Xero,
the global small business platform, today unveiled major product
enhancements aimed at empowering advisors – such as accountants and
bookkeepers, to help them run their businesses more efficiently.
The new features, showcased at Xerocon San Diego 2019, demonstrate
Xero’s continuing commitment to build best-of-breed technology for the
US and Canadian markets. Xero is rolling out highly requested tools for
advisors to digitize their tax workflows, including:
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New, smart tools for US and Canada advisors, helping them to
manage their small business clients’ tax obligations by automating
manual tasks and eliminating the hassle of tax time -
A new learning platform for businesses and advisors, bringing
learning and support resources in one place to help business owners
level up
“With our latest enhancements to the Xero platform, we’re following up
on our previous geographic expansion, investing in the region to help
level the playing field for ambitious business owners who want to spend
less time managing operations and more time growing it,” said Jamie
McDonald, Executive General Manager, Product, Accounting and Global
Services at Xero.
“Through an increasingly connected global platform, advisors can save
hours on entering and processing data and more time upskilling and
providing higher-value services to their clients. Our accounting
partners are the true engine room of the small business economy, and we
know these tools will help them do that even more.”
Tax Mapper for US accountants and bookkeepers removes the workarounds
in tax time
Tax Mapper, an all-new tax workflow solution, makes annual tax
preparation easier than ever for US accountants and bookkeepers by
seamlessly mapping client data from the Xero platform for their
preferred tax software in a few easy clicks.
Currently, many tax accountants manually collate client documents from
multiple sources, and data accuracy checks require swapping between
multiple pieces of software, meaning time spent chasing and processing
information.
Tax Mapper makes automated tax workflow easy for advisors, and
significantly reduces the time spent entering data and managing manual
workarounds. Each client’s necessary financial information is
systematically aligned to the relevant US tax forms, ready for input to
any tax platform.
Tax Mapper is a major step in Xero’s journey toward automating the
compliance process for advisors agnostic to platforms and partners, so
accountants and bookkeepers can work with the tools and software that
suit them.
The Xero platform brings information into one place and, by providing
easy reporting and checking, accountants and bookkeepers can be more
confident in the accuracy of the information. Tax Mapper will also
include a report to show a record of all the mappings, so advisors can
double-check the mappings before export.
Xero will roll out additional tax preparation services and deeper
partnerships with tax providers in the coming months.
Nick Pasquarosa, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Bookkeeper360:
“We are excited to hear Xero will have more customization and
functionality with exporting/importing data into our tax software. Tax
Mapper will save us countless hours of manual data entry, allowing us to
focus on the things that matter most, having impactful relationships
with our clients and adding value so they can grow their businesses. As
a long time Xero partner, we love the changes Xero continues to make to
allow us to improve our client experience.”
Automatically generate GST/HST tax returns in Canada
A Canada GST/HST solution is now available in beta for select Canadian
subscribers, allowing accountants and bookkeepers to automatically
generate GST or HST tax returns with a single click, saving hours of
time spent manually calculating tax requirements. The new feature brings
GST and HST calculations directly into the Xero platform so advisors can
manage and audit tax returns quickly.
By automating Canadian tax obligations, advisors can work more
efficiently, grow their practice and help small business clients stay on
top of their tax obligations from day one.
New personalized learning experience in Xero Central helps users
level up
Xero Central, the all-in-one support portal, is now home to Xero’s most
comprehensive suite of learning courses and resources, aimed at helping
all of Xero’s global subscribers including small businesses, and
accounting and bookkeeping practices, grow their knowledge in the areas
most important to them.
Covering a wide range of topics from payroll and invoicing to taxation
and apps, the revamped learning platform provides one place for
customers to learn, by themselves or alongside their advisors.
Xero users can learn in the formats best suited to them, such as
e-learning content, video, live classroom events or interactive
webinars. With machine learning and intelligent search at the center,
Xero Central is designed to deliver relevant and personalized training
content to help people and businesses of all experience levels and sizes
to get what they need most.
The new learning portal simplifies the process of getting certified,
giving users the ability to stay up to date on the latest product
updates and learning content. And with new learning badges, accountants
and bookkeepers can market their specializations to prospective clients,
from product and app specializations to industry expertise in
construction, retail and other industries.
The latest changes are the first of many to come to the learning
programs to help advisors of all types continue to upskill and deliver
greater value to their clients.
About Xero
Born in the cloud, Xero
is a beautiful, easy-to-use platform for small businesses and their
advisors. Xero provides its 1.8 million subscribers with connections to
a thriving ecosystem of 700+ third party apps and 200+ connections to
banks and financial service providers. On the inaugural 2018 Financial
Times FT1000 High-Growth Companies Asia Pacific list, Xero was the
fastest growing tech company in the $200 million+ segment. Xero won
‘Bookkeeping software of the year’ from the Institute of Certified
Bookkeepers UK in 2018, and was rated by Canstar Blue as Australia’s
best accounting software over four consecutive years, 2015-2018.
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