Good financial reporting has the ability to provide insights that drive a business forward through better decision-making. It also provides forewarning of potential issues that may lie ahead. With the right reporting tool, you’ll be able to transform your data into valuable insights. Many of these reports have date and scenario customisation beyond what Xero can offer and specialise in reporting for both strategy and operational level management. We’ve selected 5 reporting add ons from the Xero marketplace to help you on your reporting journey.
Fathom is an easy to use management reporting, forecasting and financial analysis tool, which helps you to assess business performance, monitor trends and identify improvement opportunities. Their data visualizations make it easy to understand accounting information and track against KPIs. Reporting is highly customizable and the tool is simple to use for end users. Their support is great and they’re heavily focused on upskilling their clients with tools to better advice their clients from an advisory perspective.
Syft is a proudly South Africa solution that has grown rapidly since it hit the market and now has the largest customer base of any Reporting App in the Xero ecosystem. It has a comprehensive range of features to manage both a business and accounting practice. Included in the tool is an AI-powered anomaly detection tool to improve accuracy and processing time. In 2022, they won the Xero App Partner of the year in both New Zealand and United Kingdom and were finalists in South Africa.
Spotlight is used by ‘the big four’ accounting firms and started in 2011. Spotlight syncs a range of key financial info from Xero including Tracking Categories, and tax rates and applies this to its reporting data. The dashboard in Spotlight can be customised to show key metrics and KPIs so you can get a quick and simple overview of your business. The tools is great for producing corporate reporting packs and consolidations of multi-currency entities.
Simply BFI is a Business Intelligence tool that focuses on data trends, consolidations and analytics. It can combine up to 150 Xero organisations into one report. It has machine learning that picks up anomalies and creates predictive analysis reports. You can also automate your account mapping across all entities, based on description and type. There are data audit logs in the system to check your app has the latest data as well as the ability to customise when your data is refreshed. You can connect custom SharePoint Excel models, meaning you can import your models from Excel into Simply BFI. Role-Based security means you can have user access control and customise who gets to see which reports.
The focus of Float is cash flow, scenario planning and forecasting based on your cash flow. You can also use this app for budgeting and comparing this to your actual spend. Float has a range of dates for cash flow forecasting from weekly up to a 3-year forecast. Float will update the cash flow forecasts created every day with bills, invoices and payments so the data is automatically updated. This one-way sync pulls invoices and bills from Xero to build up your forecast in Float. It goes above and beyond what Xero reporting has as it presents different scenarios to model different potential cash outcomes. Additionally, you can cash flow forecast on a project-by-project basis as well as see the impact of projects on the overall company cash flow.
When deciding between various reporting add-ons, it is a good idea to set up a free trial and talk to the various support teams during the trial to see if the tool has all the functionality and efficiencies you need. With over 150 apps in the Xero app store, so you won’t be short of options. Lastly, ensure you’ve explored the options that are built into Xero before spending on additional tools. Check out our blog on the Xero reporting and see if you may already have the solution at hand. If you’re interested in partnering with an expert to guide you through the process and help you select the best solution for your needs, reach out to us for a free consultation below.
