💡This guide covers:
Steps to connect Adfin and Xero
Importing customers
Importing invoices
How Adfin syncs with Xero on an ongoing basis
Connecting Adfin and Xero
1. Click the '+ Connect' button in the integrations tab under settings:
2. You will be redirected and prompted to login to Xero, please login.
3. Once logged in successfully, Xero will ask you to select an organisation and allow access.
4. Once you approve the connection with Xero, you'll be redirected back to Adfin. We will then ask you to manage your setup and preferences, more detail below.
Step 1: Syncing invoices
The first step is to configure how Adfin should collect your Xero invoices moving forward.
We can collect all of your invoices with Adfin, or use Adfin with selected branding themes to control which invoices come to Adfin.
Option 1: All invoices
We will import all Approved Xero invoices moving forward (not drafts). Adfin will also be added as a payment service to all Xero branding themes automatically.
You can also choose if you would like us to import all unpaid approved invoices - we'll start chasing your outstanding debt right away!
We’ll import the invoices into Adfin and automatically request payment from your customers based on your enabled workflows.
Option 2: Assign branding themes for invoices to be sent via Adfin.
If you select this option, only invoices with an Adfin enabled branding theme will be collected.
In order to send invoices raised in Xero via Adfin (with Adfin’s distribution and payments), you must specify using branding themes in Xero. We advise creating two Adfin-specific branding themes:
A branding theme "Adfin On Demand" for On Demand payment requests (Apple Pay, Google Pay, cards and bank payments).
A branding theme "Adfin Auto Collect" for invoices (one-time or recurring) that are to be scheduled against an Adfin direct debit mandate.
Approved invoices on an Adfin branding theme will be imported to Adfin, the Adfin payment link will also be added to the Xero invoice PDF.
💡 Don't see any branding themes you can use? Create new themes on Xero
On Xero, navigate to “invoice settings” and select “new branding theme” or copy and rename an existing branding theme. If copying, make sure to remove any non-Adfin payment services from your Adfin branding theme templates.
⚠️ If GoCardless is still collecting invoices even though your Adfin branding themes are assigned to an invoice, read this.
Once the branding themes have been created in Xero, you'll be able to select them from the drop-down lists in the configuration panel.
Optional but recommend: Enable automatic invoice migration
When your client authorises a direct debit mandate, we'll automatically switch their Xero invoices to Adfin Auto Collect, updating the branding theme to match your settings. These invoices will then be collected automatically by Adfin.
Choose whether to migrate only future invoices from repeating invoices or all unpaid and draft invoices.
We will add a tag to migrated customers, so you can see which customers have been migrated. Check our help guides for setup tips.
Step 2: Reconciling payments
This enables Adfin to automate transfers on Xero to make it easy to reconcile payments on your business bank. How it works:
When you connect Adfin to Xero, we automatically create an intermediary bank account called "Adfin clearing account".
When a customer makes a payment, Adfin records it in Xero as a payment into the clearing account.
When Adfin pays out to you, we create a transfer from the clearing account to your bank account. This transfer can then be easily reconciled against the payment shown on your bank statement.
⚠️ You should select the payout account you onboarded with us during your verification to ensure seamless reconciliation.
Advanced settings (Optional)
In the advanced settings, you can:
Select the sales account for invoice line items pushed to Xero
Choose if you would like to sync payments without an invoice to Xero.
When a payment is made that is not linked to an invoice, we'll create a payment into your Adfin clearing account in Xero.
You can choose the type of payment gets created, the account which it is coded to and if the payment should be inclusive of VAT.
Step 3: Importing customers
Here you can choose if you would you like to import:
a) All of your customers [Recommended]
By default we automatically import all new Xero customers moving forward, but you can opt-out of this.
b) Only use Adfin with certain contact groups.
Before you import a contact group, you have to create this group in Xero and add the relevant contacts before importing them to Adfin. Once the contact group has been created, it will appear in the drop down.
If you want to import Xero contacts who are not 'customers' you will need to add them to a contact group in order to import them.
Customers will not be duplicated if you reimport all or a specific group.
You can choose to import more than one contact group.
By default we automatically import all new Xero contacts added to the contact group in Xero, but you can opt-out of this.
Once you have selected one of the import options and clicked Save & Finish, the import will start automatically.
To confirm Adfin is connected to Xero, you can go to https://console.adfin.com/settings/integrations.
If the status is 'Connected', see example below, then the connection has been successful.
Importing invoices from Xero to Adfin
If you chose to import All invoices in your Adfin <> Xero configuration settings - we will import all Approved Xero invoices moving forward. Adfin will also be added as a payment service to all Xero branding themes automatically. The invoice workflow (i.e On Demand or Auto Collect) will be determined by the customers default workflow settings.
If you selected the option to only import invoices from Xero with an Adfin enabled branding themes, you’ll need to assign one of your Adfin branding themes to the invoice in Xero.
On the invoice form, you will be able to select one of the branding themes you created earlier:
"Adfin On Demand" for On Demand payment requests (Apple Pay, Google Pay, cards and bank payments).
"Adfin Auto Collect" for invoices (one-time or recurring) that are to be scheduled against an Adfin direct debit mandate.
⚠️ Applying incorrect or missing branding themes may cause invoices to fail to appear in Adfin. Each invoice must have a properly configured branding theme, such as "Adfin On Demand" or "Adfin Auto Collect".
Once the branding theme has been applied to the invoice, you must 'Approve' the invoice (not approve and email), Adfin will then import invoice for collection.
⚠️ You should select “Approve” rather than “Approve & email”. If you select “Approve & email”, Adfin will still ingest the invoice but your client will receive duplicate emails (one from Adfin and one from Xero).
In the example below, the "Adfin On Demand" branding theme has been selected, meaning the invoice will be sent out for collection with the option to pay via Apple Pay, Google Pay, cards and bank payments.
As soon as the "Approve" button is clicked, the invoice will be imported into Adfin and distributed for collection (meaning we also send the Xero PDF to your customer). You will then be able to view the invoice in the Adfin Payments view.
⚠️ If you have Stripe or Crezco configured as a payment service on the invoice, their payment links will still appear on the Xero invoice PDF - this could result in a duplicate payment, to prevent this you should disable them in your Xero account.
💡Adfin marks the invoice as sent on Xero when the invoice is sent by Adfin. If your invoice has transitioned into a lock period, we will not be able to mark the invoice as sent.
Repeating invoices using branding themes
Repeating invoices work in the exact same way, simply create or update the repeating invoices to be marked Approve (instead of Approve for sending) and assign your desired Adfin branding theme. Make sure non-Adfin payment services have been removed from the Online Payments section.
How Adfin syncs with Xero on an ongoing basis
Invoices
Invoices will be imported into Adfin based on your chosen configuration in Step 1: Syncing invoices (see above).
When invoices are paid via Adfin, the invoice payment status will be automatically updated in Xero.
Invoice updates made in Xero (such as issue date, due date, invoice number and line items) will be updated in Adfin too.
If you are importing invoices using branding themes, when applying the "Adfin Auto Collect" branding theme to a Xero invoice:
If a customer already has an active mandate in Adfin, we will distribute the invoice on the issue date and schedule the payment to be taken from their account on the due date.
If a customer has a pending mandate, we will distribute the invoice on the invoice issue date but we will not schedule the payment to be taken from their account until the mandate is signed.
If a customer has not been sent a mandate, we will distribute the invoice on the invoice issue date and send a new mandate. Once the mandate is signed we will schedule the payment to be taken from their account on the due date.
Credit notes and payments applied in Xero
If you apply a credit note or a payment to an invoice in Xero, Adfin will automatically updates the amount due on the invoice to the new, updated balance. Adfin also syncs deletion of credit notes and partial payment, including any changes that are made to these after they are applied.
We show your client a breakdown of payments and credit notes that have been applied to an invoice on the payment page and future reminders. You can also view all the previous invoice activity that affects the amount due yourself by clicking into invoice in the console.
If a credit note is removed from an already paid invoice in Xero, this change will not be synced to Adfin and the invoice will remain as paid in Adfin.
To collect a payment for the invoice with Adfin, please void the invoice and raise it again without the credit note.
Customers
Customers can be synced from Xero to Adfin, please refer to Step 3: Importing customers (above).
To check if a customer in Adfin is linked to a Xero contact, you can refer to the tooltip in the final column of the customer table.
Ongoing customer sync between Adfin and Xero:
If you have configured Adfin to import All customers, you can toggle on if you would like any new customer created in Xero to automatically be imported to Adfin. In Xero, a contact must be classified as a 'customer' (by creating an invoice for them) to be imported automatically this way.
If a primary contact imported to Adfin is edited in Xero, it will be updated in Adfin.
If a primary contact imported from Xero is edited in Adfin, it will be updated in Xero.
If Adfin is set up to import all invoices from Xero, the customer will be automatically added to Adfin (if they don’t already exist) as soon as the invoice is approved.
If Adfin is set up to import only Xero invoices with an Adfin branding theme, the customer will be automatically added to Adfin (if they don’t already exist) when the invoice is approved and the invoice uses an Adfin branding theme.
To manually re-trigger the 'All customers' sync: go to Settings > Integrations and click "Manage connection" via the three dots on the Xero tile, then skip through to step 3. In Xero, a contact must be classified as a customer (by creating an invoice for them) to be imported this way. This will only import new customers and will not create any duplicates in Adfin.
To only import from a contact group: go to Settings > Integrations and click "Manage connection" via the three dots on the Xero tile, then skip through to step 3. Add the contact to a Xero contact group and import that specific group. This will import the contact regardless of whether they are classified as a customer or not in Xero. You can also choose to automatically import new customers from groups.
Having trouble syncing data between Adfin and Xero?
Please refer to our help guide:
📖 Troubleshooting common issues between Adfin and Xero