Why now is a great time to try new reports in Xero

Last year, we announced that we had started upgrading the technology that underpins the Xero platform, so our teams can build new features faster than ever before. Today, we’re excited to share that we’ve hit a significant milestone on that project when it comes to reporting in Xero.

We’ve had two versions of our reports for a while now — the older version and our ‘new’ reports. Our new reports now have some really exciting features that will help you get quick access to answers and streamline your financial analysis.

But we’re not done yet. Our teams have big plans to add even more reports and functionality in the future. To do this, they really need to focus their attention on new reports, instead of spending their time maintaining older versions that are now outdated.

We’re retiring the older versions of our reports

That’s why we’re retiring the older versions of our reports in Xero on 31 July at 6am NZST. In some time zones, this will mean that old reports will not be available from 30 July 2023.

You’ll have access to older versions of our reports until they are retired. After this date:

• you won’t be able to run any older versions of our reports
• any saved drafts of old reports will be removed from Xero
• you will have read-only access to old published and archived reports

For Australian and New Zealand partners:

• you will not be able to create or edit old report packs in Xero HQ, or run them in your clients’ organisations 
• any published or archived report packs in clients’ organisations will remain as read-only at the client level

There are some reports that won’t be retired on this date, as we are upgrading them in a different way or at a later date. These include the Budget Manager, Business Performance Dashboard, Payrun, Payroll, Tax, GST Reconciliation reports, and the Reporting API.

We recognise that for some of you, this is a big change and it will take some time to get used to new reports. That’s why we’re giving you plenty of time to make the switch, so you can do it at a time of year that suits you — such as a quieter period, or the start of the new financial year.

How we’re supporting you during the transition

Our customer research shows us that once people give new reports a try, they love them. But we’ll be introducing lots of resources over the next year to support you. These include:

• regular live webinars from our education team (register for upcoming webinars now)
• quick links in older versions of our most used reports that will make it easy to switch
• a product tour in the new Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet reports
• a tips and tricks panel in our most used reports with support articles and how-to videos
• a new tool to help you bring saved layouts from older versions into new Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet reports (we’ll let you know more details as soon as this is available)

Start unlocking more value from your reports

All of our new reports are built with Xero customers in mind. The Xero community requested and voted for many of the enhancements, and we’ve tested them with small businesses and advisors, who tell us they love the improved flexibility and customisation.

Things have changed a lot in new reports over the past year. So if you haven’t given them a try lately, it’s a good time to take another look. Here’s what you can expect:

• A beautiful report centre where you can search or scroll to find new reports and add them to your favourites
• An extensive range of reports and common layouts to help you get quick access to answers when you need them most
• Standardised formats and intuitive menus so you can explore different ways of looking at your data in just a few clicks
• Powerful customisation tools that help you tailor the content and layout of your reports to your unique needs
• The ability to add, hide or reorder columns, group or sort data in different ways, and use filtering options to find what you’re looking for
• Features to help you streamline your financial analysis within Xero, including formulas, schedules, switch rules, notes and more

As you can see, there’s plenty of value to discover in our new reports right now. But our teams are working hard to build on this even further in the months ahead.

Soon, we’ll be adding more reports into Xero — including General Ledger, Journal and Bank Reconciliation reports — as well as introducing foreign currency into new reports. We’re also planning a new feature that will let you quickly apply your favourite layouts to multiple organisations.

It’s time to jump in and give new reports a try

If you’re not sure how to get started, we suggest opening the new Profit and Loss report in Xero. There’s a handy product tour in there that will guide you through the new layouts and settings, so you can feel more confident about giving new reports a try.

We’ve also made it easy for you to provide feedback — just click the ‘feedback’ button in the tips and tricks panel in the new Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet or Account Transactions reports and share your thoughts. This feedback will help our teams understand how we can continue to improve your experience.

I hope you love new reports as much as we do, and look forward to hearing how they offer the insights you need to help your business or practice thrive.