Running your business finances with Xero? You can know how powerful it can be!
From payment and E-commerce platforms to payroll tools and reporting platforms, Xero’s integrations help you save time and are prone to human error. But what to do when they don’t sync as they should? The biggest Xero integration problem isn’t really the software itself; it is when your information stops flowing properly between systems.
Suddenly, invoices no longer balance, transactions disappear, or reports don’t reconcile. These little mistakes can get out of control fast, turning into enormous headaches for your bookkeeping and financial reporting.
In this article, we will talk about the biggest Xero integration problem, why they occur, and demonstrate how you can resolve it so your system works smoothly again.
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What Is Xero?
Xero is a cloud-based accounting software used for small and medium-sized businesses. It provides various accounting features, like invoicing, bank reconciliation, inventory management, and reporting.
Xero also has the ability to connect with numerous other third-party apps, like payroll providers, e-commerce platforms, and payment processors.
Common Drawbacks of Xero
Following are some of the major drawbacks of Xero:
Lacks Robust Systems
Some of Xero’s core features are considered less robust than those of competitors, especially for more complex business needs.
- Basic invoice system: The invoicing system is considered limited, lacking options like built-in debtor chasing or acceptance of payments through the ACH network.
- Inventory management: Xero’s purchase and inventory management are basic and tend to require third-party integration for advanced features.
Performance Issues with Growing Businesses
Xero was designed for small and medium-sized businesses and may have trouble with high numbers of transactions, leading to performance slow significantly.
- Slow performance with high volumes: Companies with over a few thousand monthly bank transactions or contact list of over 10,000 will find response times and reporting slow.
- Feature over-reliance: The inherent functionality of Xero for items such as inventory and job costing is limited. Companies tend to need to utilise and pay for third-party add-ons to access the strong functions they require, which increases the overall price.
Cost and Feature Limitations
Xero’s pricing model can be a drawback, especially with new developments that have turned more features into expensive add-ons.
- Costly subscription plans: Xero is more expensive than some of its top competitors, and prices have risen over the years.
- Limited access to core functionality: Core features such as support for multiple currencies, expense claims, and project tracking are available only in more costly plans.
- Payroll fees: One of the most common causes of frustration for users was the elimination of payroll as a standard feature in packages, which was relocated into an independently priced add-on.
What is The Disadvantage Of The Report Feature?
The report feature of Xero has several significant disadvantages, particularly for larger businesses or those needing in-depth financial analysis.
Restricted Report Customisation
While Xero offers a “Blank report” feature for building custom layouts, it has several limitations.
- Limited side-by-side analysis: Tracking categories, used for departmental or regional reporting, cannot be displayed side-by-side in most reports. This prevents multi-dimensional analysis within a single view, forcing users to run separate reports for comparisons.
- Formula restrictions: When building reports, accounts must be grouped before they can be referenced by formulas, which restricts flexibility. You cannot create calculations using ungrouped individual accounts.
Poor Performance With Large Data Volumes
Xero is designed for small to medium-sized businesses and struggles with high transaction volumes. For businesses exceeding monthly transaction recommendations (e.g., 2,000 bank statement lines), reports may load slowly or even fail.
- Slow loading times: Reports can experience significant delays when processing large datasets or running calculations over multi-year periods.
- Data transfer issues: Xero first compiles all data on the server and then downloads it all at once, which can be very slow and appear to freeze or crash a browser depending on internet speed and browser limitations.
Manual Report Pack Generation
Xero’s “Report Packs,” which bundle multiple reports for distribution, are static snapshots that must be manually configured and generated each period.
- No automated delivery: There is no built-in scheduler for automatic report distribution.
- Repetitive process: Users must manually select reports, set date ranges, and create PDFs every month, and the packs are for single entities only.
Static And Limited Trial Balance
- Xero’s Trial Balance report is static and restricted to a single entity.
- It does not provide elimination entry capabilities or drill-down functionality from a summary level to the underlying detail.
- This makes it unsuitable as a foundation for group-level reporting and complicates audit readiness.
Understanding Xero Support Limitations
To get help from Xero support, the following ways can be applied:
No Inbound Phone Support
Xero does not provide a phone number for customers to call. All support begins with a ticket raised through Xero Central. The company will only call a customer back if the issue cannot be resolved by email and if the customer provides their phone number.
Self-Service First
The support process directs users to search Xero Central’s knowledge base and community forums before they can “Get in Touch” with a representative. While many common issues are solved quickly this way, it can delay personalised assistance for more complicated problems.
Accountant Or Bookkeeper As An Intermediary
Many certified Xero advisors, who may have faster access to escalations, act as the primary support contact for their clients. This effectively adds another layer of communication between the user and Xero’s support team.
Email-based Ticket System
The first support avenue is an email-based ticket system that can be accessed online through Xero Central. Although unlimited and accessible 24/7, this email-based system is usually slower than a direct phone call, especially for complex or urgent matters.
Need For Precise Information
Need for precise information: Users need to give complete descriptions and attachments when filing a support case for users to help support users. This demands that users carry out a lot of troubleshooting themselves before turning to support.
How to Fix Common Xero Integration Issues?
Following are some of the major integration issues of Xero:
Data And Mapping Issues
- Invalid account code: A transaction can’t be posted as the account code is invalid.
Fix: Review your integration’s mapping configurations to verify the proper revenue group and tax configurations are in place. Ensure the default account code is an active revenue-specific account in Xero.
- Missing revenue group mapping: A revenue group hasn’t been mapped to a Xero account.
Fix: Go to the “Xero” or “Revenue Group Mappings” setting in your integration and ensure that all revenue groups are properly mapped to a Xero account.
- Incorrect tax mapping: Taxes are not being grouped and synced properly from the source into Xero.
Fix: Have group taxes by your Xero configuration in the tax settings of your integration. For instance, group GST and PST into one tax group in the integration if it’s configured that way in Xero.
- Invalid earnings rate (payroll): An earning rate applied in timesheets is not a valid payroll type in Xero’s payroll configuration.
Fix: Go to Xero’s Payroll settings and change the pay item. Update the “Rate type” to “Rate per unit” or “Multiple of an employee’s regular earnings rate”.
- Incorrect currency: The currency of your integration is different from the currency of the Xero organisation.
Fix: Make sure the currency of both your integration and Xero account is the same value.
Data Conflicts & Duplicate Entries
- Syncing Failure: Invoices fail to sync because of duplicate invoice numbers or other data conflicts.
Fix: Following steps should be ensured to fix syncing of duplication of data or other issues:
- Check the integration log for specific error messages. The message will often tell you the exact problem, such as “Invoice must be unique”.
- Look for the duplicate entry in Xero and delete it. If you’re concerned about losing information, you can try to manually link the invoice instead.
- If a contact was merged, find the current version of the contact in Xero and re-link your system to it.
Best Practices For Smooth Xero Integrations
To avoid common pitfalls and have your Xero integrations go smoothly, use these best practices:
Before Integrating
- Plan for data migration and mapping: Do not rely on default settings. Plan how data will flow and map fields carefully to avoid errors. If migrating historical data, develop a clear strategy to prevent duplicates and data loss.
- Identify your requirements: Map your workflows to identify manual processes and possible areas for automation. Rank integrations according to possible time saved and errors avoided.
- Choose the correct apps: Research apps within the Xero marketplace, cross-comparing user ratings, support provided, and depth of the integration. Use free trials to trial functions and ensure it meets your business needs.
During Setup
- Reconcile accounts regularly: Be sure to reconcile your bank transactions in Xero regularly to catch errors early. When resolving discrepancies, be sure to never delete bank feed data.
- Implement best practices for the API: For integration on your own, comply with Xero’s developer guidelines. This means applying filters and pagination to prevent rate limiting, actively refreshing access tokens, and utilising the If-Modified-Since parameter to sync updated data only.
- Monitor logs on a regular basis: Establish proactive monitoring of integration activity logs and error reports. Establish alerts for key failures to determine and correct problems before they become significant issues.
For Data-Specific Issues
- Prevent duplicate contacts: For contact-synching apps, ask the user to map to a current contact or add a new one. This avoids errors from duplicate or similarly named contact records.
- Enable payments for accounts: Make sure the target bank or asset account in Xero has the “Enable Payments To This Account” checkbox marked.
When You Should Contact Xero Support
Following are the scenarios when you should Xero support:
- When the integration displays a red cross icon: This means Xero has declined the transaction, and you must look at the error message to know what is wrong.
- When the integration breaks: When you get a notification that the integration has broken and troubleshooting efforts don’t fix it.
- For account-related problems: Such as an administrator account lock, suspended subscription, or data retrieval are only something that Xero support can provide.
- If other alternatives have been exhausted: After attempting the troubleshooting procedures in the integration software and reading Xero’s support articles, reach out to Xero support if the issue does not resolve.
- For advanced or specific error messages: If you encounter an error not covered by the integration’s help documentation or support articles, contact Xero support.
How To Find The Balance For Your Xero Accounting?
To find the balance for your Xero accounting, ensure following these steps:
Compare Your Bank Statement
Log in to your online banking and compare the balance from a specific date with the statement balance in Xero.
Check The Xero Bank Statement
Navigate to the “Bank Accounts” tab in Xero. The statement here should be an exact copy of your bank’s statement.
Use the Reconciliation Report
- In the bank account, click on the three dots and choose “Reconciliation report”.
- Select a date (such as the end of the month) to view how the balances match.
- This report will indicate the difference and can assist you in detecting possible issues such as outstanding payments.
Examine Discrepancies
- Search for outstanding payments: The report indicates transactions recorded in Xero that haven’t yet hit your bank statement. If a payment shows up on your bank statement but still remains as outstanding in Xero, then that’s a mistake that should be corrected.
- Renew bank feed: If you are always missing transactions, you might have to renew your bank connection by navigating to the Bank Accounts tab, choosing “Manage Account,” and selecting “Renew Bank Connection”.
- Manually add missing statement lines: If the bank feed is not downloading all transactions, you may have to add the missing statement lines manually to Xero.
Bottom Line
By concluding this topic, we can say that, when it comes to finances in control, Xero integrations can be a lifesaver, but only if it work smoothly.
The biggest Xero integration issue is more than just syncing issues, setup problems, or incompatibility between apps. The best part? Each of these are easily resolved with a few quick checks and some regular upkeeps.
If your Xero setup continues to feel off or you’re eating more time resolving issues than running your business, it could be time for professional assistance.
With professional setup and support, your integrations can operate smoothly — providing you with accurate data, cleaner reports, and more time to work on building your business.
Need help? Cheap Accountants in London are available to guide you more on Xero Integrations. Stay in touch!