Committed to making a difference

Ross Bell is executive director of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, a charitable trust committed to reducing the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol.

Being in charge of a charitable trust is a demanding role having to constantly coordinate funding, manage a large membership of individuals and organisations, then report everything to the board of trustees.

Getting out of a tough situation

"We were using MYOB and it was too difficult for me to use. It was on our finance manager's computer, so I never really had access to it. The finance manager would print off reports for me that were already out of date when I got them and they were quite hard to follow,” says Ross.

When their finance manager stepped down, handover of the accounts put Ross in a tough situation. The foundation’s accounting firm recommended they switch to Xero, assuring Ross that switching halfway through the financial period would not be a problem.

Ross agrees, "The changeover from MYOB to Xero was surprisingly easy. I really expected it to be a pain, but it wasn't at all."

Our trustees depend on Xero

“With Xero, it’s easy to login and see everything all at once. It's fantastic for me to do that whenever and wherever I need,” says Ross.

“Because Xero is online it gives us greater transparency. Our trustees have really come to depend on access to Xero. The reporting makes everything so clear, which has given the board greater confidence in what we're doing."

"Xero is ideal for charities. It's simple, so our time is freed up, letting us get on with our job."

www.drugfoundation.org.nz