Enter your idea

As a small‑business owner using Xero every day, I find the platform’s budgeting and cash‑flow tools invaluable. They help me understand how many sales I need to cover costs and where I can reinvest profits.
The intuitive dashboards and reports make it easy to track recurring and discretionary spending. I believe these same capabilities could improve my household finances. Therefore, I propose an upgrade that allows users to manage personal budgets and bills alongside their business accounts within Xero, using the same login but with clear separation between business and personal finances.

Why Xero is well‑suited for this
Powerful budgeting features – Xero’s guides note that a well‑planned budget gives you the insight to eliminate wasteful spending and reach profitability faster.

The software already lets users track income, expenses, assets and liabilities and compare actual spending against a budget.

These tools could easily adapt to household finances, showing families how much income they need to cover bills, save for goals and avoid overspending.

Financial literacy benefits – Xero emphasises that setting a budget is part of becoming financially literate.

Having a single platform for both business and home finances would encourage owners to apply that literacy to their personal lives.

Unified interface – Many small‑business owners already log into Xero daily. Adding a personal tab or workspace would eliminate the need for separate apps or spreadsheets. Users could switch between entities (Business and Personal) the same way they currently switch between organisations.

Proposed features
Separate personal entity or tab – A dedicated area within the Xero dashboard for household budgeting. It would have its own chart of accounts (e.g., mortgage, groceries, utilities) and separate reporting. Users could toggle between “Business” and “Personal” views while maintaining data privacy between them.

Personal budget templates – Pre‑loaded budget categories and templates for typical household spending (housing, transportation, insurance, education, savings). Users could customise categories or import bank transactions for automated coding.

Bill management and reminders – Tools to log regular bills (rent, utilities, subscriptions) and receive reminders when due. A calendar view could display upcoming payments alongside business obligations.

Savings and goal tracking – Features to set savings goals (e.g., emergency fund, holiday) and track progress against those goals. Insightful reports showing variances between planned and actual spending would mirror Xero’s business budgeting tools.

Secure access and permissions – The ability to invite a spouse or partner to the personal entity, with separate user permissions. Personal transactions would remain hidden from business users unless explicitly shared.

Business benefits for Xero
Retention and cross‑sell – Small‑business customers who also manage their household finances on Xero are more likely to remain loyal and may adopt additional paid features (e.g., premium support, integrated banking feeds).

New market segment – There is a growing demand for personal finance tools that integrate with business software. By adding a personal budgeting module, Xero could capture users who might otherwise use separate budgeting apps.

Brand alignment – Xero’s tagline “Beautiful business” already conveys ease of use and clarity. Extending this to home budgeting aligns with Xero’s mission to simplify financial management.

Conclusion
Xero’s existing budgeting features empower small‑business owners to gain insight into their finances.By enabling a personal budgeting module within the same platform, Xero could help entrepreneurs manage both sides of their financial lives without switching apps. I respectfully request that Xero consider this upgrade to deliver even greater value to small‑business customers who also want a simple, powerful solution for their household budgeting.