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, those will sync from Xero to Cashflow360 and/or Cashflow360 to Xero. Updates to these items will only sync from Xero to Cashflow360. Deletions made to these items, however, won't sync in either direction, they must be deleted manually in both systems.
• Xero suggests a maximum of 100 options for each tracking category to avoid sync errors.

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.