The Xero integration connects your accounting and inventory management systems to create a seamless flow of financial data. This comprehensive setup guide walks you through installing the integration, configuring essential settings, and managing ongoing data synchronization with Xero.
Prerequisites for managing the Xero integration
To reduce the risk of variances between Unleashed and Xero, before integrating with Xero, ensure your Stock On Hand (SOH) value in Xero matches the Stock Value in the Stock on Hand Enquiry.
In Xero, you'll also want to ensure:
You have Administrator access to your Xero account.
Your chart of accounts structure is set up for Sales, Direct Costs, and a Current Asset.
Purchase and Sales taxes have been configured.
To set up and access the Xero integration, ensure your user role has the following Settings permissions enabled:
Integration Store
Xero Configuration
Xero Export
Xero Import
Tutorial Video
The Xero integration basics
Install Xero
To connect Xero to your account and establish the integration:
From the main menu, go to Integration > Integration Store > Xero.
In the Overview tab, click on the Install App.
A Xero browser page will open, and enter your Xero account's login details.
Once confirmed, you will be redirected back the Unleashed's Xero page to configure the integration.
Configuration
The Configuration tab in the Xero integration allows you to manage how customers, suppliers, and transactions sync between systems. Initially, all configuration settings will be enabled, but can be updated and amended at any time, and will take effect as soon as the new configuration is saved.
Link your Xero accounts to Unleashed
In the Link your Xero accounts to Unleashed section of the Configuration tab, you'll set up three essential default accounts that can be changed at any time after setup:
Sales account: for sales transactions and outgoing stock movements.
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) account: for inventory costs when stock is sold.
Stock on Hand (SOH) account: for purchases and incoming stock movements.
Create new accounts in Xero first, and they'll automatically appear in in the Configuration tab for selection. However, if new Sales or COGS accounts don't sync automatically, go to the Manage Your Data tab and select Import Accounts.
Xero accounts will only sync with the integration if they're set up as a Revenue, Direct Cost, or Current Asset account type in the Chart of Accounts in Xero. See the table below for more details on how Xero's account types align with the integration's account configurations.
Unleashed account type | Xero account type | Description |
Sales | Revenue | The Sales Account selection should be the primary sales account in your Xero Profit & Loss (P&L) to which Sales Invoices and Credits will export. |
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) | Direct Cost | The COGS account selection should be the primary COGS account in your Xero P&L, to which Shipments, Credit returns, and adjustment journals will export. |
Stock on Hand (SOH) | Current Asset | The SOH account selection should be your primary SOH account in your Xero Balance Sheet. All Purchase Orders and stock movement journals will export to this account. |
Xero accounts hierarchy
You can override the default accounts from the Configuration page at three levels: product, customer, or directly on individual charge lines before completing an invoice.
The Sales and COGS account hierarchy applies as follows:
Product: takes precedence over the customer's and integration's default accounts.
Customer: takes precedence over the integration's default accounts, but will be overridden by the product's accounts.
Default: The integration's default account will apply if the customer and product do not have an alternative account selected in their records.
As the Sales Account and COGS account drop-down menus in the product and customer records' Details tab cannot be blank, the integration's default accounts will populate.
🤓 Tip: You can manually change accounts in Xero after export, but remember that changes made in Xero don't sync back to Unleashed. Plan your account hierarchy carefully to minimize manual corrections.
Set up your Xero taxes
The taxes in your Xero account need to be mapped to taxes in Unleashed to ensure successful exports of transactions in real-time. The easiest way to do this is to let them automatically sync, but you also have the option to set them up manually.
To automatically sync and import taxes from Xero:
From the main menu, go to Integration > Integration Store > Xero.
In the Configuration tab, go to the Setup your Xero taxes.
Click on Auto Sync Tax Codes.
The integration will import Xero's taxes, mapping to existing taxes that match, populating the tax's Accounting Tax, or creating a new tax to align with Xero's tax codes and rates. When there are multiple taxes in Xero with the same tax rate, manually create each iteration in Settings > System > Taxes.
To manually sync Xero's taxes:
From the main menu, go to Integration > Integration Store > Xero.
In the Configuration tab, go to Setup your Xero taxes.
Click on "Let me manually do this".
You will be directed to the Taxes page, where you can create new taxes and allocate the appropriate Xero tax in the Accounting Tax drop-down menu.
🤓 Tip: Taxes in Xero are either for Sales or Purchase transactions, while Unleashed allows taxes to be set up as both. Unleashed taxes with Sales and Purchases selected cannot be mapped with a Xero tax, causing transaction exports to fail. Ensure all non-obsoleted taxes created in Unleashed select either Purchase or Sales to assign an Accounting Tax.
Default taxes
Set up the default 0% purchase and sales taxes that will apply to the transactions exported to Xero, using the "Purchase Tax - No Tax (0%)" and "Sales Tax - No Tax (0%)" drop-down menus in the Setup your Xero taxes section.
When the default taxes set in Settings > System > Taxes are 0% taxes, these taxes will auto-populate in the Xero configuration. If another tax rate is the default, drop-downs for both the 0% taxes and additional taxes will be populated.
What exports to Xero?
The "What exports to Xero?" section in the Xero integration's Configuration tab allows you to manage which transactions export to Xero, and how your customers and suppliers sync. Use the toggles to enable each setting, and when available, click "Configure" to further configure how the transactions will sync.
Once the settings are up to date, click on the Save Configuration button at the bottom of the page to apply them to the integration.
Sales
The table below outlines the configuration available for managing the sales and customers syncs across the Xero integration.
Sales Configuration | Description | Configurable options |
Export Sales | When enabled, completed Sales Invoices will create an Invoice in Xero. | When enabled, click on Configure to set the following settings:
|
Export Credits | When enabled, completed Credit Notes and Free Credits will create a Credit Invoice in Xero. | When enabled, click on Configure to set the Export Status setting.
Export Status: Use the drop-down menu to export Credit Invoices to Xero as one of the following statuses:
|
Export Customers | When enabled, the integration creates and updates Customers in Xero from Unleashed's customer's primary contact. | When enabled, click Configure to manage the Send customer code to Xero account number setting via the checkbox:
|
Export Customer Contacts | When enabled, the integration creates and updates up to 5 contacts in Xero from Unleashed's customer. | No further configurable options available. |
Export Sales Journals | When enabled, the integration creates a stock journal when a Shipment is dispatched. | When enabled, click on Configure to set the following settings:
Where products have specified COGS accounts selected, the respective COGS account will be updated from the batched journal. |
Export Credit Journals | When enabled, the integration creates a stock journal when a Credit Note or Free Credit including returned stock is completed. | When enabled, click on Configure to set the Export Status setting.
Export Status: Use the drop-down menu to export Credit Stock Journals to Xero as one of the following statuses:
|
Purchasing
The table below outlines the configuration available for managing the purchasing and suppliers syncs across the Xero integration.
Purchasing configuration | Description | Configurable options |
Export Purchases | When enabled, Purchase Orders updated to Receipted and Completed status will export to Xero as a Bill to Pay. | When enabled, click on Configure to set the following settings:
|
Export Purchase Costs | Cost Lines on a Purchase Order export as a Bill to Pay in Xero. This setting cannot be disabled. | When enabled, click on Configure to set the Export Status setting.
Export Status: Use the drop-down menu to export Bills to Pay to Xero as one of the following statuses:
|
Export Supplier Returns | When enabled, Supplier Returns updated to Completed status export to Xero as a Credit Bill to Pay. | When enabled, click on Configure to set the Export Status setting.
Export Status: Use the drop-down menu to export Credit Bills to Pay to Xero as one of the following statuses:
|
Export Supplier Return Costs | Cost Lines on a Supplier Return updated to Completed status, exported to Xero as a Credit Bill to Pay. This setting cannot be disabled. | Click on Configure to set the Export Status setting.
|
Export Suppliers | When enabled, the integration creates and updates Suppliers in Xero from Unleashed's supplier's primary contact. | No further configurable options available. |
Export Supplier Contacts | When enabled, the integration creates and updates up to 5 contacts in Xero from Unleashed's supplier. | No further configurable options available. |
Export Supplier Return Journals | A stock journal when stock is returned on a Supplier Return. This setting cannot be disabled. | Click on Configure to set the Export Status setting.
Export Status: Use the drop-down menu to export Supplier Return Journals to Xero as one of the following statuses:
|
Export Recost Adjustment Journals | A stock journal is created to account for the change in dispatched value for products included on Purchase Orders, where additional Cost Lines have been added after the PO was receipted. This setting cannot be disabled. | Click on Configure to set the Export Status setting.
Export Status: Use the drop-down menu to export Recost Adjustment Journals to Xero as one of the following statuses:
|
Export Stock Take Journals | When enabled, a stock take journal is created in Xero when a Stock Count is completed. | Click on Configure to set the Export Status setting.
Export Status: Use the drop-down menu to export Stock Take Journals to Xero as one of the following statuses:
|
Production
The table below outlines the configuration available for managing the production and stock adjustment syncs across the Xero integration.
Production configuration | Description | Configurable options |
Export Adjustment Journals | When enabled, the integration creates a stock journal in Xero when a Stock Adjustment is updated to the Completed status. | Click on Configure to set the Export Status setting.
Export Status: Use the drop-down menu to export Adjustment Journals to Xero as one of the following statuses:
|
Export Assembly Costs | When Supplier Costs are included on an Assembly that is updated to the Completed status, the integration creates a Bill to Pay in Xero. This setting cannot be disabled. | Click on Configure to set the Export Status setting.
Export Status: Use the drop-down menu to export Bills to Pay to Xero as one of the following statuses:
|
Export Assembly/Disassembly Journals | When an Assembly or Disassembly includes a component that's a Never Diminishing Product (NDP), and is updated to the Completed status, the integration creates a stock journal in Xero. This setting cannot be disabled. | Click on Configure to set the Export Status setting.
Export Status: Use the drop-down menu to export Adjustment Journals to Xero as one of the following statuses:
|
Advanced Features
In the Advanced Features section of the Configuration tab, enable and configure Customer Credit Limits and Tracking Categories to enhance your Xero integration and reporting.
🤓 Tip: For further guidance, see the Xero Advanced Features.
Enable Customer Credit Limits
When enabled, the integration syncs credit limits and outstanding balances between Unleashed and Xero, providing real-time credit status visibility when processing orders for customers. Customers who exceed their credit limit will not be able to dispatch Shipments for new or existing Sales Orders.
To enable Customer Credit Limits in the Xero integration:
From the main menu, go to Integration > Integration Store > Xero.
In the Configuration tab, go to Advanced Features.
Toggle on Enable Customer Credit Limits.
Click Save Configuration.
To use the Customer Credit Limit:
Open a customer's record.
In the Details tab, toggle on "Set Credit Limit".
In the Set Credit Limit field, enter the customer's credit limit.
Click Save.
Enable Syncing Xero Invoice Payment Details With the Payment Received Flag
This feature enables you to automatically sync payment information from Xero invoices into your Sales Invoices in Unleashed. When enabled, it checks if any payment value has been made against your Xero invoices and updates your Sales Invoices with the 'Payment Received' flag. The flag is designed to identfity that a payment has been received, but does not differentiate if the payment has been made in full or not. By default, it runs an hourly check, but there are options for every 6 hours or daily.
The sync is one-way only; payment details are pulled from Xero to determine if the Payment Received flag should be applied to Sales Invoices. This will not push information back to Xero. Xero is the source of truth, so changes to the Payment Flag in Unleashed will be overwritten by Xero.
Enable Tracking Categories
The Tracking Categories feature allows you to pass additional transaction data to Xero for enhanced Profit & Loss reporting.
Using the drop-down menus available, select up to two tracking categories:
Warehouse
Sales Person
Sales Group
Product Group
Customer Type
Then use the checkboxes to determine which transactions will export to Xero with the selected category's detail:
Sales Order
Sales Journal
Purchase Order
Credit Notes
Credit Journals
Supplier Returns
Stock Adjustments
Stock Takes
Supplier Returns Journal
Manage your Data
Use the Manage Your Data tab in the Xero integration's Configuration tab to import customers, suppliers, taxes, currencies, and Accounts from Xero. It's recommended to only use these import options when you're initially setting up the integration, or if the records have not updated automatically.
Select the Import Now button for any of the following options:
Import Customers
Import Suppliers
Import Taxes
Import Currencies
Import Accounts
Importing currencies
Importing currencies from Xero adds currencies used in Xero to Settings > System Currency Rates. Exchange rates are not included in the import and must be configured manually in both Unleashed and Xero before use.
Export Data
From Unleashed's main menu go to Integration, Integration Store, Xero and select Export Data to review any variances between Unleashed and Xero and manually export outstanding transactions, customers or suppliers.
By default, the Export Data page will be filtered with a date range of one day, but you can use the date field provided to filter for a custom dates. The date filter applies to each transaction tab's date field.
Similarly, you can filter the transactions displayed in each tab by ticking the Only Show Problem Exports checkbox. When ticked, only transactions that have failed to export or have not attempted to export to Xero in the given date range will be displayed.
To manage the reconciliation between Unleashed and Xero, the Export Data page is broken down into tabs per transaction or record type:
Sales Invoices
Purchase Orders
Purchase Costs
Assembly Costs
Supplier Returns
Supplier Return Costs
Credit Notes
Customers
Suppliers
Journals: Use the dropdown filter to display a specific journal type:
Sales Journal
Credit Journal
Stock Adjustment (IN)
Stock Adjustment (OUT)
Supplier Return Journal
Recost Adjustment Journal
Dis/Assembly Journal
At the top of the Export Data page, an overview of the selected tab's exported data displays the following:
Total Count: Number of transactions or records displayed in the selected date range.
Total Balance: The sum total value of all Unleashed transactions displayed in the selected date range.
Total Variance: The sum total variance between Unleashed's transaction totals and their exported transaction totals in Xero.
Variance Count: Number of transactions with a variance in value between Unleashed and Xero.
Total in Xero: The sum total value of all Xero transactions exported from Unleashed in the selected date range (Note: this includes tax total, so when reconciling invoices with the invoice enquiry, ensure tax total is added).
Reconcile transactions
The Sales Invoices, Purchase Orders, Purchase Order Costs, and Recost Adjustment Journals tabs in the Export Data page will automatically update to display each transaction's current Xero Total and a link to view the transaction in Xero. However, the remaining transaction tabs require a manual reconciliation to populate a Xero Total and viewing link per exported transaction.
To manually reconcile the transactions and review any variances for the Xero integration:
From the main menu, go to Integration > Integration Store > Xero.
Go to the Export Data tab.
Select a transaction's tab, e.g., Credit Notes.
Set a date range of up to 31 days in the date selector field.
Click on Reconcile Transactions.
In the task menu in your page's banner, you will see a notification confirming the reconciliation is in progress:
Orange circle: In progress.
Red cross: Reconciliation failed.
Green tick: Reconciliation completed.
Refresh your web browser page, and return to the selected transaction tab and date range.
The Xero Total in the Export Data tab will be updated to displays the transaction's total in Xero, and there will be a link to open the transaction in Xero in the View column. Any variance between the Xero Total and Total (Unleashed's Total) will be populated in the Variance column.
🤓 Tip: For guidance on investigating variances with Xero, see Reconcile with Xero.
Connection Log
Use the Connection Log to review the activity in your Xero integration over the last 7 days. This is especially useful when reviewing errors if transactions or contacts have failed to sync to Xero.
The following filters can be used on the Log Level:
ALL: displays both 'ERROR' and 'INFO' logs
INFO: displays any completed actions such as synced Customer or Supplier records or successfully exported transactions.
ERROR: displays any failed exports or syncs, and the Log message would suggest what action to take to fix it, see Xero Connection Log and export errors.
Troubleshooting common issues
If you encounter problems with exporting or syncing data:
Confirm settings under Integration > Integration Store > Xero > Configuration tab align with your requirements.
Check if automatic export triggers are active for new sales invoices.
Ensure both Unleashed and Xero user roles have the necessary permissions. For additional assistance, refer to the official documentation or contact support.