Xero Introduces New Practice Manager System for Accounting Firms

Cloud accounting provider Xero is rolling out a new practice management solution that offers job costing, time tracking and invoice management functions. Xero Practice Manager is designed for accountants and bookkeepers who provide services to a variety of business and individual clients.

The new system is the result of months of effort by the company's product development team as it moves to strengthen its partner community and, as such, Xero Practice Manager is available at  no cost to members of the Xero Partner Program who have Silver status or above.

“Over the past few weeks we have previewed several of the key features of this release, but today marks the general availability of the solution,” the company said on its blog on Wednesday evening.

“By connecting client accounting (Xero itself) to Practice Manager, accountants and bookkeepers can get the benefits their clients enjoy by connecting different data sources. Like their small business clients, they become more efficient, get better control of their cashflow and have better visibility over their business.”

Practice Manager also gives professionals the ability to move from the traditional hourly pricing model to a fixed-fee, value-based pricing model. It’s not a forced migration — if you want to use Practice Manager to bill based on time, the functionality is there. But fixed-fee arrangements are also available for professionals who want to take advantage of the growing customer demand for this pricing model.

“Together with Workpapers, Practice Manager is a core part of Practice Studio, our vision of integrated practice solutions for accountants and bookkeepers, delivering tangible business value while embracing the connectedness of the Xero platform and the ability to utilize a single ledger.”