If you keep your books in Xero, you can stop typing everything in twice. Work Planner now connects to Xero and sends across what you record day to day: your customers, the work you charge for, the payments you take and what you spend. Your accountant sees the same figures you do.

What goes to Xero

Customers become Xero contacts. Anyone already in Xero is matched up, not added again.
Charges and invoices become approved sales invoices, with VAT if you’re VAT registered.
Payments go into the bank account you choose and pay off the right invoices. Anything paid in advance shows as credit for that customer.
Write-offs and refunds go across as credit notes, with refunds paid out of the bank.
Tips go in as money received.
Expenses go out of the bank as Spend Money, in the account you pick for each category. Card and Direct Debit fees can go too, or you can leave them out if your card or Direct Debit provider already sends them to Xero.

When something changes in Work Planner, such as a new price, a cancelled job or a deleted payment, Xero is updated to match. Work Planner only changes what it sent, so anything you add in Xero yourself is left alone.

Setting it up

It takes a few minutes, and nothing is sent until you’ve checked the settings and started sending.

Turn on two-factor authentication for your login, in Settings › Two-factor authentication. Work Planner asks for it before connecting to Xero, to keep your accounts safe.
Go to Settings › Connections › Xero, click Connect to Xero, sign in to Xero and choose your organisation.
On the Settings tab, check where things go: the accounts for sales, tips and bad debts, the bank account for each way customers pay, the account for each expense category and your VAT rates. Work Planner fills these in from your Xero chart of accounts, so it’s mostly a case of checking them. If you can file your VAT returns from Work Planner as well as Xero, you’ll also say which you use, so they’re only ever filed from one place.
Choose the date to send from. Work Planner sends what’s recorded on or after it, so pick an earlier date if those records aren’t in Xero yet.
Click Start sending to Xero. Your customers go across first, then everything else follows.

What happens next

Work Planner sends new and changed records every quarter of an hour, or straight away when you click Send now. Charges and payments go the night after they’re recorded.

The Activity tab shows what’s been sent, what’s waiting and anything Xero couldn’t accept, with Xero’s reason. Put right what’s in the way and click Try again, or leave it and Work Planner tries again each day.

If records keep being refused, or Xero stops accepting the connection, the bell, a push notification and an email let you know, so nothing quietly stops going across.

Payments you match in Xero

Lots of businesses match their customers’ bank payments in Xero. If that’s you, turn on Bring in payments made in Xero in the Xero settings and choose how they’re recorded. When a payment is matched to a charge or invoice Work Planner sent, it’s recorded against that job in Work Planner, so the customer’s balance stays right. If it’s deleted in Xero later, it comes out of Work Planner too.

Payments you take in Work Planner, such as cash on the day, still go to Xero as usual. Leave it off only if you record your bank payments in Work Planner yourself, so they aren’t counted twice.

From job to paid with Xero follows one job the whole way, from marking it complete to the customer’s bank payment coming back into Work Planner.

Which plans include it

Xero is included on the Pro and Team plans. On Free and Essential, you can add it from Bolt-ons for £5 a month.

Find out more

Our Xero help guide walks through each screen and setting.

New to Work Planner? See our plans or book a demo.

Work Planner Blog

Xero Integration Launched