Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Xero Cloud Accounting Software from NZ

Greetings from RSM Bird Cameron's Canberra office where the Xero Cloud Accounting Software from NZ is being demonstrated. When the GST was introduced into Australia, the government provided a voucher for software, which on my account's advice I used to buy a very simple Microsoft Windows based accounting package. This worked reasonably well for several years until I phased out Windows for Linux. My accountant could not recommend any Linux accounting software, so I signed up for the Saasu cloud based accounting software. This works much the same as the previous software, but with the advantage I don't have to install software upgrades. My account has access to download data from the service. Xero seems to be very similar to Saasu.

One feature of Xero is that you can post a text comment to your accountant against a transaction (and they reply).

One improvement I suggested to Xero (and would be useful in Saasu) would be an option two factor authentication. That is if the system detected the user was on a computer they had not used before, a code would be sent by SMS to their phone, which they have to enter, along with their usual ID and password. This would provide more protection against someone hacking the account, without causing too much inconvenience.

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