Connect a Xero organisation
Before you start
Connect at the organisation level, not the entity level. Several BMS entities can share one organisation, and one connection covers all of them — see Entities, organisations and prefixes.
You will need a Xero login with access to the organisation you are connecting.
Confirm three things first:
- Xero is actually your accounting system.
- Admin → General Settings has the accounting integration package set to
xero. If it reads
quickbooks,bmsornone, none of the Xero sync features are active however well the connection is authorised. - Your Xero chart of accounts is configured, with the account codes you intend to use from BMS.
Warning
Do not re-authorise an existing connection on a hunch. The OAuth connection is normally established at implementation and does not need renewing unless it has been revoked from the Xero side. Re-authorising can disrupt already-synced records — if you think it needs re-establishing, get guidance first.
Important
The connection runs under the authorising user's authority, and the Organisations list records who that was in Authenticated By. Use an account that will still exist and still have access in a year — connecting under a personal login that later gets deactivated breaks the sync.
Steps
- Go to Admin → Entities and find the Organisations list below the entities.
- Click Connect Xero Organisation.
- Sign in to Xero and authorise the connection when prompted.
- You return to BMS. The organisation should show Authenticated! and your address under Authenticated By.
Then align the reference data
A connection alone does not reconcile anything. Before invoices flow usefully:
- Go to Admin → Accounts and compare the chart of accounts against Xero. Import what is missing.
- Do the same on Admin → Tax Rates.
Accounts and tax rates have to line up on both sides, or invoices will push against codes Xero does not recognise.
Verify it is actually working
A connection showing Authenticated! is necessary and not sufficient. Check all three:
| Check | Where | Looking for |
|---|---|---|
| Reference data agrees | Admin → Accounts | The accounts match your Xero chart |
| Contacts are matched | A billing customer's Xero Integration panel | A Xero Identifier is present |
| Journals are landing | Admin → Journals | A recent Last Push on the nightly journals |
The third is the most telling, because the nightly Cost of Sales journals run every day whether or not anything was dispatched — so a stale Last Push means the push is failing, not that the business was quiet.
What then runs by itself
| Sync | When |
|---|---|
| Nightly Cost of Sales journals | Each night, per entity |
| Invoice sync | Released invoices, on trigger or schedule |
| Customer sync | On manual trigger, or on a customer's first invoice push |
To disconnect
Remove authentication on the organisation's row. Do this before revoking the authorising user's Xero access, not after.