When you’re first getting set up in your business, and running things yourself to keep costs down, it absolutely makes sense to keep things as simple as possible. And if you’ve been keeping your records in an Excel spreadsheet, you’re not alone. And the fact that you’re keeping profit and loss records at all is to be applauded!
But when your business gets busy, your Excel updates become more sporadic, and you might find that your records are becoming messy or inconsistent. If this is you, it might be time to consider taking the next step in bookkeeping and setting yourself up with two platforms that will streamline your bookkeeping and make your record-keeping quick, easy and simple.
We’re talking about Xero and Dext.
Xero Bookkeeping
At Dollars + Sense, we work with Xero every day, and we can’t recommend it highly enough. Xero is cloud-based accounting software that is super efficient at helping you to keep your financial records organised while carrying out your everyday bookkeeping tasks.
What we love about it is:
- It’s accessible from anywhere you’ve got an internet connection – so whether you work in an office or you’re out on the road all day, you’ve got everything you need at your fingertips.
- It’s user friendly – even if you find spreadsheets a challenge, Xero is intuitive and easy to use.
- It’s automated – no downloading bank statements here, your bank feeds are all automated so you can set and forget.
- It integrates well with other programs – we’ll get to Dext in a moment, but it’s our favourite integration that will make your small business bookkeeping a breeze.
Once you’ve got your Xero account set up, it will make your life so much easier. At Dollars and Sense, we recommend you get help to set up your Xero account if you can because then you can be confident you’ve got everything in place moving forward.
Dext
Xero is great, but if you want to take your bookkeeping to the next level, we recommend you integrate it with Dext. Dext is a cloud-based app that simplifies your expenses. It works with a variety of accounting software systems, and it allows you to keep a record of your expenses just by taking photos of your receipts and loading them into the app.
The app scans the information it needs from your paperwork, creates a bill in your accounting software, and attaches the photo so your records can all be reconciled and you have everything you need in case of an audit.
There’s no need to hold onto your paper receipts because every record you need is in the app, plus a record will also be in Xero, if you have the two accounts linked.
The advanced artificial intelligence of Dext pulls out all the info you need such as the GST, totals, dates, supplier, etc. And, of course, you can manually adjust anything if there are errors, but we usually find it to be very efficient.
We love using Dext at Dollars + Sense because it’s such an incredible time saver. It means we can work remotely with our clients and nobody has to be sending around big shoeboxes of receipts, and it means nobody has to be manually keying in every expense.
And, just like Xero, Dext can be accessed from any smartphone, which is especially great for small business owners who don’t spend their days sitting at a desk, because you can just take a photo of a receipt and then throw it away.
No need to keep track of anything.
But Dext also operates via email, so if you receive an emailed invoice from a supplier, you can just email it straight through to Dext, and it pulls all the information straight out of the PDF. Plus it can be set up for regular expenses and suppliers too.
The combination of Xero and Dext is such a great step up from your Excel spreadsheet, and it will save you a lot of time too, which you can put towards further growing your business.
Want help setting up your Xero and Dext accounts? Contact Dollars and Sense for a quote.
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