Setting up your Xero account is the most important step in making sure that everything will be synced from Cliniko to where it should be in Xero. We strongly recommend you seek your accountant's or bookkeeper's input when setting up your Xero account and the connection with Cliniko to best suit the needs of your business.

To avoid invoice and payment data ending up in the wrong place in Xero, you will want to make sure that you have the appropriate sales and payment accounts set up before connecting the integration.

Xero has some great support articles to help with this, and it's pretty straightforward! Here's Xero's article on how to connect a bank feed.

Once your bank feed is connected to your Xero account, bank transaction information will begin to flow automatically into Xero.

If you simply need to have your payment information pushed across to Xero for reconciliation, then you may want to just use the bank feed account to sync Cliniko's payments into. This will mean both your bank transaction data and Cliniko payment data will be synced to a single account. You can review payments and transactions and reconcile from there.

If you need some separation in Xero between your payment types from Cliniko, you may wish to use one or more clearing accounts, and set each of your payment types in Cliniko to push to the relevant clearing account in Xero.

Our guide on integrating Cliniko with your Xero account shows how to set the bank feed account as your default account for your payments when connecting the integration. Once your bank feed account exists in Xero, this is all you need to do to have Cliniko push payments into that same bank feed account.

If you'd prefer to use clearing accounts, keep reading and we'll show you how to set up one or more clearing accounts in Xero to house your payment data.

So you've decided to use clearing accounts in Xero for your Cliniko payments. You may want to set up a single clearing account for all of Cliniko's payments to sync into, or you may want to set up separate clearing accounts for each payment type that you are entering into Cliniko. As an example, you might want a clearing account for HICAPS, EFTPOS, Cash, your online payment provider, and direct bank deposits.

Here's how to set up a new clearing account in Xero:

In Xero, head to Settings, and then Chart of Accounts:

Click Add Account:

Select Current Asset in the Account Type drop-down menu:

Select a unique code (this can be any available number, but you may want to structure how you number these accounts for ease of reference):

Enter a Name and a short Description for your clearing account. This may be something broad and all-encompassing if you are using a single clearing account:
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Or your Name and Description may be more specific if you are setting up multiple clearing accounts (such as Clearing Account - EFTPOS):

While optional, the description will help you and your bookkeeper or accountant to understand your use of this account.

Select BAS Excluded in the Tax field:

Finally, check the box to Enable payments to this account:

After making sure that everything looks set up correctly, hit Save to finish creating the account:

Done! 🙌 You've now set up a clearing account in Xero. You will need to follow these steps for each subsequent clearing account that you want to create. To link them with your payment types in Cliniko, see the Connecting specific payment types in Cliniko to specific clearing accounts in Xero section in this article.

Xero is super helpful and already has a sales account set up by default. This is account number 200. This account will be enough in many cases, for many small businesses, and can be safely used with Cliniko. It is simple to set Cliniko to sync all invoices to the one sales account.

However, if you need further sales accounts in Xero to sync specific invoice items to from Cliniko, you'll need to set up these extra sales accounts. Taxable and tax-free items will also require their own separate accounts in Xero, so if you have invoice items and products that do not have GST charged on them, then you will need to set up a secondary sales account for GST-free sales. Unless edited, account 200 in Xero is by default a sales account for tax inclusive items.

Here's the steps to follow to create a new sales account in Xero:

In Xero, head to Settings, and then Chart Of Accounts:

Click Add Account:

Select Sales or Revenue in the Account Type drop-down menu. Xero treats Sales and Revenue accounts identically:

Select a unique code (we suggest something near 200):

Enter a name and a short description for your clearing account (such as Sales - Non-Taxable):

While optional, the description will help your bookkeeper or accountant to understand your use of this account.

Select GST Free Income or BAS Excluded in the Tax field, depending on what is appropriate for your business (please seek your accountant's input here):

Or:

Hit Save to finish creating the account:

That should be all you need to do for your sales accounts to be ready to accept invoices from Cliniko 🎉

You can take it further, depending on your business needs. You could choose to create a sales account for groups of your products, or for each individual product. You could create a sales account for each service/billable item, or each category of service/item within your Cliniko account. You can even create a separate sales account for each of your practitioners, and set their Cliniko invoice items to sync to the relevant accounts in Xero. Keep reading to see how to link this all up.

If you've set up more clearing accounts for your payment types, you'll need to make sure your payment types are linked to the relevant clearing accounts you've set up in Xero. Here's how to link specific payment types to specific clearing accounts:

Head to Settings, and then Payment types:

Click on a payment type (e.g. EFTPOS). By default, the selected Xero account for payments setting will be Default Xero account for payments. To change this, select the relevant clearing account from the drop-down menu:

Click the Update payment type button, and you'll be set!

You'll need to repeat this process for all payment types that you want connected to their relevant clearing accounts.

If you need to separate your Cliniko billable items, products, and even practitioner items into specific Xero accounts, you can do that. As mentioned, taxable items and non-taxable items will need separate accounts in Xero, as each account will need the relevant tax settings.

By default, all billable items will be pushed to the set default sales account. Here's how to set any billable item to sync to an account other than your default sales account.

Head to Settings, and then Billable items:

Click on a billable item and then select the appropriate Xero account code from the drop-down menu:

Click Update billable item, and you're all done!

By default, all products will be pushed to the set default sales account. Here's how to set any product to sync to an account other than your default sales account.

Head to the Products tab on the blue sidebar in Cliniko, and click on the product you wish to work with. Edit the product, and select the appropriate Xero account code in the drop-down menu:

Hit the Update product button, and that's done!

Although no practitioner information is sent to Xero with invoices, you are able to set a default sales account for each practitioner. This will push the invoice line items from that practitioner's invoices to the Xero account you set. This will not override any specific Xero sales account settings you have set for those items, but will override the default Xero account setting.

Head to Settings → Our clinic → Users & practitioners, click on the relevant practitioner's name, then click the button to Edit their practitioner settings. Select the appropriate Xero account code in the drop-down menu:

Hit the Update practitioner button!

Having the right set up for your sales and payment accounts is critical to getting the Xero reporting you need, making reconciliation straightforward, and having an accurate Business Activity Statement in Xero. Please contact your accountant if you need any specific advice about your business, but let us know if you need any help with the setup. Once set up, you can connect your Cliniko account to Xero! See this guide for all the info and instructions.

We are easiest reached from within Cliniko by clicking Help on the blue sidebar, and clicking Chat with us.