Automate Your Accounting Workflows with Xero and Zapier

As an accountant, you likely handle a ton of financial data and accounting tasks on a daily basis. Ensuring all that information flows properly between the various apps you use takes a massive amount of manual work, which eats up your valuable time and leaves room for human error.

That‘s where workflow automation comes in. By integrating your accounting platform Xero with other business apps via an automation tool like Zapier, you can easily build connected workflows that move and manage data with virtually no ongoing effort from you.

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll explore the many benefits of automating your Xero accounting, walk through actionable examples of popular Xero automations, and give you pro tips to help you start optimizing your accounting workflows today.

Why Automate Xero?

Before we dig into the how-tos, let‘s look at some of the top reasons to add automation into your Xero platform:

Save Time

Manually moving data between Xero and other apps, creating records, sending notifications – it all adds up. Automation handles repetitive tasks for you, saving you hours every single week.

• According to data analysis by the , manual data entry and reconciliation takes the average accountant 15-20 hours per week. By implementing automated workflows between core business apps, companies have realized 30-50% reductions in manual accounting hours within the first year.

Task	Avg. Weekly Hours
Manual Data Entry	7
Reconciliation	6
Correcting Mistakes	3
Reporting Prep	4
Total Manual Hours	20

• For a small 5 person accounting team, that translates to savings of 25-50 manual working hours per week, unlocked to focus on more strategic initiatives. At an average salary of $30/hr, the estimated annual savings can reach ~$78K-$156K through reducing repetition via automation.

Increase Efficiency

Automated workflows run 24/7, ensuring critical data like invoices, bills, expenses get added accurately and on time, every time.

• Studies by leading accounting associations have benchmarked a 25-45% increase in transactional efficiency when integrating core financial platforms via automation.Invoices and payments that previously sat idle for days waiting for manual processing now reconcile instantly with near perfect accuracy.

• By analyzing historical data reconciliation rates, accounting leaders across different workflows suitable for automation in their department. Clear metrics help measure ROI on automation tools.

Reduce Errors

By minimizing manual data entry, you‘ll avoid accidentally entering incorrect or duplicate records that distort financial reporting.

• Duplicate entry risks decrease by 65% on average when critical accounting workflows are automated, analysis by , shows. That significantly raises confidence in financial audits and strategic business decisions based on reconciled data.

• A Forrester Research survey of 500+ finance leaders found that 29% listed fixing preventable mistakes from manual workflows as their #1 time sink, compared to 19% on training and 14% on new revenue enabling projects. Automation directly eliminates their biggest headache.


Scale Your Accounting

If your business is growing, automation helps your accounting workflow properly scale up without getting overwhelmed by the increased workload.

• Fast scaling companies see up to 4X more transactions flowing through their financial systems each year. At that pace, manual accounting processes rapidly break. Intelligent automation absorbs these new complex transaction volumes with ease.

• By tracking utilization metrics pre and post-automation, accounting leaders can accurately right size their team. shows a 100 employee company optimizing workflows during rapid growth. Despite 100%+ transaction volume increase over 2 years, their accounting headcount actually decreased by combining staff domain expertise with scalable software automation.

Get More Analysis Done

With automation taking care of routine accounting busywork, you‘ll free up time for higher value analytics and advising clients.

• As seen in the charts above, transitioning manually repetitive workflows into automated processes unlocks significant hours. Accountants can shift focus to upleveling their skills rather than fighting stagnant legacy procedures.

• Analyst firm Canalys projects expansion in areas like predictive analytics, machine learning solutions tailored for accounting. Their survey of 500 controllers found 76% of finance teams expect to dedicate more resources to advanced analytics going forward made possible by workforce reductions powering automation.

Easy to Set Up

The days of hiring developers to build custom integrations are over. With today‘s tools like Zapier, anyone can set up automations without technical skills – often in just minutes!

• Leading workflow automation platforms have abstracted away the programming complexity that hindered past IT projects. Their turnkey integrations and intuitive no/low-code UIs now securely connect web apps and on-premise software faster than ever before.

• As highlighted in an Accenture study, 87% of companies now turn to low-code solutions for automating workflows, bypassing prolonged legacy software implementations. Their turnkey connectors and templatized interfaces provide the fastest path to accounting process optimization.

Now let‘s explore some of the most popular and helpful Xero automations…

Automating Invoices

Invoices represent a massive amount of manual data entry work in most accounting workflows. Fortunately, automating the creation of invoices provides some of the quickest time savings and productivity gains when using Xero.

Popular ecommerce platforms, payment processors, POS systems, and other apps can seamlessly integrate with Xero to automatically generate invoices. Let‘s walk through a few real-world examples using the automation tool Zapier:

Xero + Stripe

If your business accepts credit card payments via Stripe, you can eliminate double data entry by auto-creating invoices in Xero.

Here‘s an example Zap that creates a Xero sales invoice for every Stripe invoice paid:

The Zap triggers whenever a Stripe invoice changes to paid status, grabbing key details like customer name, email, payment amount and automatically adding it into a new Xero invoice.

This saves your accounting team from manually moving this data between Stripe and Xero, avoiding errors and redundant work, so they can focus on more valuable tasks.

Try This Zap Template

Xero + Shopify

If you run an online store with Shopify, automating your order data into Xero is a must.

This Zap template creates a Xero sales invoice automatically for any new Shopify order:

Now your accounting team no longer has to manually enter order details from Shopify into Xero – it just happens automatically with no duplicate efforts!

Key details like customer name, email, order total, line items, and addresses flow directly into Xero invoices for instant accounting reconciliation.

Try This Zap Template

Xero + Other Apps

Beyond ecommerce, many other popular business tools integrate with Xero to auto-generate invoices including:

• POS Systems – Lightspeed, Square, Clover all create Xero invoices from in-store and online sales
• Payment Processors – Recurring billing platforms like Chargify and Chargebee sync customer invoices
• CRM Platforms – Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho all push invoice data during deal close
• Contractor Apps – Apps like Dubsado and 17hats create invoices when projects finish

Connecting any of these apps with Xero via Zapier eliminates double entry and reconciliation busywork for your accounting team.

Automating Payments

Capturing payments in Xero is just as critical as invoicing for proper cash flow reporting. Here are a few popular examples of automating payments using Zapier.

Record Stripe Payments in Xero

This Zap watches for successful Stripe charges and instantly creates matching cash transactions in Xero:

Now whenever your business receives a Stripe payment, it will automatically reconcile in Xero for accurate accounting and reporting – no manual work required!

Try This Zap Template

Create Xero Expenses from Expensify

If your business uses Expensify to track employee expenses, this Zap will automatically create expenses in Xero for better spend visibility:

Expenses from Expensify flow right into Xero with appropriate spend categories and details attached, reducing reconciliation workload.

Try This Zap Template

Automating expenses from Expensify, Pleo, or other spend management tools helps streamline this data directly into Xero for simplified accounting.

Notifications and Team Workflows

With your core accounting data flowing automatically into Xero, let‘s look at a few automations that help keep stakeholders informed and work moving smoothly:

Email the Team on New Xero Invoices

Do you need to notify sales reps or managers when a new invoice is created for their client in Xero?

This Zap sends an automatic email alert with invoice details whenever there‘s a new invoice created in a Xero account:

Easy customizations allow you send to specific team members based on client or other data in the invoice.

Try This Zap Template

Sync Xero Contacts to Google Sheets

To collaborate better with others outside your accounting team, you can create an automated spreadsheet with real-time access to Xero contact data.

This Zap template watches Xero contacts and syncs key details to a Google Sheet accessible by anyone at your company:

Now you have a single source of truth for critical customer, vendor, partner contacts that any employee can view or leverage in their workflows with just a quick spreadsheet refresh.

Try This Zap Template

Emerging Technologies for Automating Accounting

While connecting core business apps provides quick wins, advanced technologies on the horizon will take Xero automation to the next level:

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for Accounting

RPA tools use AI-powered "virtual workers" to emulate tedious manual workflows. Leading accounting solution Blue Prism and upstarts like Automation Hero integrate RPA bots with Xero to streamline transactional data entry, reconciliation, reporting and more.

Early adopters have seen up to 90% reduction in error-prone accounting tasks by augmenting staff with intelligent software robots purpose built for common financial procedures.

AI for Contextualizing Unstructured Accounting Data

Despite best practices, 80% of potential insights get trapped within unstructured data likePDF bank statements, scanned utility bills, email correspondences and paper receipts. New advancements in natural language processing and optical character recognition are unlocking this.

Vendors like Nanonets provide out-of-the-box connectors that intelligently digitize unstructured accounting documents then route the extracted key details directly into Xero for instant reconciliation.

Real-Time Analytics and Reporting

Traditionally, analytic insights required manually exporting data from accounting systems then cleansing in spreadsheets before analysis. This resulted in outdated, static reporting.

Now platforms like Fathom enable Live connections to view real-time Xero dashboards updated as the source transactions occur. Their beautiful visualizations auto-sync unlimited cuts of live data, providing instant financial insights.

Expert Tips for Automation Success

As you explore building Xero automations, keep these pro tips in mind:

Start Small – Don‘t attempt to overhaul your entire accounting process at once. Identify 1-2 manual workflows causing the most pain and begin there.

Use Zap Templates – Leverage pre-made automation templates (like the ones above) to accelerate setup. Tweak them to suit your specific needs.

Check Errors – When first creating Zaps, manually spot check for accuracy before fully automating. Refine if needed.

Test New Integrations – If introducing new software tools into your technology stack, test syncing to Xero via Zapier on a small scale first.

Involve Other Stakeholders – Get buy-in from teammates affected by new automations. Clearly communicate processes and handle feedback.

Implement Change Management – Coach staff to adopt optimizations and uplevel skills rather than simply cut headcount. Address concerns transparently.

Analyze and Iterate – Continuously monitor automation metrics to identify new opportunities. Expand use cases over time.

Supercharge Xero with Zapier

As you can see, connecting Xero to other business apps via Zapier provides tremendous time and efficiency wins through task automation.

You can eliminate hours of repetitive manual workflows, ensuring critical information reconciles instantly across sales, inventory, fulfillment, payment processing, expenses and all your other platforms.

With a modern stack integrated via automation, your team is freed up to focus on delivering amazing products and services to your customers – not battling antiquated technology and static data silos.

If you found this guide helpful, be sure to follow us on Twitter where we share automation best practices and new Xero integrations on a regular basis!