How to make accounting less painful
and even fun
Bridging End-Users and Accountants
bexio originally launched as a relatively simple tool for small business owners to create quotes, send invoices, and track payments. As the user base grew, so did the need for robust financial management features like balance sheets and VAT tracking.
Initially, the software was built exclusively for the business owner. However, to succeed as a complete platform, professional accountants needed to be onboarded. If accountants found the system inefficient, they would not recommend it to their SME clients. We needed to evolve the platform to support power users while maintaining simplicity for business owners.
Research & Discovery
To design for accountants, I ran contextual inquiries, evaluated prototypes, and conducted design sprints to understand their specific workflows.
Hardware Setup:
Accountants typically work on large, often dual-monitor setups, displaying source documents alongside ledgers.
Keyboard-Driven Workflows:
Because they work extensively with numbers, accountants rely heavily on keyboards. Tasks regular users manage with a mouse required shortcuts and tab navigation to maintain efficiency.
Contextual Navigation:
They required granular filters to locate specific bookings and execute manual adjustments without losing context.
Design & Execution
Phase 1: Immediate Quality-of-Life Improvements
I started with core accounting tasks, streamlining how users find historical bookings, make manual adjustments, and filter accounts.
The account ledger view featuring advanced filters for amounts, VAT rates, and reference numbers in a high-density layout.
Phase 2: Unifying the Visual Language
I established a unified design language to make system states and actions clear. This reduced cognitive load across document states and operational workflows.
A unified state matrix establishing visual cues across Sent, Overdue, Canceled, and Paid invoices.
The invoice workspace unifying customer data, line-item breakdowns, and contextual actions.
We also optimized document generation, ensuring accountants could export PDF documentation tailored for either space-saving or detailed reporting.
Optimizing Daily Data Entry
For data manipulation, we designed inline editing and interactions that accommodated the accountant's keyboard-first workflow.
Inline row management supporting grouped items, quantities, and VAT allocations.
Streamlined messaging overlays for client communication while keeping the main workspace intact.
Outcome
By addressing the specialized requirements of accountants, bexio evolved into a complete financial ecosystem. Fiduciary networks began actively collaborating on the platform, directly contributing to bexio's position as the leading SME software in Switzerland. Designing for this dual audience ensured that expert workflows became more efficient without raising the barrier to entry for novice users.
Role
Chief Product Officer & Head of UX
Context
Context: bexio is the leading business software for small businesses in Switzerland.
