Xero releases basic accounting app for small biz, freelancers

Business software provider Xero announced the early U.K. release of its new Xero Go app, which aims to provide small business owners, freelancers and other self-employed individuals access to entry-level accounting solutions.

The new app will allow people to record expenses via the Quickscan feature, which extracts expense information from receipts and imports it into the app and auto-suggests categories. The software also lets them create, send and track customizable invoices (including customer reminders for late payments), as well as add Stripe payments to invoices.

The app can be paired with the Xero Go Partner Plan, which allows accountants, bookkeepers and other financial data hosts to receive tax-coded financial data as well as income data gleaned from invoices. This information can be accessed via the Xero Go app.

“This is a product that caters to the entry-level accounting needs of the self-employed — a growing area of demand,” said Anna Curzon, chief product officer at Xero in a statement. “We wanted to offer early access to a product that caters to the basic accounting needs of self-employed businesses in the U.K., the number of which has increased over the last 20 years, and also those of their advisors.”

The app is currently available for U.K. customers who use iPhones; the company plans to introduce an Android version with additional functionality in the coming months.