Our Biggest Takeaways From Xerocon 2025
Xerocon is always a big deal in our calendars, for two reasons: Xero know how to put on a show (and a party), and it’s the best place to learn about what’s coming in the accounting and advisory world. An insight into what will be trending, what’s launching and where we should be focusing for the year to come.
Every year we take some of the team to Xerocon and this year, Eve joined us in Brisbane to lap up some sun (although it rained!?) and lots of industry insight. Here are some of her biggest takeaways from the week…
I took away lots of handy tips and ways for clients to get paid faster (unsurprisingly a focal point for me as a bookkeeper!):
- Payment Links (in beta phase right now): by using payments links in Xero, you can give clients more ways to pay. It’s flexible in that you can use as few or many options as you like (PayPay, Stripe or GoCardless for instance)
- With Stripe connected, you’ll be able to send invoices as an SMS
- For clients that send out recurring bills, using a provider like GoCardless or Stripe allows the customer to set-up their direct debit to come out monthly on the agreed invoice dates. Customers get informed before each payment is taken and invoices are marked as ‘paid automatically’
- Using Stripe gives you the option of passing on the fee to the client to absorb, or you can pay it on your end
Some other new features launching on Xero from one of my favourite sessions include:
- Deputy integration: the ability to manage rosters and advanced timesheets through Xero. Avoids the need for separate systems!
- Employee self-onboarding: this will allow new employees to add in their personal details including TFN & superannuation details securely and will send the information directly to Xero. Employees will be able to look up their superfund details, avoiding delays in waiting for information
- Payroll & Superannuation in one screen: with the introduction of payday superannuation (1st July 2026), Xero is updating their payroll screen to include an option to process superannuation straight away when posting the pay run (highly recommend taking them up on this feature to avoid a Superannuation Guarantee Charge)
- Pay wages from Xero: no need for an ABA file and logging into your bank account to pay wages manually anymore. Payments can be run directly through Xero
More features that are new to Xero worth calling out:
- Xero’s AI tool, JAX, is only growing. You can now request it to show you things like cashflow, gross profit trends and other financial data which it can then provide in a format that suits you – pie chart anyone?
- JAX will also answer questions that address broader strategy and decision making like “give me some ideas on how to improve my profit margin next financial year?”
- For fellow accountants and advisors, the Xero Partner Hub looks like it’ll be a game changer for efficiency and workflow. Access your tools in once place, without having to switch in and out. Read more about the Xero Partner Hub here.
For the full list of what you can expect to see (or can already see) on Xero across the next few months, head to their blog. You can read about how we work with Xero here.
