How to integrate Prism and Xero

How to integrate Prism and Xero

Prism has chosen Xero as its Finance partner quite simply because they are recognised as the best online accounting system in the world. It is simple and easy to use, affordable but powerful and also able to be integrated to a wide variety of third party add-ons. 

Certain finance configuration data in Xero is synchronised with Prism: 
  1. Tax Rates;
  2. Chart of Accounts;
  3. Tracking Categories.
All finance data in Prism is synchronised with Xero: 
  1. Contacts (including Suppliers and Owners);
  2. Supplier Bills (if you choose to enter supplier bills into Prism - this is optional)
  3. Invoices (by statement synchronisation) .
You can choose to consolidate Invoice data in Xero however, to speed up Xero and the synchronisation process. 

Options To Consolidate Invoices In Xero

The default behaviour of our Prism to Xero integration is to create invoices in Xero unique to each owner and horse in a given Statement period. 

However, the Prism Finance module records all expense details by horse, owner and date, and keeps that data as an historical account of charges. As a result, there is often little need to replicate the volume of data in Xero.

Furthermore, customers typically will pay one amount per period to pay all horse invoices on their Statement. Accounts receivable administrators often need to select multiple invoices in Xero when reconciling owner payments.

To reduce the volume of data in Xero and to improve the reconciliation of customer payments to invoices, you can choose to consolidate invoices and/or invoice lines in Xero. 

Please consider the options presented in this section BEFORE synchronising Prism and Xero.

Default Option: Current Prism to Xero Invoice Creation

This example below shows how the integration creates invoices in Xero now.


Customers typically will pay one amount per period to pay all horse invoices on their Statement. Accounts receivable administrators often need to select multiple invoices in Xero (three in the above example) when reconciling owner payments, adding time to the reconciliation task.

Option 2: Consolidate Invoice Lines By Account and Tax Rate

You can now choose to consolidate invoice lines in Xero by Account and Tax Rate, but retain unique customer invoices by horse.

Consider this example below.


Benefits > Reduce the volume of data in Xero. Improve Xero system performance.

To reconcile a customer payment with this option, you still need to select all relevant invoices (three in this example above). 

Option 3: Consolidate Invoices Into Xero Invoice and Consolidate Invoice Lines By Description, Account & Tax Rate

To even further reduce data in Xero, you can now choose to consolidate invoices in Xero and consolidate invoice lines by Description, Account and Tax Rate.

Consider this example below. All invoices for an owner in a given Statement period are consolidated in one invoice in Xero, with the Xero Invoice Number matching the Prism Statement ID. But invoice lines (expense lines in Prism) are still itemised.


As the Xero Invoice Number matches the Prism Statement ID, the customer reconciliation process is greatly improved, provided your customers add the Statement ID as a payment reference.

Benefits > Reduce the volume of data in Xero. Improve Xero system performance. Reduce time required to reconcile customer payments.

Option 4: Consolidate Invoices Into Xero Invoice and Consolidate Invoice Lines By Account & Tax Rate

To minimise data in Xero, you can now choose to consolidate invoices in Xero and consolidate invoice lines by Account and Tax Rate.

Consider this example below. All invoices for an owner in a given Statement period are consolidated in one invoice in Xero, with the Xero Invoice Number matching the Prism Statement ID. But invoice lines (expense lines in Prism) are consolidated by Account and Tax Rate, and descriptions are merged to minimise data.


Benefits > Minimise the volume of data in Xero. Improve Xero system performance. Reduce time required to reconcile customer payments.


Note: To take advantage of any invoice consolidation options above, please contact your assigned Prism onboarding or finance contact (or email support@prism.horse if unsure) and request which option you desire. Please specify exactly the option you wish to implement, including the text description of the option.
  1. Option 1: No consolidation
  2. Option 2: Consolidate invoice lines by Account and Tax Rate
  3. Option 3: Consolidate invoices into one Xero invoice, and consolidate invoice lines by Description, Account & Tax Rate
  4. Option 4: Consolidate invoices into one Xero invoice, and consolidate invoice lines by Account & Tax Rate

Synchronise To Xero

All finance data in Prism is synchronised with Xero: 
  1. Contacts (including Suppliers and Owners);
  2. Configuration (Tax Rates, Chart of Accounts, Tracking Categories);
  3. bills and invoices (by statement synchronisation) .

To synchronise Prism and Xero, follow below guide:
  1. Navigate to Finance
  2. Locate the “Connect to Xero” button at top right of Dashboard, Transaction and Configure screen. 
    1. Click on Connect to Xero and follow the relevant steps.

  3. Click OK. You will be directed to a Xero page requesting you to log in your Xero account. 
  4. Once you log in successfully, confirm the Xero organisation which you would like to sync with Prism.

  5. Click “Allow access”. You will then be returned to Prism. 
  6. The sync process may take a while until the pop-up shows to confirm the process completed.


Note: You are able to have more than one organisation in Xero, but you must use one and only organisation to sync to your Prism account. If you have synced with one organisation, but then you select another organisation to sync, an error will show and prevent you doing that. If you have synced with a Xero organisation by mistake, contact support@prism.horse.

After Statement synchronization, all transactions are pushed to Xero with invoices and payable items are imported based on the accounts you defined to charge the amount to and the tax rate applied.

Make sure you synchronise after each time you run statements so all your data can be managed well by Xero and then you can use advanced features provided by Xero (ie., P&L, BAS, Payroll).

Invoices Created In Xero

Invoices are created based on the owner's account, including horses and ownership share. 

Invoices include all expenses captured per each horse they Own and assigned on % Ownership. 

In Prism, each of the invoices are itemised and highlighted with a Statement cover sheet highlighting the total cost. 


Payment

Payment processed in Xero then it will be automatically synchronised into Prism. Payment history is displayed on Owner Finance Account > History> Credit tab
Owner’s debt will be recalculated after the payment is recorded in Prism. depends on how much the customer pays

Overpayment and Cash Refund

Customer Refunds and Customer Overpayments processed in Xero, and You need to manually synchronise by clicking Sync to Xero  synchronise into Prism to maintain and accurate Debtor's balance.

In Xero, you can process a refund to an Owner (Customer in Xero), when either one of the two events occur.
  1. If an owner overpays you:
    If an owner overpays you and wishes for that amount to be used for future invoices, record and reconcile an overpayment in Xero in one of two ways.
    - During reconciliation (read Xero article Record and reconcile an overpayment during reconciliation), or
    - Directly on the invoice (read Xero article Record and reconcile an overpayment directly on the invoice)

  2. Record a refund on an existing credit note in Xero as the owner does not have a balance outstanding to allocate the credit to
    Firstly, a reminder that all credit notes must be created in Prism finance. These credit notes, whether they are applied to an owner or to a horse (and therefore to all owners in the horse), are synchronised to Xero. But credit notes created in Xero cannot be brought back into Prism.

    If the owner does not have an amount owing, you may choose to process a customer refund in Xero. Go to the credit note in Xero, choose Make a Cash Refund and complete the payment fields.  This creates a bank transaction in Xero to reconcile against the statement line for the refund paid, once you have transferred the refund to the owner.

    The status of the credit note in Xero will change to Paid if fully refunded. If only partially refunded, it remains as Awaiting Payment.

    This refund is now synchronised into Prism to reflect the refund and update the Opening Balance of the owner upon the next statement run.

Accounts Receivable in Xero

With all Invoices, Xero creates an Accounts Receivable that mirrors the amounts and Owners in Prism. 


For Bill Payment via Prism Pay, the payment will automatically reconcile against Prism and Xero. 

Where there is a bank to bank transfer, Cheque or Cash, you can manually mark as paid in either Prism or Xero and they will update both systems.  

Accounts Payable in Xero

By contrast, the payable items will go to Bill item in Xero for each supplier. Normally, the bill is the group of expenses which have the same reference number. If that number was not defined, it will create a separate bill in Xero. Here is an example of a bill in Xero:

The same as invoicing, Xero will determine where to place expenses based on the inputs you provide relating to tax rates and account codes, thus reinforcing the importance of ensuring  your have the right details in Prism to direct all revenue and expenses. The created bills will go to Account Payable as below:



Prism will feed Xero the key Horses Expenses and Owner revenue, with all other expenses and items captured directly in Xero; including BAS Reporting, Payroll, Leave, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Balance Sheet, Ledger Accounts and Profit and Loss. Key samples with imported data is highlighted below.

General Ledger in Xero

This report can be run in Xero.



Trial Balance in Xero

This report can be run in Xero.


Balance Sheet in Xero

This report can be run in Xero.


Profit and Loss in Xero

This report can be run in Xero.


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