Initial setup tasks

SUMMARY

Customize the dashbord

The dashboard gives you a snapshot of an organisation’s financials and cash flow. Show, hide, and
move the panels to customise it.

Navigate an organisation
Xero makes it easy to access features and create transactions with the navigation menu. The
available menus and options depend on your organisation user role.

Notifications and logins

Notifications give you key updates such as bank feed status changes, new features, and other
important information. Delete messages you’ve read or switch off notifications completely.

SUMMARY

Oraganisation Settings
Enter organisation settings to upload a logo, add contact and website details, and social media links.
Choose what details to share on online invoices.

Manage users
Each Xero user should have their own login. Assign different roles and permissions to control what
each user can see and do in Xero. Delete a user if they don't need access to the organisation.

Multicurrency
Add foreign currencies to create transactions and bank accounts in a currency that’s different from
your base.

SUMMARY

Add and organise files

Upload files from a computer or mobile device. Add folders to help manage files.

Attach files to transactions

Attach files to existing transactions, or create a transaction from the file library Inbox. Use the side-
by-side view for easy data entry

SUMMARY

Financial settings

Edit the year end if it's different from the default setup. Set tax calculation defaults for transactions, to
improve data entry and reporting.

Lock dates

Lock dates to prevent users making changes to transactions for a past period, like a previous
financial year. Lock all users or allow changes by advisors only.

Tax rates
Customise the organisation’s tax rates, and add default rates to all accounts in the chart of accounts.
Edit these rates in each transaction if you need.

Tracking

See how different areas of the business are performing. Tag transactions with a category option to
report on departments.

SUMMARY

Xero chart of accounts

New organisations have a default chart of accounts that has a flat structure, with the account type
used to arrange accounts in reports. Xero uses locked system accounts for specific functions like
accounts receivable and payable, and reporting. Xero also locks accounts used on repeating
transactions, bank rules, tracked inventory, or registered fixed assets.

Add, edit and delete

Add, edit and remove accounts to customise the chart of accounts in Xero. Delete accounts you've
never used and don't need, or archive those with posted transactions.

SUMMARY

Enter the information

Download the chart of accounts import template from Xero. Enter the correct account information,
taking care to complete the mandatory fields.

Import the template

Import the custom chart of accounts into Xero. Follow the tips to ensure a successful import.

SUMMARY

Enter the conversion date

The conversion date is when the business starts using Xero for everyday transactions. The
only transactions you should enter before conversion are outstanding invoices and bills as at
the conversion date. We recommend you set the conversion date to the beginning of a
financial year or sales tax period.

Enter conversion balances

Add conversion balances to set the opening balances for accounts in the chart of accounts.
You must add any unpaid transactions to support accounts receivable and accounts payable
balances. Add an account to record uncleared funds for bank accounts.

Enter comparative balances

Add comparative balances in the Conversion balances screen to show prior year
comparisons in your financial reports, without entering full historical data in Xero.
SUMMARY

Conversion Balances

Before you can save your conversion balances, you must enter the unpaid invoices, bills and
credit notes that make up the accounts receivable and payable balances. If you already
entered unpaid transactions dated before your conversion date, you must enter their totals
against accounts receivable and payable in the Conversion balances screen.

Historical transactions

Conversion journals won’t always equal the amounts you enter for your conversion balances.
This is because Xero takes into account transactions dated prior to the conversion date and
only posts the adjustment needed for each account to match it’s corresponding conversion
balance value.

Trial balance

Compare the Trial Balance report with your conversion balances to see if you’ve successfully
saved them.