Xero sync - Best practices

Contacts vs. Vendors/Customers

  • Vendors and Customers will connect to the same contacts in Xero, as long as the names match exactly and there are transactions associated in Cashflow360
  • If Contacts in Xero don't have transactions, assign them to one of the groups that the sync creates: Sync to Bill.com Vendors or Sync to Bill.com Customers. If the Contact exists as both a Customer and a Vendor, add them to both groups.
  • If the names of Contacts in Xero don't match exactly to the Vendors/Customers in Cashflow360, then the Contact will be created as a new Vendor/Customer in Cashflow360, and the Vendor/Customer in Cashflow360 will be created as a new Contact in Xero, thus creating duplication in both systems.
  • Newly-created Contacts in Xero will only sync to Cashflow360 if a transaction is associated with the contact. When a transaction is created, Xero will categorize them and then sync them into Cashflow360.
    • Bill - Contact will be categorized as a Vendor
    • Invoice - Contact will be categorized as a Customer
  • Newly-created Vendors/Customers in Cashflow360 will sync over to Xero in either the Sync to Bill.com Vendors group, or Sync to Bill.com Customers group. If a Vendor and Customer in Cashflow360 have the same name, then they'll sync as one Contact in Xero, but will be a part of both Groups.
  • In order to sync to Cashflow360, the contact address in Xero must be in the Postal Address section. Also, the contact phone must be in dash format (xxx-xx-xxxx) and in the Phone field in order to sync to Cashflow360.
  • Undeleting an inactive vendor/customer in Cashflow360 won't restore the archived contact in Xero

Archive vs. Delete

  • Cashflow360 never truly deletes information. If choosing to Delete a record in Cashflow360, it becomes inactive and the same record in Xero will be Archived. Most deleted records can be un-deleted in Cashflow360.
  • Xero has the option to delete, which will truly delete records in Xero. If a record is deleted in Xero, the matching record in Cashflow360 is unchanged. Because the record was removed in Xero, there's no update triggered for the sync to carry over.
  • Undeleting an inactive vendor/customer in Cashflow360 won't restore the archived contact in Xero
    • Restore the contact in Xero and the sync will undelete the vendor/customer in Cashflow360

Tracking Categories

  • In order for tracking categories to sync, in Xero they must be named Location and Department
  • When initially creating locations and departments, they'll sync from Xero to Cashflow360 and/or Cashflow360 to Xero. Updates/deletions made to these items, however, won't sync from Xero to Cashflow360, and must be done in Cashflow360 manually.

Chart of Accounts

When creating a bank account or charge account in Xero, a corresponding chart of account is auto created. The chart of account will sync to Cashflow360.

Items

  • Most items will sync in both directions between Cashflow360 and Xero
    • Sales Tax items will only sync one way from Xero to Cashflow360

Bills

  • Only unpaid bills sync from Xero into Cashflow360, so payments should always be initiated in Cashflow360. When paying a bill in Cashflow360, there are options to pay via Cashflow360 (check or ACH), or record a payment made offline. Either type of payment will sync and be applied to the same bill in Xero.
  • Xero Expense Claims is an application that allows users to submit claims for their work expense claims.Bills created in Xero using Xero Expense Claims won't sync to Bill.com.
  • The ability to sync only Approved bills to Xero is available. Learn more from our article: Sync only Approved Bills and Vendor Credits

Vendor Credits

  • Only unapplied vendor credits sync from Xero, best practice is to apply vendor credits in Cashflow360.
  • When making a payment with a vendor credit, we'll sync it to Xero, where it gets automatically applied.
  • The ability to sync only Approved bills to Xero is available. Learn more from our article: Sync only Approved Bills and Vendor Credits

Credit Memos

  • Credit Memos don't sync to/from Xero. They need to be manually created and applied in both Cashflow360 and Xero.

Bill/Invoice numbering

  • When creating invoices/bills, each needs a unique invoice number to avoid the sync number-matching to an incorrect invoice/bill

AR Invoice Payments

  • AR payments in Cashflow360 will only sync to Xero if applied to an invoice; overpayments/unapplied payments won't sync to Xero.