It was great to showcase our plans for new tools and features at Xerocon New Orleans last month. While we were busy connecting with our partners, Xero teams around the world were enhancing the features on our platform. Here’s an overview of the features we’ve released in the past month, and those that are coming soon.

New features

Find the right document pack more easily — Global

We’ve improved the search functionality in document packs. It now surfaces results based on what the search ‘contains’ rather than what it ‘starts with’, so you can find the document pack you need without remembering the exact name. You can also sort by the date it was created or sent, and bookmark the unique URL of each search for easy access later on.

Make adjustments in the Xero Accounting app — Global

Sometimes, there’s a discrepancy between what is received from the bank and the amount on the customer’s bill or invoice. To resolve this, you may like to add an adjustment to the transaction to write off the difference. We’re now giving you two ways to make adjustments in the Xero Accounting app: bank fees and minor adjustments.

Enjoy new features in Xero reports — Global

We’re continuing to roll out new reporting features in Xero. Here’s what you can expect now and in the weeks ahead:

• Due to the positive response from customers around the world, we’ve extended sticky headers and rows to all new reports in Xero
• The new Account Summary report has been released to all customers. It’s available from the report centre, and will soon be available as a drilldown from the watchlist on the main dashboard
• We’re extending our US pilot that includes a chart in the Expenses by Contact report, to all customers globally in the weeks ahead
• We’ve added ‘Credit Limit’ and ‘Available Credit’ as optional fields in the Aged Receivables Summary report, in addition to a new common format in the side panel (US only)
• We’ve added a ‘contact group’ field to the Account Transactions report, as well as some new common formats for deeper analysis of data (US only but coming soon to more regions).

Update employee records in Xero Payroll — Australia

To make sure your employee records are compliant with Single Touch Payroll (STP) Phase 2, we’ve updated the employee list in Xero Payroll. The new list makes it easy to see if any employee records need updating for STP. If they do, you’ll be able to click through to our new transition tool to add the information required. The new list and transition tool will be rolled out to all Xero Payroll admins in the weeks ahead.

Add new earnings types to payslips in Xero Payroll — Australia

From January 2023, you’ll need to report parental leave and workers’ compensation separately in Xero Payroll. These leave types can now be added to employees’ pay template and payslip. When they are used for employees, the amounts will be correctly classified so you will be compliant when STP Phase 2 is up and running.

See changes to employee records in Xero Payroll — Australia

One of our most highly requested product updates is now live in Xero Payroll: payroll history. The first phase of this feature is available in employee records. It offers an easy-to-access audit trail of changes made within Xero by a small business owner, advisor or app partner. This helps you understand, track, manage and troubleshoot changes to employee details.

Rollover and merge pre-populated data in Xero Tax — New Zealand

When you create a new tax return for your clients, the prior year return’s worksheet entries will now be rolled forward and automatically merged with pre-populated data from the IRD. This will help you save time, ensure you don’t miss any income, and reduce the risk of data entry errors. Any items that don’t merge are left for you to edit or delete.

Set up employees more confidently in Xero Payroll — UK

We’ve improved the way you set up employees and off-payroll workers (contractors) in Xero Payroll. Updates include a refreshed design, links to Xero Central articles throughout the employee set-up experience, updated content and labels, as well as new set-up completion notifications, so you know when you’re ready to include employees in a pay run.

Use GoCardless Instant Bank Pay to collect one-off payments — UK

Instant Bank Pay is a new open banking feature directly integrated into the GoCardless global payment platform. With Instant Bank Pay, you can receive instant, one-off bank payments from new and existing customers. You can also continue to use GoCardless direct debit for recurring payments. Find out more about Instant Bank Pay and how to set it up in Xero.

Get a better view of pension filings in Xero Payroll — UK

In the UK, we’ve refreshed the pension filing page in Xero Tax to make sure your pension contributions are submitted in a timely manner. This is part of our work to upgrade the technology that underpins our platform, so we can deliver new features faster than ever before.

• We’ve updated the look and feel so you can see the current tax year in your search results, with an indication of the total results available
• The rejected, unfiled and filed sections have been combined so it’s easier to get a holistic view of results
• There are two new filters that allow you to sort by ‘period’ and ‘status’
• We’ve removed the option to download the ‘TPP CSV’ and moved the ‘view payrun’ functionality to the overflow menu