The unsung heroes of the Xero community forum

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Our Community forum is a hidden gem for those in need of help solving all sorts of accounting, Xero, Payroll or App questions. There’s a wealth of knowledge there that’s overseen by our small Community team. However, the real magic of Community is the Partners and Business Owners that contribute. They jump in to help out fellow Xero users and provide amazing answers to questions, all on their own accord! It can be a great way to learn more about Xero, and gain a few clients along the way, but we wanted to call out a few of the team that have really gone above and beyond.

Peter McCarroll – Fuel Accounting – Canada

Tracy Mawson – Gardiner Knobloch – New Zealand

Cassandra Scott – Laurus Bookkeeping – Australia

Nancy Leach – Imagine Business Services – United States

Joy Moore – Veritas Advisory Pty Ltd – Australia

Tom Hawes – Albert Goodman – United Kingdom

Anita Wildman – Cooper Reeves – Australia

Carmen Morris – On the Money Bookkeeping – Australia

John Knight – TGS Taylorcocks – United Kingdom

We asked Joy Moore (JM), Tracy Mawson (TM), Cassandra Scott (CS) and Tom Hawes (TH) what drives them to help out. You can learn a bit more about them below!

What is your top tip for using Xero?

TH: If it can be automated – automate it! Don’t sit there typing in info if Xero can do it for you. Set up bank rules, repeating invoices or default settings for contacts. You should also save your customised reports so you don’t have to re-edit the template each time you need the report.

CS: Training, training, training. Xero provides fantastic training resources. However the most valuable and most effective training you can get is training by a Xero Partner. A Xero Partner can customise the training to your business and your day to day requirements. Xero Partners often find the fastest and most economic way of you utilising Xero in your business.

TM: My top tip is definitely the use of the Ctrl key to open additional tabs in your browse. This handy little trick allows you to update information, but retain all the report settings or screen settings that you have.

What is your favourite Xero feature?

CS: It has to be find and recode! The easiest way to make bulk adjustments to transactions in a few simple steps. It removes the need for journal entries, which can often result in the integrity of the data being lost.

TM: Find and recode, but this is an advisor only feature. The flexibility of the new reports mean that we can design our own report, with grouping, totals, columns exactly how we want. We can then save them so that they become the new standard. I have found this has been invaluable as no two clients are alike, so these reports allow you to get what you need for each different business.

JM: The Payroll and employee portal. It is so easy to use and I love the fact that I can lodge TFN Decs and Payment Summaries directly to ATO. No more paperwork!

Why do you help out fellow Xero users on the Community?

JM: I love problem solving and I want other users to enjoy using Xero as much as I do.

TH: The community is a great place to see other peoples’ ideas, problems and solutions to all things Xero. This can then help me when I am in discussions with my clients. It’s also nice to do a nice thing and get that feeling you’ve helped someone out.

If you’re wanting to find out more on how to get involved you can read more here. But also keep your eyes peeled for a bigger update. We’re going to completely redo Community with some amazing functionality – making it easier to connect with like-minded Xero users, get and provide answers, speak to the Xero team, and more. This is a one off award for contribution over the last year. However there will be loads more opportunities for you to gain recognition and other benefits – all while helping out your fellow Xeros.

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