Xero Bookkeeping for Small Business in Australia

What is Xero bookkeeping for small business?

Xero bookkeeping means running your small business accounts in Xero, Australia's most widely used cloud accounting platform, with a Registered BAS service provider and Xero Certified Partner keeping the file accurate. It covers bank reconciliation, GST and BAS, payroll and Single Touch Payroll, invoicing and payables, and clear monthly reporting, all in one place your accountant can access. True Tally works exclusively in Xero, so your numbers are always current, reliable and ready to act on.

Why Xero for an Australian small business?

Xero connects directly to the ATO for BAS lodgement, pulls automatic bank feeds from every major Australian bank, and has the deepest ecosystem of add-ons (Dext, Hubdoc, Fathom, and industry tools like Halaxy, Splose and Tradify). For a small business it means less manual data entry, fewer errors, and live visibility of cash flow rather than a shoebox reconciled once a year. Xero Certified Partner status is the credential that shows your bookkeeper knows the platform properly.

What does a Xero bookkeeper actually do each month?

A good Xero bookkeeper reconciles every bank account in the first week of the month, codes transactions correctly, keeps GST and payroll compliant, chases overdue debtors, and produces a plain-English report so you know where you stand. At True Tally we also action payroll through our own HR software subscriptions, keep your chart of accounts clean, and use Fathom to turn the Xero data into a dashboard you can run the business from.

Moving to Xero: how does a conversion work?

If you are on MYOB, QuickBooks, spreadsheets or a messy Xero file, we handle the conversion: migrating your data, rebuilding the chart of accounts, setting up bank feeds and payroll correctly, and checking opening balances against your last BAS and financials. You get a clean file from day one, not a mess carried across. We work exclusively in Xero, so conversions are a core part of what we do.

Should you create a new Xero file or convert your old one?

It is the question we get before almost every move to Xero: do you bring your history across, or start clean? The honest answer is "it depends", and it usually comes down to how tidy the old file is. If your MYOB or QuickBooks file is well kept and reconciled, we convert it, so your history, comparatives and reporting carry across. If it is a tangle of miscoded years, starting a fresh Xero file with correct opening balances (checked against your last BAS and lodged financials, in line with the ATO record-keeping rules) is often cleaner, faster and cheaper than untangling the old one. Either way your accountant keeps the historical file for lodged returns, so nothing is lost. We talk it through on the first call and recommend the path that gives you a reliable file from day one. Here is how a conversion actually works.

When should you migrate from MYOB to Xero? Often, it is about the apps

People assume the reason to move from MYOB to Xero is the software itself. Just as often, the real reason is the apps you want to plug into it. Xero has one of the largest ecosystems of connected apps in Australia, so if you have outgrown what your current system can do, the move is really about unlocking the right tools. The government's business.gov.au digital tools guidance makes the same point: pick the software that fits the way you actually work.

Inventory is the classic trigger. If you are tracking stock in spreadsheets, or your current system handles it clumsily, a dedicated inventory app that syncs with Xero changes everything. Unleashed, for example, manages stock, purchasing, manufacturing and real-time inventory valuation and feeds it straight into Xero, which is a level of control product and wholesale businesses often cannot get from MYOB's native inventory. Other common triggers to move: you want stronger payroll, connected job-management apps for trades, or cleaner reporting through tools like Fathom. The simple rule of thumb, if the app you need lives in the Xero ecosystem and not your current one, that is usually your signal to move. We handle the conversion and set the apps up so they actually talk to each other, rather than leaving you to wire it together yourself.

How much does Xero bookkeeping cost?

True Tally works on fixed monthly fees, not hourly billing, so you always know the cost. Monthly bookkeeping starts from $300 per month for up to 100 transactions and 2 bank accounts, BAS from $150 per lodgement, and payroll from $20 per payslip with STP and super included. We do not take on one-off cleanups; catch-up work is only for new clients moving to ongoing monthly support.

Frequently Asked Questions