Xero: The Best Accounting Software for Small Businesses

It’s not been an easy ride for small businesses over the past few years. Whether it has been lockdowns keeping the doors closed, supply chain issues impacting stock and deliveries, or inflation causing costs to spiral, there has been no shortage of worries.

And that’s on top of the day-to-day stress running a small business can bring.

But one area where small businesses don’t have to worry is keeping on top of their accounts – thanks to award-winning Xero. For the fourth year in a row, the Kiwi cloud-based accounting software company has been named as the nation’s favourite, and the winner of Canstar Blue’s award for Most Satisfied Customers | Small Business Accounting Software.

New Zealand’s favourite accounting software

For this year’s award, we canvassed the opinions of hundreds of small business owners to find out how they feel about their accounting software. We asked them to measure their satisfaction across the following categories:

• Overall Satisfaction
• Ease of Integration
• Ease of Use
• Value for Money
• Functionality
• Customer Service
• Reporting

And the results were clear – Xero is the best in the biz! Kiwis score the business accounting software provider 5 Stars across all categories.

What is Xero?

Xero is a true Kiwi success story. Founded in 2006, it’s now a market leader in accounting software not only here in New Zealand, but in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Xero provides cloud-based services that can assist in a range of accounting needs, including sending out invoices, keeping track of stock levels, tracking expenses and more.

What do Kiwis love about Xero?

One of the reasons Kiwis love Xero so much is that it tackles a problem they never knew they had! For years accounting and bookkeeping were a time-consuming headache. But Xero provides a remedy thanks to its well-designed software that makes staying on top of spending, invoicing, payroll and more a breeze.

But Xero doesn’t just solve the problem of everyday bookkeeping. It goes much further. Xero puts a heap of useful data and tools at the disposal of its small-business subscribers. The real-time data and analytics that Xero provides can help take the guesswork out of running a business.

Xero’s slogan is “Beautiful Accounting Software”, and it’s always aimed to be a disrupter and to do things a little differently, which is something over 3 million subscribers across 180+ countries clearly love!

What Does Xero offer?

Just a handful of the things you can do through Xero are:

Store all documents online in one place documents for quick access

Capture bills and receipts via email, or scan files from your mobile.

Automate their administration

Connect Xero to a bank for automatic bank feeds. Easily sync bank and financial information and work smarter with intuitive invoicing software. Automatically prepare GST returns, and securely file online to Inland Revenue.

Customise Xero to meet their needs

Choose from over 1000 apps in the Xero App Store to streamline tasks. Build on a Xero plan with flexible features.

Xero currently offers three small business plans:

Starter: for sole traders and the self-employed

Usual Price: $29 per month (ex GST)

Standard: for growing small businesses

Usual Price: $31 per month (ex GST)

Premium: for established businesses

Usual Price: $78 per month (ex GST)

Looking for the best accounting software?

Whether you are just starting out, or you’re an established business looking to make life easier, great accounting software makes all the difference.

For more information on Xero’s win and to check out our full Small Business Accounting Software ratings, just click on the button below!

Check out Canstar's latest Small Business Accounting Software ratings!

About the author of this page

This report was written by Canstar Content Producer, Andrew Broadley. Andrew is an experienced writer with a wide range of industry experience. Starting out, he cut his teeth working as a writer for print and online magazines, and he has worked in both journalism and editorial roles. His content has covered lifestyle and culture, marketing and, more recently, finance for Canstar.