avoid creating double entries!
Accounting
The Accounting tab has the tools accountants and bookkeepers need to help you stay compliant with the ATO. This is where we will find the bank accounts, reports, chart of accounts and manual journals.
Payroll
The payroll tab has renamed the option from “Pay runs” to “Pay employees” to simplify the term.
Organisation menu
Xero has simplified the way we search for files and settings by allocating this under the organisation menu. The organisation menu is found in the left corner of your navigation bar, by selecting your organisation name. The more advanced settings you will find this in the accounting tab under “advanced” section.
Hot tips
We have a hidden treasure to share with you! In General Ledger and Bank Reconciliation reports there’s an option to view “Exceptions reports” – this will show any strange transactions that are very different, such as GST on non-GST accounts, standard deviation on accounts that are too low or too high and if there are debits in a credits account.
Use the search shortcut! All you have to do is press the forward slash “/” key to open the search box,
from here you can type a letter to access an area of Xero. See below:
