Xero - scanning invoices in.

[TheTallGuy]

Until a couple of weeks ago i thought there was more chance of my computer system packing up rather than Apple or Microsoft etc. I have almost nothing stored on my system it’s either with the software provider or cloud storage.

I am now wondering if a physical copy on a hard drive may be a good idea.

Bg

Keeping your own copy is good practice. In my case I keep active material on the PC or cloud with a local backup and a regular backup to external hard disks that are kept off site.

 

[bitwrx]

how hard is it to export the data out of Xero to excel

Easy/hard, depending on what you want to do.

All the reports (standard and custom) can be exported as CSV, Excel or Google sheets - this is trivially easy. I find I can almost always get the info I want on a spreadsheet, then just manipulate it in excel to show you what you need (cost per tonne of pig feed over time for example.... ). This does depend on good quality data though. I've taken care to set my products and services up properly, and diligently itemised every feed bill. It's great for one-off assessments of various things, like would I be better off buying my meds through a buying group or through the vet?. It does get a bit tedious exporting the same info every month to update your costings though.

If you're a bit more geeky like me, there are various products out there that plug in to Xero directly from excel. The cheapest I've found is called flex financial reporting. The data from any of xero's standard reports can be got into an excel table, and updated with a few clicks of the mouse. It's by no means lightning quick, but better than manual export of data.

The big plus is that you can have one spreadsheet that makes the same queries every time you update it. All the analysis is updated "just like that". If you're into power query and power pivot, it's great. I've got a great spreadsheet that gives me cost per meal-equivalent tonne of each ration for our pigs, or each enterprise, or each growth stage. No mean feat as we feed a mixture of bagged compound from one of two suppliers, bulk compound from one of two suppliers, straights bought ex store and delivered, and liquid by products of varying dry matters. It's really illuminating, and is only really feasible to update on a regular basis because of the data export functionality of Xero and the plugin. Wouldn't have even contemplated it with farmplan...

 

[TheRanger]

Most suppliers here email invoices over. We then forward them to Xero, and then create the bills from the drafts that Xero automatically creates. It's pretty straight forward. Most of the drafts are pre populated with about 50%-75% of the information, easy enough to enter the rest.

We have one supplier that actually sends a Xero generated invoice via email, and doing this the same way, you'd expect it to 100% automatically generate the correct fully populated draft? It doesn't. Am I doing something wrong? For example recently ordered 14 replacement tags and a new run of 100 tags. The draft invoice automatically populates, but instead of having 2 lines, the first for 14 tags and the second for 100 tags (as per their email invoice), there is only one line for 1 item which is for the total amount, and has no description. It would be nicer if it generated all the lines automatically (You'd think it should be able to as it's coming from Xero then going back into Xero!). Obviously not a big issue as it's just two lines that are both tags, but in future if one of my other suppliers sends in a Xero generated invoice for 10 items with different VAT rates etc, it would save a lot of time if it self generated 100% of it.

 

[Timbo]

90% of our invoices still arrive in the post.

Why ???

 

[fermerboy]

Why ???

I'd say most of my invoices arrive in the post, with some old skool suppliers unlikely to change anytime soon.

Manually entering in Xero is hardly a chore, by the time you have scanned/taken a photo on the app with your phone etc, reviewed and corrected any mistakes I will have the supplier selected, lines entered, allocated and OK'd, the invoice punched and stuck in the lever arch file, and on to the next.
Plus I really prefer using my pc with twin 27" monitors and not using xero on my phone or tablet, and scanning in with a printer scanner is just a pain.

There will come a tipping point when most of the invoices are by email and a couple of paper ones and then I can see the advantage of the scanning in.
The invoices which arrive in email I print out as I believe it has to be one way or the other, half paper copy, half in the cloud is no use.
The invoices which bug me most are the ones like Vodafone who email you to tell you to log in and then you have navigate to the right page and either print or download.

It obviously varies with your scale, I can just about make a year of invoices in a lever arch so pretty small fry compared to some.

 

[redsloe]

The invoices which bug me most are the ones like Vodafone who email you to tell you to log in and then you have navigate to the right page and either print or download

Click the reconcile and move on. It's unlikely anyone will want to see the invoice in reality.

 

[TheRanger]

Click the reconcile and move on. It's unlikely anyone will want to see the invoice in reality.

That's what our accountant told us off the record. Telephone bills: as long as you put one copy invoice into Xero every year, and the money is going to the same place every month, don't worry about it just press reconcile.

 

[Still Farming]

That's what our accountant told us off the record. Telephone bills: as long as you put one copy invoice into Xero every year, and the money is going to the same place every month, don't worry about it just press reconcile.

That's what's going to do my head in a direct debits going out, only online download bill every 3- 6 months plus if payment come in direct debit bacs etc.
Pen and paper easy????

 

[Dairyfarmerswife]

We have one supplier that actually sends a Xero generated invoice via email, and doing this the same way, you'd expect it to 100% automatically generate the correct fully populated draft? It doesn't. Am I doing something wrong? For example recently ordered 14 replacement tags and a new run of 100 tags. The draft invoice automatically populates, but instead of having 2 lines, the first for 14 tags and the second for 100 tags (as per their email invoice), there is only one line for 1 item which is for the total amount, and has no description. It would be nicer if it generated all the lines automatically (You'd think it should be able to as it's coming from Xero then going back into Xero!). Obviously not a big issue as it's just two lines that are both tags, but in future if one of my other suppliers sends in a Xero generated invoice for 10 items with different VAT rates etc, it would save a lot of time if it self generated 100% of it.

I think you need to send them your xero key for Xero to Xero invoices to work properly.