Lightyear Reviews

Lightyear is visually pleasing-it's quite simple to use and understand. From the user perspective who inputs data on invoices and approves them, it's straightforward and the layout of the software does not show you more than what you need to see, however, underneath the simple processes there is complexity. Lightyear makes supplier creation, GL code settings linked to export files such as Excel, and GST codes etc are somehow made simple to set up. One thing I find particularly great is whenever I input an ABN number during the Supplier Creation process, it autofills the Supplier Name field. Additionally, this is a drop down menu, so i am able to choose ANY of the Business Names linked to this ABN.

Sometimes, there have been system bugs and I'm unable to export data for a brief amount of time, or when we top up credits to use the system, the old credits are not rolled over their expiry date. It would be great if there was a notification in place to let us know that our credits are expiring soon or we are running low. Also, there are some things which cannot be customised. For example, the Export to File which is a function that exports invoice data into a spreadsheet, cannot be modified from my end. Lightyear do add features from time to time, but I'm not sure if consumer recommendations are actually involved in the process.

- Invoice Processing: Significant amount of time saved for me to focus on other aspects of the business, with confidence, knowing that I have accurately captured and processed all invoices.- Security: bank fraud detection is a very powerful feature of the lightyear system as well as its ability to flag duplicate invoices.- Support: the Lightyear team are incredible. From implementation to processing/mapping support, Lightyear are unreal.

N/A: We have currently used Lightyear for < 6 months but have explored a significant amount of its functionality and capability, which has been an incredibly positive experience for myself and the business.

The invoice approval function was the reason for initially coming across to Lightyear but the statement reconciliation process was a hidden surprise that has enabled my last remaining paper based clients to take the leap to being completely paperless. The integrity of the data being exported to the accounting software is much better than other programs.

My clients who use purchase orders are currently needing to batch together the PO pdf & supplier invoice images before sending to Lightyear which would be amazing if we could either match them up within the app, or issue PO's direct from the app which are then able to be viewed with the supplier invoice.

We love how this product enables our clients to check & approve their invoices before the invoices land in Xero. We know that anything in Xero is checked & ready to be paid. Easy for multiple people to have access & sign off. All AP is in one place & finding historical invoices is a breeze.

Reading OCR receipts has been a bit behind other competitors but improvement is coming through really quickly.

Every step of the process has been excellent and the ongoing support has continued to be excellent.
The initial contact was responsive and guided through the set up to allow us start processing quickly.
The product is logical to follow and easy to view and provides options every step of the way.
The data extraction is very accurate and adaptable to different supplier invoices and the mapping team is very quick. This is more accurate than our previous software.
To email queries from within Lightyear saves so much time and hassle looking for emails and provides great transparency.
Separation of users to their department only
Choosing where we export to Xero has been essential to facilitate approval levels
Lightyear continues to improve their
Service to queries has been responsive and solutions are specific to our company using information and not a regurgitating the help function.

There is a lot of functionality and detail so can be a little overwhelming.
Support videos and notes focus on administrators but could find information on guiding from the other user roles perceptive after initial guide when first login

The support from the team is fantastic and are always on hand to help and assist.
Feedback and suggestions on the system are welcomed and implemented if possible and useful.
Invoices no longer need manually entering!
Option to automate the process of receiving invoices entirely, doing away with any need to upload - instead just get them emailed directly into Light Year.

A few of the options appear to be placed on pages I wouldn't expect, but nothing particularly bad.

Once set up, it's a one-stop-shop for invoice receipt, accounts payable and receivable reconciliation, cost management, and business information. It is intuitive and simple to use, extremely cost-effective and takes out some of the most mundane and laborious tasks so I have more time to work on improving my business and keeping front-of-house. I could not recommend it more highly.

There's nothing I dislike about this product - I am overly happy to have it as part of my suite of tools.

Integrates seamlessly and easily with Xero - our accounting software

The option for single, double or exec approval process within Lightyear - meaning bills can be directly exported to the payment tab in Xero rather than draft.

Ability to file statements within the software - very handy with suppliers that send multiple dkts then ask you to pay on a statement

Minor wish list item:The archive tab for completed bills would be handier to search if located on the horizontal tab area where reviews, approvals are shown - rather than only accessible from the left-hand menu bar.

The functionality allows automatic capture and coding of purchase invoices. This enables invoice processing and approval to be made in an efficient and effective way without the need to key in the invoice details.

It would be good to have some service or item codes under service bills which we could use to cover withholding tax

Not much not to like! The fact that you can have a month's free trial to test it out and set everything up is brilliant. It meant we could trial the product at no cost (including excellent support from [SENSITIVE CONTENT] ). Although there was paid implementation assistance (cheap!) available I was able to set the whole thing up without having to resort to that (the customer support team is on hand 24/7 to help with any issues).

The product is not that mature - which could be seen as a downside. However, the Lightyear team is so responsive that it doesn't actually come across that way. Most of the niggles that I had at the beginning (just over 6 months ago) have already been resolved through the regular product updates, and I have confidence that the remainder will be resolved in due course.

The product is very easy to set-up and use (as evidenced by being self-implemented). We have implemented in four locations, and once you understand how things work, it only really takes a couple of hours of setup to do each new location.

Given the nature of the rapid development of the product, there is still some work to be done to rationalise all the features (e.g. 'Edit Bill' permissions were add retrospectively to the 'Task Approver' role, so they don't integrate in a completely cohesive manner with the interface). However, I understand that the team are proactively working on that aspect.

Simplicity - easy for non-finance users to navigate
Clear audit trail on all interactions with documentation
Very cost efficient

I would like to see a bounced email feature when a supplier directs their invoice to a slightly incorrect email address - as far as I can see, if the Lightyear email address is incorrect, neither the supplier or the receiving entity is aware

Lightyear has completely transformed the whole business and made life so incredibly easy. From the transparency of data extraction and approval process through to the electronic filing this system is truly brilliant. I cannot recommend it enough.

I really can't think of any cons. If there is a feature that is missing, the development team appears to take on board suggestions to incorporate it into the next update and they appear to regularly update and upgrade features.

The ease of use. We have varying levels of computer literacy across the group, and I haven't had any complaints or confusion about the product.

some times the mapping/mapping requests can cause delays in processing.
though this would be a problem in any like system.

Having Lightyear enables us to do in minutes what used to take hours of manual data entry to enter suppliers bills into our accounting software.

I find it annoying that I have to set up a supplier in Xero, raise a test bill, then pull that back into Lightyear to set up a supplier in Lightyear.