Xero integration
Overview
Our integration with Xero sets Brex apart by offering superior functionality. This integration allows for significant time savings each month due to the automatic bank feed connection. It also enhances reporting accuracy as expense data matching enables you to push receipts, memos, and category rules. It provides greater control over which data you want to flow from your Brex dashboard to Xero.
Integration options
Brex integrates with Xero in two ways, outlined below. Each time you manually export your transactions from Brex, they'll be matched to the bank feed records automatically. You can then confirm whether these matches are accurate by clicking Match to the right of each transaction in the bank feed. You should not see any duplicates. If you'd like to use the categorizations and expense data from the Brex dashboard, you can do that as well as view the same data in Xero using the expense data push.
Bank feed
New expenses on your Brex card automatically flow into your Xero account every 24 hours. With this option, the expense date, amount, and merchant will appear in the Reconcile and Bank statements sections of the Accounting tab on Xero. This feature is on par with what you should expect from other corporate card providers. To set up the bank feed, please reach out to your sales representative or our support team.
Expense data
With this option, you have the ability to push enriched Brex expense data to Xero. Brex offers a suite of tools to automate this process and save you time. Account and card admins will periodically select the date range they want to export and review all expenses and categorizations for accuracy. Once exported to Xero, the following details will be automatically matched with your transactions awaiting review under the Accounting tab:
- Categorizations
- Cardholder name
- The last 4 digits of the card
- Receipts
- Transaction memos
Matching the expense records to the bank feed will automatically reconcile your spending and move the charges out of For review and onto your balance sheet. This gives you better data visibility and saves you hours on your end-of-month close.
Choosing between bank feed and Brex integration
Some finance teams only use the bank feed for Xero categorization. However, combining both the methods can offer a more comprehensive view and improved workflow. If you export transactions from Brex, they’ll match bank feed records, allowing for quicker reconciliation.
Setup
You can connect Brex to your Xero bank feed by following the steps below.
Single Xero organization
As an account admin, card admin, or bookkeeper, you can add your Brex account to your Xero bank feed within minutes by following the instructions below. Step 1: In your Brex dashboard, click your name in the top right and go to Integrations. Step 2: Next to Xero, click Connect. Step 3: You'll be redirected to Xero to enter your sign-in credentials and allow Brex to send your data to Xero. Step 4: Once you're redirected back to Brex, select the account(s) you want to connect to the Xero bank feed, as well as the sync-from date(s) from which you'd like transactions to begin pushing over to Xero. Note: The bank feed will create a new and approved connection between Xero and Brex. This will generate a new Brex account in your Xero environment, even if you were using a manually created account in Xero for your Brex expenses. This is expected and you can easily reconcile the manually created account and archive it so that no past transaction data is lost. Step 5: Click Continue. Now that the bank feed setup is complete, transactions will begin exporting automatically within a few minutes. Next, you will be asked if you'd like to sync expense data. If you don't want to sync expense data, click Not now. If you would like to sync this data, click Sync data and follow the steps below. Step 6: Configure your expense settings and click Done. Step 7: On the Accounting page, click Categories and map each Brex category to a Xero category (you can type to search for the category). Note: Map every Brex category that you think your company will use. Otherwise, transactions associated with the unmapped Brex category will not sync because Brex won't know where to send these transactions in your Xero account. Step 8: Click Review & export transactions. Step 9: Review your company's transactions to ensure that categories have been applied correctly and receipts are attached. Step 10: When you’re ready, enter a date range and click Export to export all of your company's previously un-exported transactions within the time frame you indicated. Step 11: You can choose to export a CSV or export directly into Xero. The CSV option will not automatically send the expense data to Xero and Brex will mark these transactions as exported to avoid duplicates the next time you export. Once pushed, categorizations and transaction memos exported to Xero will automatically match with your transactions awaiting review in the bank feed. This will automatically reconcile your spending and move the charges out of For review and onto your balance sheet.
Multiple Xero organizations
When you are connecting a Xero account to Brex that has access to multiple Xero organizations, Brex will always choose the newest connected Xero organization that was granted access. To make this work, follow the steps below. Step 1: In your dashboard, click your name in the top right and go to Integrations. Step 2: You should see the Xero tile under Accounting with a Connect button next to it. If the tile appears in the Connected integrations with a Manage button, it’s already been connected. Step 3: Click Connect. You’ll be redirected to Xero’s website and may be prompted to log into your Xero account if you have not already done so. Step 4: On the Xero organization selector, ensure that the Xero Organization you’d like to select is not under Already Connected. For example, if we wanted to pick Brex Test 1 (Eng STG) as the correct Xero Organization, do not click Continue. Instead, disconnect your Brex account from Xero, then return here.
Step 5: After disconnecting, refresh this page and you should now see the Xero organization you’d like to connect selectable. In this example, we can see Brex Test 1 (Eng STG), our correct Xero Organization, is now selected. Click Allow access to continue.
Step 6: On the Brex integration’s settings page, verify that the organization name matches exactly with what you expected.
Additional features
Bill pay sync
Set up bill pay to sync your bills and bill payments with Xero automatically. Transactions will be automatically pulled from Brex into the Xero bank feed every 24 hours and will appear in the Accounting tab under the Reconcile and Bank statements sections. Bills managed or modified in Xero won’t sync back to Brex. Changes made in Xero must be manually updated in Brex.
Account mapping
We import your Xero fields & tracking categories so you can use them during preparation of your Brex expenses. You can also set mappings for your GL accounts by following the steps below: Step 1: On the Accounting Dashboard, go to Xero settings. Step 2: Under Card bank feed, click the three dots next to Expense data to set up your account mappings.
Exporting transactions to Xero
For a step by step tutorial on how to prepare, review, and export your transactions to Xero, read this help article. As long as you haven’t closed your books on Xero, Xero will automatically match any transaction in the bank feed to data exported from Brex (receipts, memos, and categorization). You’ll have the option to confirm whether these matches are accurate by clicking Match to the right of each transaction on the bank feed. Note: Choosing CSV won’t automatically send the expense data to Xero – you’ll need to add them to Xero manually. We’ll mark these transactions as exported to avoid duplicates the next time you export.
Set up accounts
Step 1: After completing your connection, go to Accounting > Xero settings > Entity settings. Step 2: Click on your parent entity to map the GL accounts. Step 3: Select an entity and enter your Xero account information for your Accounts payable, Bank accounts, Rewards credit, and Reimbursements. Your accounts must be linked to the following:
- Accounts Payable: Liability
- Card collection and employee repayment bank account: Bank Account
- Rewards Credit: Income/Revenue
- Reimbursement bank account: Bank Account
- Reimbursement payout account: Bank Account
Disconnect Xero
If your Xero organization selector shows it's Already connected, follow the steps below to fully disconnect Brex from Xero. Step 1: Open a new browser tab and go to your Xero dashboard. Step 2: At the top left, click Settings under your Xero organization. Step 3: Click Connected Apps.
Step 4: Find the Brex app and click the three dots on the right to select Disconnect.
This disconnection will prevent the direct export of expense data from Brex, but won’t affect anything on Xero’s end. Note: As long as you reconnect to the same account, disconnecting your integration will not impact your mappings.
Troubleshooting
Duplicate payments
You may see duplicate payments to Brex on your Xero account if you've added your bank to the Xero bank feed and are also using our Xero integration. This is because the payments to Brex pulled from your bank's feed will typically have the date that the payment left your bank account, whereas the payment to Brex pulled from your Brex bank feed will have the date that it reached Brex's bank account. Because of this date discrepancy, the payments will not auto-match. To rectify this, please follow the steps below. Step 1: On Xero, go to Accounts > Bank accounts and find the payment to Brex. Step 2: Click on the payment, and then click Find & match. Step 3: Search for the duplicate payment exported from Brex. Step 4: Click Reconcile.
Wrong Xero organization name
Please follow the steps below to ensure that you see the correct Xero organization in Brex. Step 1: Navigate to Accounting on the left side of your Brex dashboard, click Manage Xero. Step 2: Verify that the organization name in the integration’s settings page does not match the name listed in Xero. Also, verify that the company name listed under the Brex logo is correct. Step 3: Click Disconnect on the lower right side. Step 4: Connect the right organization by following the steps above.