Xero FAQs

Overview

In this article, we will answer some of the most commonly asked questions surrounding the integration between Xero and Actionstep.

Q. I've heard that the Xero integration is 'one-way'. What does that mean?

A: Yes, that's correct. The integration is referred to as 'one-way' because data can be synced from Actionstep through to Xero, but not vice versa. As such, people commonly use Actionstep for their billing and trust accounting and then consolidate the data into Xero for their reporting and dashboards.

Q. Do I need to reconnect to Xero every time I post?

A. Unless somebody pushes the Disconnect Button, or logs Actionstep out within your Xero system; you should stay connected. If you are for some reason disconnected, it will say so in the user's alert bar and you will need to get the person who knows the Xero login to reconnect. We would advise that not everybody knows this login.

Q. Do I need a Xero login for all my staff who use Actionstep Accounting?

A. No, the system only needs one login to operate. If your staff need access to Xero for reasons other than posting through Actionstep, they should do this independently of the Actionstep system. 

Q. Why do I need to set up Trust Accounts within Xero to enable the mapping?

A: Some of the holding accounts that Actionstep uses to process trust transactions (such as the 'Trust Liability' and 'Trust Transfers' accounts) are not available in Xero by default, which is why they have to be created before the mapping is configured.

Q. Can Xero's 'Bank Feeds' feature be utilized for Actionstep?

A: No, they cannot. As mentioned above, the integration is 'one-way' and data can only be pushed from Actionstep through to Xero, not vice versa. Since the bank feeds are only available within Xero, they will not appear within Actionstep.

Q. I've added the mapping for all my accounts but I'm getting an error message stating that the mapping is missing for a certain account?

A: It may be that you've forgotten to assign a unique code to the account in Xero. Whilst Xero allows you to create accounts without assigning these codes to them, Actionstep relies on these codes to identify the accounts, which is why you might be seeing this error message.

Q. Which accounting basis do I need to set for the integration to work?

A: Good question! You need to ensure that your accounting basis in Actionstep is set to Accrual. As long as that's in place, you can set Xero to whichever basis you prefer.

Q. Why aren't all my line items being pushed through to Xero?

A: Actionstep summarises the line items to the income account/code mapped between Actionstep and Xero when pushing bills through.

Q. Why is a line of my invoice in Xero one cent different than the same invoice in Actionstep?

A. In Actionstep we allow the user to change a line item's Total Price, which we back-adjust the unit price via the Quantity.
Example: 0.67 @ $100 = $67, adjust total to $68 and the equation will be 0.67 @ $101.492537 = $68.00 (67.99999979 rounded up)
We allow users to use 6dp for the Quantity or the Unit price and round to 2dp for the total price.
In Xero however, the quantity can only be 4dp and the unit price 2dp, which leads to impossible conversions.
So, the answer is to calculate as per Xero (4dp qty + 2dp price), then calculate the difference at the end of the invoice and add a "Rounding errors" line for the balance.
This amount is posted to one of the income/expense accounts used in the invoice (the account with the highest amount from that transaction) and has no tax on it.

Q. I'm getting the following error message: 'API Exception Detected... '?

A: Please refer to the article Xero Error Messages/Troubleshooting for more information on troubleshooting Xero error messages.