Engineering Manager

Xerocon London 2026. 22nd July 2026 Earlier this month, Whitings LLP colleagues Stephen Malkin, Peter Brown, Dan Walker, Ben Burtenshaw and Emma Barkes attended Xerocon London 2026. The two-day event, tipped as "Glastonbury for accountants" was packed with innovation and inspiration. Xerocon offered much more than just software demonstrations. This year's speaker line-up included Jill Scott MBE, Louis Theroux and Dame Prue Leith. They shared their experiences on topics such as leadership, resilience, business growth and embracing change. The event featured an exhibition hall filled with app partners showcasing their latest solutions for the growing cloud accounting market. In-between attending talks and demonstrations, there were plenty of fun activities, including a giant slide to ride down! The main theme running across both days was the growing role of artificial intelligence in accounting. Xero showcased a range of new tools designed to automate routine tasks, improve efficiency, and provide greater financial insight. Some exciting announcements centred around JAX. This is Xero's new AI technology, which is designed to automate many routine bookkeeping and administrative tasks. This included enhancements to Smart Document Capture, which can automatically extract information from invoices and receipts, and further development of Auto Bank Reconciliation. Xero also demonstrated AI-powered tools for document chasing, payment reminders, and workflow automation through the new XeroForce platform. One of the key messages from the event was that technology should support people rather than replace them. By automating time-consuming processes, accountants and business owners can spend more time focusing on analysis, planning, and delivering value to clients and customers. Whitings LLP. is looking forward to exploring how these new tools and innovations can benefit both its clients and Whitings LLP in the coming weeks and months. Disclaimer - All information in this post was correct at time of writing.

Receiptflow vs Hubdoc: head to head. Is Hubdoc really free, and what does Receiptflow cost by comparison? Hubdoc is included in Xero's Simple, Ignite, Grow, Comprehensive, and Ultimate plans as long as it's connected to your Xero subscription, so for many practices it genuinely costs nothing extra. That's the objection worth addressing head on rather than dodging: if you're already paying for Xero, why pay again for receipt capture? The honest answer is that free isn't the same as complete. Receiptflow's flat fee runs £150 a month for up to 50 clients, £275 a month for up to 150 clients, and £500 a month for up to 300 clients. That's a real cost Hubdoc doesn't have. What it buys is line level extraction, sales invoice capture, and an interface built specifically for practice workflows rather than a document inbox bolted onto Xero. Whether that's worth paying for depends entirely on what your team is currently doing manually to fill Hubdoc's gaps. If you're weighing up the broader market, its comparison of receipt scanning alternatives for UK practices covers the main options side by side. See what Receiptflow's automation actually saves you. Start your free trial. Does Hubdoc extract line items from invoices? This is Hubdoc's most consistently reported limitation, and it isn't a minor one. Hubdoc captures header level data only: supplier name, invoice total, date, and invoice number. It does not extract individual line items, and Xero has publicly stated there are no plans to develop line item extraction for Hubdoc. Any invoice with multiple lines that need splitting across categories has to be typed in manually inside Xero, every time. For a practice that mostly processes simple, single line receipts, this may never come up. For any practice handling multi-line supplier invoices regularly, it's the single biggest reason firms end up searching for a Hubdoc alternative in the first place. Manual data entry costs UK practices more than most realise that adding a manual line item correction cycle on top makes it worse. Receiptflow's extraction is built for the everyday receipt and expense documents most UK bookkeeping practices actually process, with clean extraction and no manual correction cycle required. How accurate is Hubdoc's data extraction? Review sites and user feedback consistently flag accuracy as Hubdoc's weak point beyond the line item gap. Users report rounding discrepancies, since Hubdoc restricts line items to two decimal places while Xero itself accepts four, along with occasional supplier misidentification on non-standard documents. This pattern shows up repeatedly across independent review platforms: Hubdoc is widely seen as good enough for simple document flows but frustrating once volume or document complexity increases. How does onboarding and day to day use compare? Hubdoc's setup is straightforward if you're already inside the Xero ecosystem, since it's a native connection rather than a separate account to configure. But several users report the interface feels dated and that performance degrades, becoming slow or unresponsive, once a practice is managing a larger number of client entities inside it. Receiptflow's onboarding is built for speed on the client side specifically. Clients don't need to learn a folder structure or a new portal. They forward a document by email or snap it, and it's in the workflow within minutes, with a clean, modern interface designed to stay fast as client numbers grow. What document types and integrations does each tool support? Hubdoc handles bills, receipts, and bank statements, and is tightly coupled to Xero, with QuickBooks Online integration present but no longer actively developed or promoted. If your practice ever moves away from Xero, the Hubdoc workflow doesn't move with you. It's a pattern worth understanding; its Dext vs AutoEntry comparison covers how platform ownership shapes product roadmaps for the other tools in this category too. Receiptflow captures receipts and sales invoices and integrates with Xero, QuickBooks, and Sage, the core stack most UK independent practices actually run on, without being tied to a single accounting platform's roadmap. Which is better for UK MTD compliance? Both tools sit inside Xero's MTD compliant VAT workflow. Receiptflow's UK focus runs through the whole product, built specifically around HMRC compliance for accounting and bookkeeping practices. Hubdoc, as a Xero owned tool, inherits Xero's MTD compliance but doesn't add anything extra on top for the receipt capture layer itself. Full comparison. | Feature or Criteria | Receiptflow | Hubdoc | | Pricing model | Flat practice fee | Free with qualifying Xero plans | | Starting price | £150/month | £0 (bundled with Xero) | | Line item extraction | Yes | No, header level only | | Sales invoice capture | Yes | No | | Bank statement processing | Coming soon | Yes | | Ease of onboarding | Minutes, no client app needed | Native to Xero, but interface feels dated | | MTD / HMRC ready | Yes | Yes, via Xero | | Xero integration | Yes | Yes, native | | QuickBooks integration | Yes | Legacy, not actively developed | | Sage integration | Yes | No | | Best for | Practices needing line item accuracy and sales invoice capture | Practices with simple, low volume document flows already on Xero | Who should choose Receiptflow. Receiptflow is the better fit if your practice regularly handles multi-line supplier invoices that Hubdoc can't itemise, or if manual correction of Hubdoc extractions is already eating time your team could spend elsewhere. If sales invoice capture matters alongside receipts, or if the flat fee model appeals more than a free tool with real gaps, Receiptflow is built for exactly that. For a broader look at what bookkeeping automation means beyond document capture, and where the real time savings sit in a practice workflow, that post covers the detail. Who should stick with Hubdoc. If your practice mostly processes simple, single line receipts and bills at low volume, and you're already paying for a qualifying Xero plan, Hubdoc's zero extra cost is a genuinely hard number to beat. Practices with straightforward document flows and no pressing need for line item detail may find Hubdoc's limitations never actually become a problem in practice. If you're also reconsidering AutoEntry alongside Hubdoc, Receiptflow Limited has covered the best AutoEntry alternatives for UK bookkeepers in 2026 separately. Verdict. Hubdoc's biggest advantage is that it's free, and for simple document flows that's often enough. Its biggest limitation is that it stops at header level data, with no line items and no roadmap to fix either. If your practice has outgrown what free header level extraction can do, Receiptflow's flat fee buys line item accuracy, sales invoice capture, and a workflow built specifically for UK practices rather than bolted onto someone else's product roadmap.

Your feedback in action: the Xero Workpapers update. If you're a Xero partner in Australia, you know compliance season has a cost that doesn't always show up in timesheets or recoverable time billed to the client. Typing in numbers that already live somewhere else. Rebuilding last year's workpaper structure by hand. Chasing the right figure across Xero, the ATO, client receipts. That overhead adds up across every client, every year, and it's time your practice never gets back. When Xero Limited looked at what Australian firms were telling Xero Limited, that you have told me personally, many spend over half their annual compliance time just creating, reviewing and managing workpapers.[1] Xero Limited knew a better tool on its own wouldn't cut it - you need it integrated end to end with your workflow. That's what Xero Workpapers was built to do. Built in partnership with BGL, it connects your compliance work to the tools and data your practice already relies on in Xero. Here's where Xero Limited has landed: what's already live, what's coming next. One place for client data and managing compliance. This is what a truly connected compliance workflow looks like in practice: fewer handover points, less duplication, and less system switching during your busiest season. Rather than being just another tool to manage, Xero Workpapers works inside the practice experience you already know. You work with the same navigation, client and staff lists, and connected data across your compliance tools, instead of maintaining a separate system. Your clients' Xero data flows into workpapers, so reporting and tax stay in step. Final figures can move directly from a completed workpaper pack into the company tax return reducing re-keying data. This is also where Xero Partner Hub comes in. It brings together client management and compliance tasks in one place, so you can see what needs attention and get to the right work faster. Tax Manager builds on that with a more integrated way to manage tax obligations inside Xero. Xero Partner Hub is currently in early access and you can opt in now or be moved automatically when it rolls out to all practices later this year. Your feedback, now live in Workpapers. Over 2,500 partners have shaped Xero Workpapers since day one. From the classic Workpapers feedback that formed its foundation, to the 37 product ideas and 493 votes completed since launch, your feedback continues to drive what Xero Limited build next. To give you a sense of what's been shipped: refreshing data from individual workpapers, seeing account names on notes, pulling the financial year end date automatically from Xero, and closing notes in one click. Xero Limited has also taken the first step in a more connected books-to-tax process, with data now flowing directly from a completed workpaper pack into the company tax return without copying figures by hand. One practice recently told Xero Limited: "The fact that you responded and made the change is fantastic." When practices see their feedback acted on, it reinforces the collaborative relationship Xero Limited aim for: one where sharing input leads to visible, meaningful change. What's coming next in Workpapers. Here's what's coming in the next weeks and months, based on what you voted for: the ability to attach Xero report PDFs directly to your pack without the manual export step and a new GST worksheet will be available shortly. Xero Limited is also working on template customisation, a clearer sign-off process with individual preparer and reviewer approvals, drag-and-drop document handling, direct export to Xero Tax for trusts, and more. Xero Limited is not slowing down on Workpapers just because Plus is coming. Workpapers Plus adds advanced functionality on top of Xero Workpapers, so upgrades to the Workpapers itself helps every practice, on Workpapers Plus or not. Introducing Xero Workpapers Plus. For many practices, Xero Workpapers will be exactly what you need, and Xero Limited'll keep improving it based on what you tell Xero Limited. But Xero Limited also hear from firms that manage more complex clients, that they need greater standardisation across larger teams, or are spending too much time on workarounds that shouldn't be necessary. For those practices, Xero Limited has been building something more. Xero Workpapers Plus is an optional paid upgrade, everything in Workpapers, plus the improved control, automation and additional compliance needs firms with more complex clients have been asking for. Your practice, your setup Configure templates, mappings and pack structures once, so each job can start the way your practice works, and every job can stay consistent without the setup. Less manual groundwork AI data extraction from supporting documents, automatic Xero report PDF imports, and ATO-powered pre-population cut manual data entry before a preparer even starts. Every client in one flow Advanced worksheets for Division 7A, Capital Gains Tax, Hire Purchase and inter-entity loans keep complex calculations in one place instead of scattered across spreadsheets. And with upcoming support for non-Xero clients, practices will be able to bring their whole client base into one process. Workpapers Plus is the next step in that shared direction with BGL: "Partnering with Xero on Workpapers has been a genuinely collaborative experience. Workpapers Plus represents the next stage of what we're building together, giving Australian practices the advanced compliance tools they've been asking for, inside the platform they already trust. We're excited about what's ahead" - Daniel Tramonta, CEO, BGL Join early access. Early access to Xero Workpapers Plus opens in August to a small group of eligible practices. This initial release will include key capabilities such as the Division 7A worksheet, entity-type customisation, deep ATO integration and AI document extraction for bank and loan statements. Xero Limited'll expand access and features through the end of 2026, guided by early adopter feedback. Selected practices will get three months at no additional cost, followed by six months at 50% off*. Standard pricing after that will be $45 AUD excluding GST per user, per month. Getting in early means more than a discounted price. It puts you directly in line to shape the next features Xero Limited ship. If you want a say in what comes next, register your interest here. [1] In a survey conducted by Xero between July and September 2025 with 147 Australian practices, 39% of firms reported spending between 51-75% of their team's total annual compliance time on creating, reviewing, and managing workpapers to prepare for tax forms. *This offer is only available to eligible Xero Partners in Australia selected by Xero to participate in the Workpapers Plus early access. Participants must purchase the Workpapers Plus add-on in Xero Partner Hub and the discount will be applied automatically. The offer is available from 3 August 2026 until 30 September 2026. The discount applies to Xero's then current regular price for the Workpapers Plus add-on and does not apply to any base plan subscriptions or additional charges for usage and payment fees, unless otherwise specified. This offer cannot be used with, or exchanged for, any other offer. Xero can change or cancel this offer at any time. At the end of the offer period, the Workpapers Plus add-on will be charged at Xero's standard rates and will auto-renew monthly until cancelled. Terms apply