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 Bill.com
• If Contacts in Xero do not 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 do not match exactly to the Vendors/Customers in Bill.com, then the Contact will be created as a new Vendor/Customer in Bill.com, and the Vendor/Customer in Bill.com will be created as a new Contact in Xero, thus creating duplication in both systems.
• Newly-created Contacts in Xero will only sync to Bill.com if a transaction is associated with the contact. When a transaction is created, Xero will categorize them and then sync them into Bill.com.
  • Bill - Contact will be categorized as a Vendor
  • Invoice - Contact will be categorized as a Customer
• Newly-created Vendors/Customers in Bill.com 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 Bill.com have the same name, then they will sync as one Contact in Xero, but will be a part of both Groups.
• In order to sync to Bill.com, 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 Bill.com.
• Undeleting an inactive vendor/customer in Bill.com will not restore the arhcived contact in Xero

Archive vs. Delete

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

Tracking Categories

• In order for tracking categories to sync, they must be named Location and Department in Xero
• When initially creating locations and departments, those will sync from Xero to Bill.com and/or Bill.com to Xero. Updates to these items will only sync from Xero to Bill.com. 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.

Reconciliaton

Bill.com makes one or two lump-sum withdrawals (depending on when payments are scheduled) for the total amount of bills paid on a given day. This withdrawal(s) is located in the Bill.com Money Out Clearing account in Xero. When reconciling the bank account, the reconciliation will need to be done once for all bills paid on a given day.

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 Bill.com.

Items

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

Bills

• Only unpaid bills sync from Xero into Bill.com, so payments should always be initiated in Bill.com. When paying a bill in Bill.com, there are options to pay via Bill.com (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.
• 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 Bill.com.
• When making a payment with a vendor credit, we will 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 do not sync to/from Xero. They need to be manually created and applied in both Bill.com 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 Bill.com will only sync to Xero if applied to an invoice; overpayments/unapplied payments will not sync to Xero.

Resources

• Sync only Approved Bills and Vendor Credits