This article is about Justworks PEO. What product am I using?
Getting Started
To get started, select “Connect Xero” from the Invoices page by clicking the icon with three dots in the upper right-hand corner.
Invoices page with available accounting integrations highlighted.
Before you can start setting up, you’ll first need to connect your Xero account. Clicking “Connect Xero” will redirect you to login to Xero.
Xero accounting integration screen with visual indicating that an account needs to be connected.
After signing in, you’ll need to authorize Justworks to access your Xero account.
Screenshot of Xero platform asking to allow Justworks access to organization data and user account information.
Preferences
After connecting to Xero, you can decide how Justworks syncs data with your Xero account under Preferences.
Step one of Xero integration setup in Justworks allowing you to select preferences.
Based on your company needs you can select:
- Bank Account: This should be the account that you use to process payroll.
- Sync method: Manually sync invoices or Allow them to automatically sync the day after processing.
- Transaction Type: Send the transaction as either a Bill or Journal Entry
- Granularity: Allows each line item mapped to either be aggregated into a single line per payroll, or into multiple lines for each individual employee regardless if they have a shared account.
Company Mapping
Now that you’ve set up your preferences, you’ll need to map each pay type in Justworks to an account or sub-account from your Chart of Accounts in Xero.
Each payment type is grouped in a category with similar line item types (ex: Earnings, Deductions, Fees etc). After expanding a given category, you can use the drop down next to each individual line item type to specify the Xero account it should be mapped to.
Step two of Xero integration setup in Justworks for company-wide mappings with the category Earnings expanded.
Keep in mind here that you’ll have to map every visible line item to an account in order to complete setting up your integration. You can see your progress based on the status shown next to each category.
Step two of Xero integration setup in Justworks where all category mappings have been completed.
Only items that have appeared on processed invoices will be available to map. As you process additional payrolls, new items may be used and will need to be mapped at that time to continue syncing to Xero.
Department Override
Once you’ve set up your default company mappings you’ll have the option to override the same line items by department to their own accounts in Xero. Department overrides are totally optional and are not a required step to complete your account mapping.
First, you can choose the department from the drop down to see the same categories as the company level.
Similar to the company level mappings, you can expand a category within an individual department to see the individual line items. The default account will be visible and you can choose a different account from the drop down to assign as an override.
Optional step three of Xero integration setup in Justworks allowing Departmental override with a department selected in the drop down and Earnings category expanded with a single override completed.
Unlike in the company-level defaults, you will not need to assign an account override to every department or for each pay type within a department. Any pay type not mapped on the department level will still map to the account listed in the company-level settings.
Employee Override
Similar to departments, you are able to override line items at the individual employee level. This is optional and you do not need to map each line item and only need to edit the account if it needs an override compared to the default company or department-level mapping.
Optional step four of Xero integration setup in Justworks for employee-level override with a single employee selected in the drop-down but no overrides completed.
Tracking Categories
If you utilize tracking categories in Xero, you can map these at the department level. Similar to department overrides, tracking categories are optional and can be mapped only to the applicable departments.
Optional step five of Xero integration setup in Justworks showing individual departments available to assign a tracking category via drop-down.
Sending Invoices to Xero
After your payroll process and an invoice is created in Justworks, you will be able to send each invoice over to Xero with the click of a button or sync automatically the day after processing. If you have enabled automatic sync, you can still manually sync the invoice at any time if you would like.
From the Invoices tab, you’ll see an icon with two arrows next to each invoice. If syncing manually, clicking that icon will sync the invoice to your Xero accounting integration. When successful, it will turn green with a check mark inside.
If you don’t see the icons next to each invoice, return to the “Connect Xero” page to make sure you have connected properly to Xero.
If the icon is instead red with an exclamation mark, the sync to Xero will have failed, likely due to a new line item appearing and needing mapped.
Invoices page with a red exclamation mark error icon on a single invoice.
You will be able to tell which category the new type appears in as the status will change from “Completed” to “In Progress”. After mapping the missing item, you can return to invoices and resync to Xero.
Screenshot of step two of Xero setup, company-wide mappings, with an "In Progress" status on Deductions category.
Once sent, each Justworks invoice will be saved as a draft in either the Bills or Payroll Journal (based on your selection in Preferences) section of the Xero account. You can view details by selecting ‘edit’ the bill.
Screenshot from Xero platform showing invoice data sent as a bill and allowing the ability to edit information directly in Xero.
For more information on the Justworks-Xero integration, click here.
Disclaimer
This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for accounting, legal or tax advice. If you have any legal or tax questions regarding this content or related issues, then you should consult with your professional legal or tax advisor.