See for example this comparison by the reviewers at Merchant Maverick, which rates Xero the clear winner on features, multi-user support and permissions management, customer service and support, integrations, and security. This can only be a matter of opinion, but there are many who rate Xero as being the superior overall product. From November 2018, payroll integration will be priced as an optional extra in Xero plans, so you only need to pay for it if you want it. This was initially only offered to Australian customers from May 2012 before being rolled out elsewhere, with payroll integration in the UK being achieved from March 2015. In 2011, Xero purchased a company called Paycycle that provided an online payroll service, allowing the full integration of payroll management facilities within Xero.

In the 2018 chair’s review, Drury, who stepped down as CEO in March 2018 but stayed on as a non-executive director, outlined his vision for further global growth of Xero under the stewardship of his replacement as CEO, Steve Vamos, a former manager of Microsoft’s operations in Australia. By October 2018, it had achieved a market capitalisation of $6 billion. In January 2018, it was delisted from the New Zealand Stock Exchange in favour of the Australian Securities Exchange. It seems to be gradually conquering the world as it builds on its early success with new rounds of investor funding, allowing it to set up dedicated operations in diverse new territories. Originally launched in New Zealand by technology entrepreneur Rod Drury in 2006, Xero first became available in the UK in December 2007 before further expanding into Australia in 2008, the United States in 2011, South-East Asia in 2016 and Canada in 2018. According to one estimate, it had achieved a global market share for online accounting software of 9.7% by 2018, second only to the long-dominant market leader Quickbooks Online. Xero is a relatively young but rapidly maturing product that has been steadily gaining global market share year upon year. Companies can use it reliably to store all their bookkeeping records externally, without significant risk of data destruction as might arise when relying solely on physical paper records or on a standalone piece of software on a computer in the company office. It runs through a secure online interface. Xero is a sophisticated piece of bookkeeping and accounting software for businesses.

How to use xero accounting software