Xero stars again

The annual Canstar Blue report has once again found Xero to be the number one accounting solution in Australia. The report looks at seven categories of performance. It surveyed 800 small business owners or decision makers and received 465 replies. Only companies that registered more that 30 customers are included in the list and once again it was restricted to three solutions: Xero, Intuit Quickbooks and MYOB. Xero impressively not only retained its top status but also achieved the maximum rating in all categories.

The categories were: Overall satisfaction, value for money, ease of integration, functionality, customer services, ease of use and reporting tools. The research also found “value for money” was the most important factor. It was seen by 35% as the most important. “Ease of integration” came second with 22%. This category demonstrates the importance of a strong platform and apps available to integrate with the accounting solution. An example of this is the recent announcement between Vend and Xero.

Quickbooks recovers, maybe

Interestingly both MYOB and Quickbooks achieved an average rating of 3.71 to be joint second. Only three companies mad the Canstar Blue 2016 list and each solution needed at least 30 customers to make the league. It will be interesting to see whether any company drops off the list or is added next year. Can Sage make the list next year as it continues its push into the Australian market?  For MYOB this was another poor performance, their rating dropped from the previous year of 4.0.  Quickbooks however can take some heart as they slightly increased their rating to 3.71, although this could just be a statistical anomaly. They will hope for a further improvement next year.

Canstar Blue identifies the importance of Accounting software

Small business continues to rely on its accounting software. 78% of organisations surveyed believe that the software is critical to their business. For those companies not yet using such software the research indicates that they should reconsider that decision.  Companies now using software believe that it has contributed to their growth (42%).

Megan Doyle, Head of Canstar Blue says: “Small businesses rely on the efficiency and reliability of their accounting software, and over the past two years, Xero has stood out as providing a five­star service to its customers. Users want great functionality and tools to help them manage their finances, with quality customer support on hand if they need it. But they also want to feel they are getting value for money. Congratulations to Xero for continuing to meet the demands and expectations of Australia’s small businesses.”

Conclusion

The number of companies surveyed is a small sample. It would have been interesting to understand the full breakdown of responses. Especially to see the estimated market share of the solutions. Xero demonstrates its market strength in topping the league for the second time in three years.

Trent Innes, Managing Director, Xero Australia commented: “Xero was born to achieve a simple but bold purpose: to build powerful, relevant and beautiful cloud accounting software that would change the lives of its global accounting partners and small businesses. That’s why we consider it our greatest achievement to know that small business owners and key decision makers have named Xero the most­ loved accounting software for a second year in a row, beating MYOB and Intuit Quickbooks, through independent research.”