Xero for Groups: The App Advantage

Last week, CFO Techstack hosted a three-day webinar series, Xero for Groups: The App Advantage. Across six sessions, we explored key challenges for CFOs scaling multi-entity businesses on Xero.

We're passionate advocates for Xero and its ecosystem. The series featured forward-thinking finance leaders, accountants, experts, and app partners sharing proven strategies for group setups on Xero.

The series in numbers:

🔢 6 webinars

🫂 18 expert panellists

🧑‍💼 1 fantastic host (CFO Techstack’s David Tuck!)

⏱ 4.5 hours

In our Launch Webinar, Xero’s Managing Director for the UK and Emerging Markets, Alexander von Schirmeister, and Annie Hawkins, Xero Account Manager for groups and franchises, joined Head of Finance at Outernet Global, Paresh Makwana. He led a transition from Sage Intacct to Xero for their 46+ entity group. Watch here.

We then addressed top-requested topics from group CFOs, partnering with leading Xero app experts:

• Month-End Automation with Mayday: Caroline Viles, Finance Director at Gaia (managing three entities), Graham Shapiro of Myccountant (Xero MVP), and James Scott-Griffin from Mayday. Watch here.
• Consolidated Reporting with Joiin: Harriet Hope, VP of Finance at Arbolus (four-entity international group), Ryan Pearcy from Scrutton Bland, and Harry Symons from Joiin. Watch here.
• Spend Management with Pleo: Becky Cawley-Hassall, Finance Director at Saragossa (three-entity group), Asif Ahmed from Cooper Parry, and Chloe Murray from Pleo. Watch here.
• Accounts Payable with Lightyear: Hilary Dyson of Bridge Financials, Sam King of Thorne Widgery, and Tom Ashman from Lightyear. Watch here.
• Foreign Exchange with Airwallex: Carl White, CFO at GENFLOW (five-entity group), John Toon from Beever and Struthers, and James Scobie from Airwallex. Watch here.

Short on time? Here are our top takeaways from the series:

‘ERP-Peace of Mind’: Scale groups with Xero and its ecosystem, avoiding costly ERPs. Paresh shared upgrading to a more efficient, automated system.
“From Sage Intacct, consolidations in 1) Xero + 2) Mayday + 3) Syft Analytics/Joiin/Fathom are 50% faster. Staff love the intuitive interface.” – Tyler Caskey, TheBeanCounters
“I love Xero. My mission is to use it as long as possible." – Caroline Viles, Gaia

XeroHQ for Groups: Annie Hawkins supports groups and franchises. Paresh praised her help with XeroHQ for unified entity views.
"Xero HQ lists all our entities in one view, solving login issues." – Paresh Makwana, Outernet London

Plan Ahead: Structure charts of accounts and tracking categories early for optimal reporting. Clean data upfront for long-term gains.
"Be creative with nominal ledger, chart of accounts, and tracking." – Hilary Dyson, Bridge Financials

Automate with Xero + Apps: Handle intercompany recharges, reconciliations, reporting, and forecasting efficiently.
"Pleo’s self-reimburse feature eliminates expense wait times." – Becky Cawley-Hassall, Saragossa

Stronger Together: Combine tools like Lightyear + Mayday Recharger or Pleo + Mayday BRAG for seamless operations.
"Knitting Xero + ecosystem yields greater-than-sum results." – David Tuck, Mayday / CFO Techstack

International Growth Challenges: Use Xero’s multi-currency features, but leverage apps for cash visibility and FX forecasting.
"Without live feed data, you’re not on top of FX exposure." – John Toon, Beever and Struthers

Learn from the Community: Network with Xero users and track app developments for best practices. Subscribe to CFO Techstack!
"Your newsletter helps me experiment with what suits us.” – Caroline Viles, Gaia

Thanks to all partners and panellists! Attendees raved: “Extremely thought-provoking!” “Real-world Xero examples.” “Now I’m reaching out about group support.”

Scale with Xero via our free newsletter on finance tech stacks. Join our APAC webinar series starting April 4th: here. Stay tuned for Stacked conference in London.

Catch up on Xero for Groups here anytime!