Importing Transactions into Xero

Purchases and Sales Transactions can be exported from the system into Xero to help save time on entering accounts transactions, avoid data entry errors and let you see purchase and sales information in full detail in Xero.

The follow sets out the steps needed to achieve this. Most of the work is in initial set up process. Thereafter it is very quick and easy to perform regular imports into Xero.

Accounts area for Activating the Export Function

First, you need to make sure that your online account has all the necessary permissions set for access to your Accounts area, where most of the export functions can be found. There are four important settings that need to be activated. To set these, you need to access the My Users settings in the top right corner of your online page, and then select the person who will be managing the Xero export process with access to Accounts.

Please note that the My Users area is only accessible by the Primary Account Holder, which is normally the Finance or Practice Manager or Partner.

Once you have selected the correct user, you need to go to their Accounts subsection. To do this click on their name, and you will then see an index on the left. Click on the “Accounts” index name. This will display all options related to Accounts and the data export process:

There are four important options that need to be checked, as on:

1. Enabled (the first item, that gives access to the Accounts area after logon).

2. Client Invoice Library and Supplier Invoice Library check boxes, which give access to the transaction reports used for creating the export files to Xero.

3. Chart of Accounts, which you use for connecting your sales and purchases transactions to Xero and your Xero Chart of Accounts.

4. The Purchases Report Export, with the Xero option selected, which creates an automatic export file of transactions for import into Xero.

Clicking the check boxes will immediately activate those options. In future you will not need to access this area again unless you wish to remove or turn off these options for the selected user.

Update the System Chart of Account so it agrees to your Xero Chart of Accounts

It is important that your Chart of Accounts in the Accounts area matches your Xero chart of accounts. This is because your online system will create a Xero export file and automatically allocate your transactions to the correct Xero chart of account when imported into Xero.

For this reason, it is always important to update your online account with any Xero changes. If not, the update process may not work correctly.

Please note, transaction details including account numbers can be edited within Xero after import, but it is much easier to set them up first and avoid later correcting imported items.

To add your Xero chart of account numbers to your Online account you will need to access your Chart of Accounts page in the Accounts section and add any missing Xero account numbers. There are detailed explanations and a video explaining how to do this in the Page Guide, located in the top right corner of your Chart of Accounts page.

When editing your Chart of Accounts to make sure you edit each chart of account so it matches your Xero account number for that type of transaction. 

To do this you need to select and edit each pre-set account number by first selecting a radio button on the right side of a line, in the Edit column. Then click the Edit Account button at the top right of your page. 

A new area will then appear at the top of your Chart of Accounts page. In the first three displayed field you can enter your Xero account number details. It is important not to change the Default Code as that connects and links your purchases transactions to your Xero accounts export file and upload routine:

Ensure your Transactions are Complete

Once the above two steps are complete then on a regular basis you will be able to create an export file of your sales and purchases for import into Xero. To do this successfully there is one important rule to follow: every transaction being imported into Xero needs to have the invoice number attached to the transaction.

1. Sales invoices – always allocated an invoice number on creation, and so no special work needs to be carried out. Just create an export file and import into Xero.

2. Supplier invoices – they are normally created from issued purchase orders, however they can also be created from a manually generated supplier invoice. When a purchase order delivery status is recorded as received the invoice number can also be entered at the same time.

Please note: Xero is importing invoices and it looks for an invoice number to separate out invoices and transactions. If invoice numbers are same they will be grouped into one invoice and this makes it difficult to later reconcile the accounts. Therefore, it is important that a separate invoice number exists for every purchase order converted into a supplier invoice. The system will not import transactions without an invoice number.

This is quite easy to do. As shown in the screen shot above, when a purchase order is updated with the received status you can also add in an invoice number. This then will ensure that the purchase information is updated to Xero with the supplier invoice details.

Create an Export File for Import to Xero

The final step is to create a file for importing into Xero.

For sales invoices this is done by selecting a transaction period in your Sales by Transaction report. For purchases it is carried out in your Purchases by Transaction report.

You will need to create a report by first selecting a date range and clicking the view button to preview your data. If all is in order, click Export (Xero) and a csv file for import into Xero will be created.

Importing your file into Xero

Within your Xero package you will need to go to the Xero Business section called Bills to pay:

On the page that appears select the Import button:

A new page will appear, and it is Step 3 you need to follow: Browse your computer to find the correct import file.

Once found, select the option that says Tax Exclusive. The indicates to Xero that the import file includes details of the correct VAT status, and so passes that onto Xero so that the VAT is correctly calculated and handled by Xero. Even if you are not registered for VAT this option should still be clicked as Xero will handle the VAT correctly in your accounts.

After clicking the Import button, you can review and edit your transactions as necessary.

Please note, you are able to cancel the import and redo the import process or edit / delete any individual transactions after import.

Regular Import Procedure

Final thought: once you have your import routine working well you might want to set up a regular weekly or monthly schedule. You may also wish to create import files with specific dates and file them on your computer so you can always refer back to them at any time, even to re-import if you need to do that.