Xero introduces new product releases on a regular basis, ensuring you can continue to effectively manage your finances, even as tax rates change and new requirements arise. However, sometimes new functionality can slip under the radar and you might not realise just how useful some of their latest updates are.
Here we look at a couple of their recent additions and how they help your business.
Direct Bill Payments
This handy feature lets you link Xero to your business bank – meaning you can arrange for any outstanding payable invoices to be paid through Xero in a batch.
Simply connect Xero to your bank, select the bills you want to pay using direct bank transfer and authorise the payments directly from your banking app or online banking.
You can:
- Pay multiple suppliers at once, and multiple bills for each supplier. It effectively compiles a BACS payment file, but without you having to export and upload.
- Group your bills to pay by payee, so each supplier receives a single payment and reference for a group of bills – the payment will still show all the bills that make up the batch. · Still send remittance advice from a paid bill.
- Schedule your bills to be paid at a future date directly from Xero.
- Allow employees to help prepare bills for payment then request someone to pay and handover to you for review. This means you can still maintain an approvals workflow if multiple people are involved in your bill payment process.
Once you authenticate and pay a bill or batch of bills, you will be able to check the status and see an overview of all bill payments made using direct bank transfer in Xero.
Online Invoice Payments
Following a similar theme, you can configure Xero sales invoices to include links that allow customers to make payments online, personalised with your logo and a custom message.
The ‘Pay Now’ button on invoices is an effective and secure way of collecting payments with ease. You are simply connecting a trusted payment processor to online invoices in Xero – reducing the steps to pay and your time chasing payments. Payment services that connect to Xero have robust security protections and strong encryption.
This functionality can accept online payments from credit and debit cards, digital wallets, Klarna using Stripe and direct debit with GoCardless.
Find out more at our Xero workshop
On 30 April 2025, we are hosting a FREE morning of networking and valuable insights into Xero at Thetford Garden Centre. Designed for those businesses currently using Xero, you will discover more about its innovative features and new functionality.
Find out more about our event here and secure your free space.
