Best Xero reporting tools for board packs in 2026: an honest comparison

Estimated reading time: 11 min

The short answer. If your board needs formatted reports, KPIs and forecasts that your team will write up, Fathom, Spotlight Reporting and Syft are the established choices, and Joiin is the strongest for groups of companies. If the slow part of your month is the written analysis (what moved, why it moved, and what the board should decide), compare tools on the commentary they write about your own variances, not on the charts. That is the gap Stratavor was built for. Xero's own Analytics, launched in January 2026, now covers dashboards and a 180-day cash view, but it does not produce a board pack.

Xero is a good ledger. Its standard reports are bookkeeping outputs: accurate, but not arranged for a board. They do not combine budget and prior-year views in one table, do not cut a variance down to its cause, and do not write commentary. We set out the gaps in everything Xero's standard reports can't show you. This guide is about what to add on top.

We compared ten tools that Xero businesses and their advisers use for management reports and board packs. Every price, feature and rating below was checked against the vendor's own pages or the Xero App Store on 7 November 2026, and the sources are listed at the end. Stratavor is one of the ten. We have tried to be as plain about where it is the wrong choice as about where it is the right one.

The tools at a glance

How we compared them

We asked five questions of each tool, in the order a finance lead asks them in a trial.

1. What does the board pack look like out of the box, and how much of it needs rebuilding each month?
2. Does it write commentary, and does that commentary name a cause or only describe a movement?
3. Can it consolidate a group of companies, with currencies and intercompany?
4. Does it forecast, and is the forecast three-way (P&L, balance sheet and cash together)?
5. What does it cost at the number of companies you will have in a year?

We also looked at how Xero users rate each app. That turned out to be the least useful signal.

All eight sit between 4.74 and 4.99 out of 5. Review counts tell you about installed base, not fit: Fathom (621 reviews), joiin (494), Syft (477) and Spotlight Reporting (341) are the general management reporting apps most Xero users have tried. Choose on the job you need done, which is what the rest of this guide is for.

What Xero now does on its own

In January 2026 Xero launched analytics built on Syft, the reporting company it agreed to buy in October 2024 for up to US$70 million. The release lists customisable dashboards, visualisations of profitability, cash flow and balance sheet health, a cash flow manager that projects up to 180 days with what-if scenarios, AI-generated summaries, and business health scorecards. For an owner who wants a live view of the business, that may be enough.

It is not a board pack. Xero's release does not describe management report packs, commentary on variances against budget, or group consolidation, and Xero does not consolidate several organisations natively. Xero has also said Syft remains available as a standalone product while its small-business features move into Xero.

What a board pack needs that a report does not

A board pack has five layers. Reporting apps have automated the first two. The third is where they differ most, and the last two still take most of the time.

1. The numbers. P&L, balance sheet and cash flow from the ledger. Every tool here does this.
2. The comparison. Against budget, last year and forecast, with KPIs. Most tools do this well.
3. The cause. Which category, customer, region or cost moved the result, and by how much. A tool that says revenue was below budget due to lower sales has described the movement, not explained it.
4. The outlook. Cash runway, the forecast and the risks that could move them. Forecasting tools automate the arithmetic; the assumptions are yours.
5. The decision. What the board is asked to decide. Software can frame it. People make it.

When you trial any tool, test layer three on your own data. Take last month's largest budget variance and see whether the tool can tell you which category caused it, and by how much. We show what that looks like in Fathom vs Spotlight Reporting.

The ten tools in detail

Fathom

Best for: advisers and finance teams who want polished, branded management reports, KPI analysis and three-way cash flow forecasting.

Fathom was founded in Queensland, Australia, and has been owned by The Access Group since August 2022. Its Pro plan includes branded management reports, three-way cash flow forecasting, budgets and scenarios, multi-currency consolidation with eliminations, custom KPIs and targets, benchmarking, and Commentary Writer. Fathom launched Commentary Writer in March 2026 and includes it at no extra cost. It applies business context you set once, takes notes for each period, and lets you hover over a figure to see its source and how it was calculated. Fathom connects to Xero, QuickBooks Online and Desktop, MYOB, FreeAgent, Excel and Google Sheets.

Price. Fathom prices by the number of connected companies, billed monthly with no contract. New prices applied to new customers from 1 August 2026. On 7 November 2026 its pricing page showed the Gold tier of Fathom Pro at US$450 a month for 25 companies, and a lower-cost Portfolio plan for monitoring a client base. There is a 14-day free trial.

Watch for: Commentary Writer is new. Test it on a month you already understand, and check whether it names causes from your own tracking categories.

Xero App Store (UK): 4.95 from 621 reviews.

Spotlight Reporting

Best for: accounting and advisory firms that want reporting, forecasting and dashboards in one suite, priced by the number of client organisations.

Spotlight Reporting is a New Zealand company. Its suite covers Reporting, Forecasting and Dashboards, consolidation across entities and currencies, and Sustain for ESG reporting on higher tiers. Spotlight Multi, for networks and franchises, is sold separately. Spotlight AI drafts an executive summary from a report, or enriches one you have started with further insights and next steps. Spotlight says it calculates the figures first and layers the AI on top, that the AI features are optional, and that data processed by them is held in AWS's Sydney region and not used for training.

Price. UK plans for accountants and advisers, excluding VAT: Advisor Starter £295 a month for up to 10 organisations, Advisor Growth £495 for up to 30, Advisor Scale £695 for up to 50, and Enterprise on request. There are separate plans for CFOs and finance teams. There is a 14-day free trial with no card required.

Watch for: the accounting integrations Spotlight names are Xero and QuickBooks. If clients run other ledgers, check before you commit.

Xero App Store (UK): 4.86 from 341 reviews.

Syft

Best for: businesses and accountants who want broad reporting, budgets, consolidation and benchmarks at a low entry price.

Syft started in South Africa and was bought by Xero, which announced the deal in October 2024. Its App Store listing covers reports, forecasts, consolidations, budgets, valuations, tax, benchmarks and AI insights. Syft publishes its plans, and Capterra lists a free version. Xero has said Syft continues as a standalone product, including for businesses on other accounting systems.

Watch for: as features move into Xero itself, confirm which ones you need will stay in the standalone product.

Xero App Store (UK): 4.81 from 477 reviews.

Joiin

Best for: groups, franchises and anyone consolidating several entities.

Joiin is a UK company. It produces consolidated P&L, balance sheet, cash flow and KPI reports, branded report packs and budget against actuals, handles intercompany transactions and converts currencies automatically. It also supports multi-client reporting for accountants. Joiin connects to Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, FreeAgent, Zoho Books, MYOB and others. Its plans scale with the number of entities you consolidate, with unlimited users, and there is a 14-day trial with no card required.

Xero App Store (UK): 4.92 from 494 reviews.

Calxa

Best for: category budgets, forecasting and not-for-profit reporting, with multi-currency consolidation.

Xero App Store (UK): 4.98 from 144 reviews.

Futrli

Best for: three-year forecasts and drag-and-drop reporting. Sage bought Futrli in May 2022, and it still offers a 14-day trial.

Xero App Store (UK): 4.74 from 140 reviews.

Float

Best for: cash flow forecasting. Float is not a board pack tool; pair it with a reporting tool if you need both.

Xero App Store (UK): 4.83 from 345 reviews.

dataSights

Best for: multi-entity consolidation and reporting, with an AI connector for Xero data.

Xero App Store (UK): 4.99 from 93 reviews.

Xero reports and Analytics

Best for: an owner who wants a live view of performance and cash without another subscription. See the section above for what the January 2026 analytics release added, and what it does not cover.

Stratavor

Best for: finance leads whose bottleneck is the written analysis, not the formatting.

Stratavor connects read-only to Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage, NetSuite and Deltek Vantagepoint, and to HubSpot for customer and pipeline context. It computes every figure in code from the ledger, then writes commentary on each material movement: what changed, which category, customer or region caused it, what it means, and what the board should decide. It reads the tracking categories you already keep in Xero, so a variance is cut by the same lines you budget by. It reports on a single company or across an accounting group. The output is a portal view and a PDF for the board, and a Power BI add-on puts the same figures and commentary into Power BI for teams that already report there. The language model never calculates a number that appears in the pack; it writes around figures that have already been checked. We explain why that matters in why ChatGPT finance workflows keep breaking.

Price. From €499 a month (£435 on the pricing page), with a 7-day free trial.

Watch for: Stratavor is not a forecasting tool. If you need three-way or driver-based forecasts, pair it with Fathom, Spotlight Reporting or Float. Because it also connects to QuickBooks, Sage, NetSuite and Deltek, the same pack carries on working if a group runs more than one ledger or the business moves off Xero.

How to choose

Then run five tests in any free trial:

1. Connect last month and check that the P&L and balance sheet tie to Xero to the pound.
2. Take your largest budget variance and see whether the tool can name the category that caused it.
3. Read the commentary to someone who knows the business. If it could describe any company, it is not commentary.
4. Check how your tracking categories come through, and whether budgets can be set by the same categories.
5. Price it at the number of companies you expect to have in a year, not today.

Sources

Checked on 7 November 2026. Vendors change prices and features often; if something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.

• Xero App Store (UK), Reporting and forecasting category
• Xero: analytics launch, January 2026
• Xero: questions and answers on Syft
• CPA Practice Advisor: Xero to acquire Syft Analytics
• Fathom pricing and 2026 price change
• Fathom: introducing Commentary Writer
• Accounting Today: Fathom acquired by The Access Group
• Spotlight Reporting: UK pricing for accountants and Spotlight AI
• Joiin
• Futrli: acquired by Sage

Microsoft and Power BI are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Xero add-on for board reporting?

There is no single best; it depends on the job. For formatted packs with KPIs and three-way forecasts, Fathom or Spotlight Reporting. For groups of companies, Joiin. For written commentary that names the cause of each movement and frames the board's decisions, Stratavor, which also works on QuickBooks, Sage, NetSuite and Deltek. Many businesses use one tool for the numbers and another for the analysis.

Can Xero produce a board pack on its own?

Not in the form a board expects. Xero's standard reports are accurate bookkeeping outputs, and its January 2026 analytics add dashboards, a 180-day cash flow view, AI summaries and health scorecards. Xero does not produce a management pack with commentary on variances against budget, and it does not consolidate a group natively.

Which Xero reporting tools write commentary?

Fathom's Commentary Writer, included since March 2026; Spotlight AI, which drafts the executive summary; Syft and Joiin, which offer AI insights; and Stratavor, which writes commentary on every material movement from figures computed in code. Test each on your own largest variance and check whether it names a cause.

Which tool is best for consolidating several Xero companies?

Joiin is built for consolidation, including intercompany and currency conversion. Fathom and Spotlight Reporting also consolidate across entities and currencies. Stratavor reports across accounting groups and writes the commentary on the group's movements. Xero does not consolidate several organisations natively.

How much do Xero reporting tools cost?

From free versions to plans priced by company or organisation. On 7 November 2026, Spotlight Reporting's UK adviser plans ran from £295 to £695 a month for 10 to 50 organisations, Fathom's Gold tier was US$450 a month for 25 companies, and Stratavor started at €499 a month. Prices exclude VAT.

Is Fathom or Spotlight Reporting better for Xero?

Both are mature and highly rated. Fathom is stronger on KPI analysis, three-way forecasting and integrations; Spotlight Reporting suits advisory firms that want a tiered suite with ESG reporting. We compare them in detail in Fathom vs Spotlight Reporting.