Xero works on a computer, a phone, a tablet – you name it. The app is robust and allows you to check your bank, reconcile, send invoices to clients, and more. You can even record your expenses directly, and photograph your receipt, saving you the need for other additional receipt tracking apps.

QuickBooks Online offers these features but it took them a while to catch up. Xero is more robust and has a smoother and intuitive flow to all of these features.

Again, QuickBooks caught this feature, but it’s the best. Even QuickBooks Desktop had to bring this feature in. The efficiency of getting your bank data directly into the software is remarkable. Xero brings it in daily, and keeps you caught up through yesterdays’ banking activity.

Xero allows you to connect many other applications, and invoicing presents a great opportunity. You can connect it to PayPal and your preferred merchant service provider to allow clients a variety of options to pay right from the invoice.

Case In Point: If you are a direct service provider, you can develop a work rhythm to send an invoice to a client before you ever leave the job. You can send it by email, and make sure they receive it. It’s even possible at that point to have them pay before you finish your day. And all of the information lands in the accounting software. Done and done!

Now we are getting technical, but there are times you or your advisors may want to see how the journal entries worked for a transaction (or a group of them). Xero has a ‘Journal Report’ that will show every journal entry for a time period, one by one. When researching issues, this can be a huge help.

Xero will automatically convert the money you spent or received in the foreign currency into local dollars. In QuickBooks, foreign currency always stays separate, and will build extra lines in your financials. If you work in multi-currencies for any reason, you should take a serious look at Xero.