Kashflow or Xero?

BCASL

I'm considering cloud packages for our clients, so far I have had minimal exposure to Kashflow and Xero, I was wondering what members thought of either or both in terms of pricing, ease of use and funtionality? Which would you recommend?

Any advice gratefully received - thank you.

MarieNoelle

Hi BCASL,
We use Kashflow mainly for our clients in the building trade, and most of them enter their own invoices and purchases as it is fairly simple and straightforward for someone who doesn't know accounting. It also has a CIS function which automatically deducts the CIS on invoices. The version we have doesn't integrate payroll so we have to enter journals monthly or quarterly. Actually we have to enter journals for nearly everything that doesn't go through the bank (depreciation, payroll liabilities CT liability etc...), apart from the VAT journals which are done automatically after filing a VAT return.
I hated it when I first started on it but now I have got used to it!

I can not advise on pricing however but I think it's one of the most basic package. Our practice is also looking into getting Xero shortly.
I hope this helps,
MN

deanshepherd

Hate is a strong word but I dislike them both.

FreeAgent is my personal favourite and one I often recommend - very easy for clients (and us) to just pick up and use. Accounts Portal 'bang for buck' is up there too. Not as much functionality but at £6 per month it is hard to beat on price and is one we use for all our bookkeeping clients.

Wave Accounting is completely free and well worth a look.

reader

deanshepherd wrote: »

Hate is a strong word but I dislike them both.

FreeAgent is my personal favourite and one I often recommend - very easy for clients (and us) to just pick up and use. Accounts Portal 'bang for buck' is up there too. Not as much functionality but at £6 per month it is hard to beat on price and is one we use for all our bookkeeping clients.

Wave Accounting is completely free and well worth a look.

What don't you like about Xero? (I don't work for Xero or anything, I'm just interested).

The thing I don't like about Xero is navigating from page to page can be a bit time consuming if you have slow internet or lots of data already entered into Xero.

reader

BCASL wrote: »

I'm considering cloud packages for our clients, so far I have had minimal exposure to Kashflow and Xero, I was wondering what members thought of either or both in terms of pricing, ease of use and funtionality? Which would you recommend?

Any advice gratefully received - thank you.

Xero will cost the client around £20/month (including VAT).

I prefer Xero to Sage (but it is not as good/easy to use as VT- I don't work for VT btw).

I've never used Kashflow.

deanshepherd

reader wrote: »

What don't you like about Xero? (I don't work for Xero or anything, I'm just interested).

Two things spring to mind:

1) The data on screen never seems to fit to one page and there is no scroll bar to take the screen to the right so I have to use arrow keys which is really slow. This may be a problem with my browser but I shouldn't have to start changing my settings to get it to work.

2) When I am reviewing a VAT return and see an item for which input VAT has been incorrectly claimed I cannot just click on that item and correct it. I have to go hunting for the invoice or bank payment. That is a real PITA!