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Overview of shared data with Xero

Learn what data is pulled and pushed between Payhawk and Xero.

Updated over 3 months ago

The direct integration between Payhawk and Xero allows you to have full control over the data exchanged between the two systems.

Payhawk performs data synchronization when connected to Xero for the first time. Optionally, Payhawk administrators can trigger the data sync on demand.

The integration creates or maps a bank account for each active currency in Payhawk. You will also specify the starting date of the balances that you would like to synchronize between Payhawk and Xero.

The following diagram shows all the data that is automatically synced between the systems.

An overview diagram showing the type of accounting data pulled or pushed between Payhawk and the Xero ERP system.

Pushing payments to Xero

For accounting reasons, Payhawk exports only settled transactions. This means that if a payment has been authorized, but not settled yet, Payhawk will not export it to Xero.

Once a transaction is settled by the bank, its settlement date and amount will be automatically exported to the Payhawk bank account in Xero as a bank statement line.

For more information on Payhawk-Xero integration, see the article about syncing your Payhawk and Xero accounts.

Pushing deposits to Xero

By default, once a deposit has been received, Payhawk automatically pushes the deposit transaction as a bank statement line in Xero.

Sometimes the automatic export of deposits is not desired due to required pre-defined settings. In such cases, contact Payhawk to disable the automatic deposit export feature.

Pushing expenses to Xero

Once an expense has been reviewed, Payhawk pushes that expense to Xero.

These conventions will apply to the following specific expenses:

  • Card expenses will be exported as Paid Bills from the corresponding bank account.

  • Cash expenses will be exported as Paid Bills.

  • Reimbursable expenses are exported as Bills to pay. For reimbursement expenses, Payhawk uses the employee as a vendor.

  • Bank expenses are exported as Bills to pay.

When unpaid bills are marked as paid or paid directly through Payhawk, they will automatically be updated as Paid Bills if Payhawk succeeds in matching them to a payment on Xero.

Linking invoices to payments

When a purchase invoice is posted and if the expense has been paid through Payhawk, Payhawk will automatically create and link a payment journal entry.

Exported data fields to Xero

Payhawk exports the following data fields to the Xero system:

  • Supplier - If the supplier is not in the Xero system, Payhawk will notify the user that this may be a new supplier and will display the option to create it from Payhawk or, if the user role is Employee, to request so from an Administrator role.

  • Category - Mapped to the Xero chart of accounts.

  • Document number

  • Document number prefix - This optional field allows you to provide a prefix to all expenses made through Payhawk and easily visualize them for their export to Xero.

  • Document date

  • Service period - Once the Administrator changes the Service period date in Payhawk, it will overwrite the Document date of the expense posted in the ERP system.

  • Due date - For all bank expenses, Payhawk exports the due date. If there is no due date entered, the date of the expense is used as the due date.

  • Note - The cardholder's explanatory note for the expense is shown in the Description field of the expense in Xero.

  • Document image

  • Amount - The total amount minus the tax rate for the expense.

  • Currency

  • VAT Rate - The tax rate provided by Xero.

  • Tracking Categories - Payhawk imports Xero dimensions and allows them to be used as expense fields.

  • Fees - When there is a fee to the transaction, that fee will create a separate payment journal entry in the dedicated account during the connection to the ERP system.

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