The Xero Alternative Built for Australian MSPs
Xero runs 1.9 million small businesses in Australia. It hits hard limits the moment you run a managed service practice: no native time-to-invoice from helpdesk tickets, no contract billing, no RMM integration, and payroll you have to bolt on.
BBN Accounting is a full Australian accounting stack built specifically for MSPs. Same GST, BAS, STP Phase 2, and PAYG you expect — plus the contract billing, automated invoicing from billable hours, and integrated helpdesk Xero was never designed for.
Why MSPs outgrow Xero
Xero bills customers. Your business bills contracts.
When a managed service customer pays $3,200/mo for 10 endpoints + quarterly onsite + reactive support up to 8 hours, Xero sees one line item. You need separate tracking of fixed-fee vs hourly vs project work, automatic monthly invoice generation from the contract, hour-bank drawdown from the reactive pool, and rollover logic for unused hours.
Xero needs four third-party apps bolted on to do this. BBN Accounting does it natively because it was designed around the MSP contract model from day one.
You can't invoice what you can't track.
In Xero, billable hours happen outside the system — in your helpdesk tool, in your RMM, in Harvest or Toggl. Then someone copies numbers into an invoice once a month. Every copy is an error surface and a revenue leak.
BBN Accounting shares a database with BBN Helpdesk. A billable time entry on a ticket appears immediately on the customer's next invoice. No double-entry, no "did anyone remember to invoice the Acme after-hours work" at end of month.
STP Phase 2 is included. Not a Xero Payroll add-on.
Xero charges separately for Xero Payroll ($10/mo + $1.50/employee). BBN Accounting includes full STP Phase 2 disaggregated reporting, PAYG calculation with HELP / SFSS / Medicare levy variants, super guarantee at 11.5% (12% from FY2026-27), and super fund USI / ABN tracking in the base price.
On-premise is actually an option.
Some clients (government, defence contractors, critical infrastructure) won't touch SaaS. Xero has one deployment model: Xero's cloud. BBN Accounting runs on your server, your colo, or our Australian cloud. You pick. Your data, your rules.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Xero (from $73/mo Grow) | BBN Accounting |
|---|---|---|
| GST / BAS reporting | Included | Included |
| PAYG + STP Phase 2 | Xero Payroll add-on ($10 + $1.50/emp/mo) | Included |
| Super Guarantee (11.5% AU) | Xero Payroll add-on | Included |
| Bank feed + reconciliation | Included | Included (auto-match with 95% confidence) |
| Contract billing | Not available | Native |
| Time-entry to invoice automation | Third-party app required | Native (via BBN Helpdesk) |
| RMM integration | Not available | Tactical RMM, Atera |
| TFN / bank details encrypted at rest | Not stated | AES-128-CBC + HMAC-SHA256 |
| On-premise deployment | Not available | Yes |
| TPAR (contractor reporting) | Included | Included |
| Multi-entity consolidation | Xero Established ($165/mo) | Included |
| User limit | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Data portability | API export | PostgreSQL, API, CSV |
What Xero still does better
Honest answer — because every vendor claiming they beat a $2B company at everything is lying to you:
- Marketplace of third-party apps. Xero has thousands of integrations. We have the ones MSPs actually use (Stripe, Tactical RMM, Atera, WhatsApp, Slack, Microsoft 365).
- Bookkeeper familiarity. Your existing bookkeeper probably already knows Xero. BBN Accounting ships the Australian chart of accounts, but there's a learning curve.
- Brand recognition. Nobody ever got fired for picking Xero.
If you're a cafe, a plumber, or a consultant billing hourly without RMM integration, Xero is fine and probably cheaper. This page is for MSPs — who have specific needs Xero wasn't designed for.
Australian compliance — the specifics
BBN Accounting is Australian-built and ships with everything the ATO expects:
Data security
This is the question Xero can't answer the way you need to:
- Where does my data live? Xero: US / EU / Australia depending on plan. BBN Accounting: you pick, including on your own hardware.
- Who can read my TFNs? Xero: Xero staff with production access. BBN Accounting: TFNs, BSBs, and bank account numbers are encrypted at rest with Fernet (AES-128-CBC + HMAC-SHA256). Your Odoo superuser can decrypt them. Your database backups cannot.
- What happens if you go out of business? Xero: you export CSVs and pray. BBN Accounting: you have a PostgreSQL dump, a GPLv3 Odoo core, an OPL-1 BBN module, and no cloud dependency to lose.
See our full security and compliance page — no "ISO certified" marketing lies, just what's actually in the product.
Pricing
BBN Accounting
$199/mo
AUD
- Accounting + GST + BAS
- PAYG + STP Phase 2
- Bank reconciliation
- TPAR reporting
Accounting + Helpdesk
$349/mo
AUD
- Everything in Accounting
- Full helpdesk + SLA
- Contract billing
- Time-to-invoice automation
BBN Suite
$599/mo
AUD
- Everything
- Accounting + Helpdesk
- Social + WhatsApp
- Priority support
On-Premise
From $25k
AUD · Perpetual
- Own the licence
- Host anywhere
- Updates optional
- Support add-on available
Compare: Xero Grow ($73/mo) + Xero Payroll ($10 + $1.50/emp) + ConnectWise Manage ($550+/user/mo) + Hootsuite ($149/mo) = over $900/mo and zero integration. BBN Suite delivers the same capability integrated for $599.
Migration from Xero — 7 days
- Day 1 — Export your Xero trial balance, chart of accounts, contacts, open invoices, and bills as CSV from Xero Settings → Export
- Day 2 — Our migration wizard imports them directly. We map Xero's account categories to the Australian l10n_au chart automatically
- Day 3-5 — Parallel run: enter new transactions in both systems, verify balances match
- Day 6 — Cut over. Final Xero reconciliation, final BAS from Xero, switch bank feeds
- Day 7 — Done. Cancel Xero.
Your bookkeeper will be cautious — that's their job. Our migration wizard exports a verification report so they can tie Xero closing balances to BBN opening balances line by line.
Frequently asked questions
Is BBN Accounting ATO approved?
The ATO doesn't "approve" accounting software — they specify reporting formats (STP, BAS, TPAR, SuperStream). BBN Accounting implements those formats to spec. For STP lodgement, you use a registered DSP (digital service provider) as the final submission channel, same as most accounting tools that aren't themselves DSPs.
Can I keep using my existing accountant / bookkeeper?
Yes. We export standard CSV, PDF, and JSON formats. Your accountant can pull whatever they need.
Does it integrate with my bank?
Direct bank feeds via the Open Banking / CDR framework are on the roadmap. Today, you upload CSV or OFX from your internet banking — we've tested CommBank, Westpac, ANZ, and NAB formats. Reconciliation is automated with a 95% confidence threshold — unmatched lines go into a review queue.
Do I need to know Odoo?
No. BBN Accounting is a pre-configured vertical — you see the accounting menus, not raw Odoo. We set up the chart of accounts, tax codes, and fiscal year for you in the onboarding wizard.
How do I export if I want to leave?
PostgreSQL dump (full database), CSV (per table), or JSON (full export). No vendor lock-in. On-premise customers have direct database access.
Why is BBN cheaper than Xero + ConnectWise + Xero Payroll?
Because we built one system, not five systems with integration tax. The MSP stack should not cost more than the business it's running.
Ready to see it?
No credit card. No sales pitch. A demo of your actual workflow — bring a customer invoice and a staff payslip, we'll show you exactly how they'd flow through BBN.
Book a 20-minute demo Talk to Trent, the founder