Every year it arrives like clockwork. Around the start of May, the email lands. Xero is increasing its prices, effective 1 July. And every year, the same quiet hum of anxiety moves through accounting and bookkeeping firms across the country. 

How do we tell clients? What if they push back? Do we absorb it, pass it on, or add a margin? 

A recent episode of Between Two Ledgers (hosted by Content Snare), featuring Amy Holdsworth, returns to a theme that continues to surface across accounting firms: the persistent weight of administrative work, even in environments that are increasingly digital and “streamlined”. 

Despite ongoing investment in systems and automation, many firms still describe a similar reality. Work feels fragmented. Information moves inconsistently. Teams stay busy, but the underlying friction doesn't reduce in proportion to the tools being used. 

What the conversation highlights is that this is rarely a tech problem in isolation. It is more often a reflection of how work is structured and how information is expected to flow through a firm. 

Xero has been busy behind the scenes rolling out its new Xero Partner Hub and with it the implementation of Xero’s Tax Manager. For those of you who accessed the Beta of the Xero’s Partner Hub you may have spotted Year End Compliance Tax Forms automatically displaying against existing jobs within your XPM. These Tax Forms are marked “Ready to Start” and are displaying for each member within the group that your firm is responsible for completing their tax work. Below is a friendly rundown of what's changed and why. ​