Xero FAQs

How much does Xero cost?

Prices are as of Xero’s website on 20 April 2018:

NZ prices

• Starter / Cashbook Xero is $27.50 per month and it is not compatible with Kitomba integration
• Standard Xero is $55 per month and it is compatible with Kitomba's integration
• Premium Xero is $70 per month and it is compatible with Kitomba's integration

AU prices

• Starter / Cashbook Xero is $25 per month and it is not compatible with Kitomba's integration
• Standard Xero is $50 per month and it is compatible with Kitomba's integration
• Premium Xero is $60 per month and it is compatible with Kitomba's integration

UK prices

• Starter / Cashbook Xero is £10 per month and it is not compatible with Kitomba's integration
• Standard Xero is £22  per month and it is compatible with Kitomba's integration
• Premium Xero is £27.50  per month and it is compatible with Kitomba's integration
  
  

Why can’t I use Xero cashbook, it’s half the price?

Xero Cashbook / Starter Xero has a set limit of five invoices per month.  Our integration with Xero, sends a daily sales invoice, which exceeds their limit. Xero Cashbook is ‘sold’, set up and ‘managed’ by an accountant. These packages are not available to integrate with.

Talk to your Financial Advisor, or Accountant about Xero and what package might be best for you.

What is the difference between cash vs accrual accounting?

Accrual based accounting means you account for and claim GST for a transaction regardless of when the cash payment is received in the tax period in which the invoice is issued.  You will account for voucher and concession at the time the client redeems each concession or voucher.

Cash based accounting means you work out your GST for the period in which the payment is received or made.  You will account for voucher and concession sales at the time the client pays.

If you have Xero, you can check what GST basis you are set up on in the Financial Settings area.

Note:

Cash based accounting is also known as payments based accounting, and Accrual based accounting is known as invoice based accounting.  

What information are you actually sending from Kitomba?

Kitomba's Xero integration only sends the daily amounts for your Kitomba payment types that are linked to your Xero accounts. If you choose to not link a payment type then those figures are not sent to Xero. The Linked payment type figures are sent when you balance your cash drawer, finalise and send to Xero.  

If you use petty cash then it must be linked to your Xero account. 

Do I need to set up my bank account to go to Xero?

You don’t need to set up your bank account as an automatic feed. However, one of the key benefits of setting this up is you can use the Xero reconciliation feature to reconcile the amounts received in your bank account, with the amounts that Kitomba has sent.

You can also set up bank rules that automatically categorise regular transactions.

To find out more visit:

https://www.xero.com/nz/features-and-tools/accounting-software/bank-connections/

https://www.xero.com/nz/features-and-tools/accounting-software/bank-reconciliation/  

For help and with bank feeds visit:

https://help.xero.com/nz/BankFeeds

https://help.xero.com/nz/BankAccounts_Details_Reconciliation

https://help.xero.com/nz/BankAccounts_Details_BankRules

I don’t want to send the cash drawer, or amounts by payment types.  I need to split out the figures into services and retail, can I do that?

Our integration with Xero sends the cash drawer amounts for all the payment types you have linked to Xero currently, there is no way to split these figures.

Do you send my supplier invoices to Xero?

At the moment the integration works by sending the cash drawer reconciliation to Xero.  Supplier data is not included. 

Xero has a contacts feature, where you can classify contacts into either customer or supplier groups: https://help.xero.com/nz/Contacts-Classify

You can import suppliers using Xero’s import feature: https://help.xero.com/nz/Contacts_Import  

Alternatively you can set the supplier up individually using a form in Xero.

I don’t know what accounts to set up in Xero, which ones do I need to set up?

Firstly, you should speak to your financial advisor or accountant, for advice about how to set up your chart of accounts.  It’s up to you how you want to manage your finances and set up your accounts.
Note: Kitomba can’t provide financial advice

When you set up Xero, there are default accounts you can use. Alternatively you can seek advice by using the Xero help forum. https://community.xero.com/?domain=business

Why do I have to link petty cash to a Xero account?

Both 'cash' payments and 'petty cash' affect your total cash and taxable sales. To ensure Xero has the full picture (and you’re paying the correct tax), if you link your cash payment type to a Xero account, you must link your petty cash too.

I use a ‘buy now pay later’ payment type, how should I link this to my Xero account?

Some providers send funds minus their fees. This means that the payment total in the Kitomba Cash Drawer Reconciliation can be more than the amount you receive in your bank account.

In this scenario we recommend talking to your financial advisor or accountant to find out how they recommend linking these kind of payment types to Xero.

Some of our customers have handled this is by linking their ‘buy now pay later’ payment type to a clearing account in Xero. This is a non-bank asset account where you can offset the payments from Kitomba against the combined total of the sum received from your payment provider, plus the fees they have deducted.

The account entry for the provider fees will need to be added manually and sent to an appropriate expense account.for example:

Afterpay clearing account

Kitomba payment             +$200

Deposit from Afterpay      -$190

Afterpay fees                    -$10

Note: This is unnecessary if the payment provider withdraws fees from your bank account as a separate transaction.

Using Kitomba’s Xero integration

I’ve just connected my Xero account, can I send a past Kitomba cash drawer reconciliation to Xero?

No, To prevent duplicate figures reaching Xero, Kitomba does not automatically send, or allow you to manually send, cash drawer reconciliations prior to the date you connect your Kiotmba to Xero.

If you need to send a past cash drawer reconciliation to Xero you will need to do so using your previous process.

What happens if I can’t get the cash drawer to balance, can I still send my daily figures to Xero?

You can still send your cash drawer to Xero if it doesn’t balance. This creates a cash drawer variance’ amount that will be sent to Xero and appear as an expense.

When you work out the problem, you can re-open and re-send the cash drawer.  The previous cash drawer amounts will be reversed and appear as a credit note and the new cash drawer amounts will be sent and updated into your Xero accounts.

Why is Kitomba creating cash drawer variance records in my Xero account?

A cash drawer variance record is created when an ‘actual’ figure on your Kitomba cash drawer reconciliation doesn’t match the ‘expected’ figure. In this scenario the cash drawer variance value serves as a balancing figure so both sales and payment amounts can be sent to Xero as accurately as possible. This ensures that tax can be calculated correctly.

The occurrence of a cash drawer variance figure or an unbalanced cash drawer reconciliation indicates a failure in the payment handling process, that could be the result of money going missing. Possible reasons you’re seeing a cash drawer variance are:

• Your petty cash payments for a day are greater than your cash takings.
• There is a change in the cash drawer float for the day.
• A Kitomba payment type you’ve set to send to Xero has a discrepancy between the expected and actual values.
  
  

Why are the sales figures in Xero different from what I see in the Kitomba Business Summary.

This can be for many reasons. A good place to find where those differences come from is in your Cash Takings Report in Kitomba. Differences may be due to:

• Vouchers and concessions - the Kitomba Business Summary Report reflects an accrual accounting perspective whereby sales total includes voucher and concession redemptions while excluding voucher and concession sales.
• Loyalty redeemed - these are not sent to Xero and typically reduce the sales figure that is sent to Xero.
• Unpaid invoices or invoices paid from customer account balances.
• Invoices paid on a different day to the invoice. ie.  prepayment or late payment
• Invoices paid with payment types not sent to Xero.
  
  

How is the sale and redemption of a voucher sent to Xero and is this different to how Kitomba reports on them?

For customers who practice cash based accounting the sale of a voucher will be included in the total amounts sent to Xero and therefore appearing under sales in Xero profit and loss report. The income from a voucher sale is accounted for at the time of sale, and not when redeemed

In Kitomba's Business Summary Report vouchers and concessions are not included in total sales,  they are displayed as a separate figure. The total sales figure does however include the redemptions of vouchers and concessions. This is the reverse of what is sent to Xero.

Kitomba shows my voucher payment type on the cash drawer reconciliation , how come it doesn’t send to Xero?

To support businesses that practice accrual / invoice accounting, the Kitomba Cash Drawer Reconciliation provides information on payment types like vouchers and concessions. However, our integration with Xero only supports cash / payments based accounting at this time and won’t send these payment types to Xero.

What happens to my concessions when I sell and redeem them and is this different to how Kitomba reports on them?

For customers who practice cash based accounting, the sale of a concession will be included in the total amounts sent to Xero. The income from a concession sale is accounted for at the time of sale, and not when it is redeemed.

For customers who practice accrual based accounting, it's when a concession is redeemed that the transaction is accounted for.

I’ve finalised my Kitomba cash drawer reconciliation and sent it to Xero, but I don’t understand what was sent to Xero

Here are some examples:

How a Cash drawer reconciliation shows in Xero on a day where it balances.

 

How a cash drawer reconciliation shows in Xero on a day where petty cash was used.

 

How a cash drawer reconciliation shows in Xero on a day where it's unbalanced.

 

How a cash drawer reconcilaition shows in Xero on a day where Sales include taxable and zero rated items. 

 

 

How do I correct a mistake on my Kitomba cash drawer reconciliation if I’ve already finalised and sent it to Xero?

To make an edit:

1. Re-run the Kitomba cash drawer reconciliation report for the relevant date.
2. Re-open the cash drawer reconciliation.
3. Read the warning message that shows. If you are ok with proceeding select OK.
4. Make the required edits.
5. Re-finalise and resend to Xero.

Kitomba will reverse the previous invoice sent to Xero by creating a credit note and create a new invoice in Xero with an updated summary of your cash drawer reconciliation

Tips:

• Each invoice Kitomba creates in Xero will reference the Kitomba cash drawer date it’s resulted from
• Each credit note Kitomba creates (as a result of re-opening and re-finalising a Kitomba cash drawer) will reference the Xero invoice it's reversing. For more information visit this support guide.

<https://central.xero.com/s/article/Bank-reconciliation-in-Xero>

However, if you reopen and re-finalise a Kitomba cash drawer you could end up with transactions on the first invoice (now reversed) and transactions on the second invoice reconciled to bank statement lines.

If you find yourself in this situation and you want your bank statement lines reconciled to payments transactions on the most recent ‘current’ transaction invoice, Xero supports manually unreconciling a match. Once you’ve unreconciled the match the bank statement line can be reconciled to the most recent transaction.

For more information on how to handle this, please refer to Xero support guide.

<https://central.xero.com/s/topic/0TO1N0000017kmGWAQ/reconciling-transactions#business>

Kitomba sends my cash takings to Xero daily, but I only bank my cash once a week, how do I reconcile them in Xero?

Xero supports reconciling a single bank statement line (your weekly cash deposit) to multiple invoices (Kitomba’s daily transactions).

For more information on how to do this please refer to Xero support.

<https://tv.xero.com/detail/videos/how-to/video/5131029215001/reconcile-a-bank-statement-line-to-multiple-invoices-or-bills-in-xero?autoStart=true&page=4>

Managing Kitomba’s Xero integration settings

What happens if I disconnect my Xero account from Kitomba?

If you ‘disconnect’ your Xero account from Kitomba it removes the integration between Kitomba and Xero, this means any further Kitomba cash drawer reconciliations run from this point forward won’t be sent to Xero.

Disconnecting your Xero account will delete any links you had made between your Kitomba payment types and your Xero accounts. If you choose to reconnect at a later date you will need to step through the setup process again.

How do I edit my Xero settings from Kitomba 1?

To make edits to the Xero accounts and Xero tax types in Kitomba you will need to log into your Xero account.

Why isn’t Xero integration showing in my Kitomba 1 settings?

The Xero integration feature is only available if you have Kitomba's Diamond or Platinum package.

Who can access my Xero integration?

Kitomba’s Xero integration settings are only accessible by Kitomba 1 users with Admin permission.