Accounting Assignment: Depicting the Impact of Xero on Spotty Ltd

Question

Task: It is now January 2019, and Mr and Mrs Spot have been very busy growing the business of Spottie Ltd over the last year. The business now stocks 20 inventory lines, and employs three full-time staff.

After using a manual accounting system in Excel for Spottie Ltd’s business, Mr and Mrs Spot have come to you for advice as they consider moving to a computerised accounting system. They believe that they have been spending too much time preparing the accounting records, and a friend recommended that they make the move to ‘Xero’ – an online accounting system.

Undertake some research into cloud-based accounting systems, and the ‘Xero’ cloudbased accounting system.

Required: Prepare a business report (for the directors of Spottie Ltd) on cloud-based accounting systems (explaining what they are and how they work), and the suitability of the Xero cloud-based accounting system to Spottie Ltd’s business. In your discussion, explain how a computerised system like Xero can help the business track and account for inventory. Also highlight three other useful features of Xero that will be beneficial to Mr and Mrs Spot as they seek to save time preparing their accounting records, and monitor and grow their business further.

Answer

Introduction: The advancement of technology in terms of automation and artificial intelligence, a brief change has been observed in the accounting and financial industry in terms of the usage of the method of accounting. As we resonate from the title of this Accounting assignment, it can be said that from the inventions of smaller calculating devices, to the introduction of virtual spread sheets like excels, technology has developed a lot for accounting purposes. In these days, the cloud based accounting software are the growing trend in all kind of industries in order to make the accounting procedure simple and easy for the owners of the entity.

Cloud based accounting
Cloud based accounting is an accounting software which is being hosted in the remote servers and provides accounting facilities to the business owners as a pre-set program. It is more like a service and the application is performing as a off-site software rather than operating on the desktop of the user. The key purpose of the cloud based accounting as discussed in this Accounting assignment is to access the service of AI generated accounting features through the internet and other modes of connectivity without even having to install the software in the computer of the personnel (Vister & Evans, 2017). In this respect, the employees from the remote branches are able to access the same data that was being uploaded to other branches of the organisation. Such cloud based platforms are available in two forms, online accounting software and web –based accounting software. Some of the key features of the cloud based accounting is, it can calculate the financial data of the entity by based on the inputs provided by the accountant in a time efficient way. Beside this, it is simpler than the conventional accounting procedure and easy to understand to most people because of its simplified user interface and graphics based output results. Beside this, it can provide certain recommendations and reminders by based on its past experiences due to the implementation of AI to the users. Along with this, due to the fact that the software is hosted in the remote server, a secured back up and disaster recovery system can be available for the users in case of any inconvenience in the office of the company.

Sustainability of Xero
Xero is a cloud based accounting software quite popular specifically in Australia, New Zealand and UK in terms of its significance to handle the accounting problems of small sized business entities. The software is user friendly and functional and helps to streamline the management of the business with increased efficiency. Along with the small sized business organisation, the software is capable of handling the business of most of the types including the non-profit organisations. The key features of the software are to monitor the sales of the organisations, sent out invoices and stay on top of the cash flow of the entity. Beside this, the software also boasts the inventory, contact management of the entity in terms of saving the time of the users, and helps to create the extensive records for employees, suppliers, items and customers (Veda & Chaudhari, 2018). Along with this, the user interface of the software is easy to use and certain online tutorials are also being provided along with the software which enables the users to use the software without any prior training. The accessibility of the software is another key aspect due to the fact that this can be accessed from any devices unless and until it has a working internet connection.

There are certain considerations which are needed to be analysed in this respect in order to suggest the key benefits of Xero to the owners of Spotty Ltd in this respect. First of all, the software helps to send electronic invoices to the customers in order to help them pay online. Beside this, certain automated scheduled recurring invoices can also be set in order to send to the customer prior to the date of the delivery. Beside this, the inventory management tools provided along with the software enables the customers to track items in real time. This helps to figure out how many items the customers have in their inventory while preparing the invoices for the clients. Along with this, the software is also able to distinguish the best selling and most profitable items of the organisation in terms of helping them in the decision making procedure (Onyali, 2016). Along with the online tutorials comes with the software, it can be used with no prior training and thus transforms the complex financial concepts into an enjoyable journey. Beside this, the interactive dashboard of the software provides a snapshot of all the key information of the business in one place through the graphs and charts. Another key consideration of this software is its pricing ranging from $ 20 to $40 per month which makes it affordable to all entities in this respect. At last, due to the fact that all the necessary data is being stored in a remote server, the assurance of security is prevailed for the users of the software.

Key benefits of Xero
There are three key benefits which should be taken into consideration by the entities in terms of their usability of the software. In this respect, these advantages are:

• The software comes with an automated payment reminders system which helps to save the time of generating emails manually.
• Due to the simple and user-friendly interface, it is easy to learn and understand the key aspects of the business.
• Efficient and innovative inventory tracking system of the software enables the entities for a better business management scopes.

Conclusion
By analysing the key factors of the business in this Accounting assignment, it can be stated that the software can enable the business entity to run their accounting procedures more smoothly and in a time efficient way. In this regard, the efficiency in cost and effort makes it the perfect choice for the business entities in terms of its usability in the operations of the business. Accounting assignments are being prepared by our online accounting assignment help experts from top universities which let us to provide you a reliable assignment help Australia service.

Reference
Onyali, C. (2016). The Use Of Cloud Computing And Accounting Packages For Corporate Business Transactions In Nigeria: An Explorative Study. IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM), 18(7), 113-117.

Vister, K. K., & Evans, R. D. (2017, December). Identifying contributing factors to sustainability awareness in the norwegian software industry. In 2017 IEEE 4th International Conference on Knowledge-Based Engineering and Innovation (KBEI) (pp. 0700-0705). IEEE.

Veda, H. M., & Chaudhari, S. (2018, August). Updating of ManufactOn Software in Collaborative, Cloud and Mobile Solution in Civil Construction. In International Conference on Intelligent Data Communication Technologies and Internet of Things (pp. 1277-1290). Springer, Cham.