1 Find & Recode

Search for and recode transactions i

Find and recode up to 2000 transaction lines at once, by recoding the source transaction or with a
manual journal.

● Source Transactions

Xero makes changes directly to the individual line items on transactions, which can’t be undone.
Recode the transaction lines or edit the individual transactions, to revert the changes.
Recoding source transactions is a quick and easy way to make corrections to paid transactions,
without the need to remove payments.

● Manual Journal
Xero creates a draft journal for the changes, which won’t affect the original transaction. Post the
journal to reflect the changes in the general ledger.
Recode with a manual journal to reflect corrections in the general ledger on a different date to the
original transaction. For example, if it relates to a previously closed period that you don’t want to
change.
Find transactions
Filter transaction lines matching or excluding certain conditions, before recoding.

For example, find transaction lines associated with a specific account or tax rate.

● Go to Accounting, Advanced and select Find and recode[1]. You need the Adviser user role to
access Find and recode.

● Click Find & Recode[1].

Select All to find transaction lines that match all conditions. Select Any to find transaction lines that match at
least one condition[1]..

● Click Add a condition[1] and select a search condition.

● Enter details for the condition. For example, to find sales invoices, select Type Is Sales Invoice[1].
● Click Add a condition[1] to add another, if needed. Click the X[2] icon to remove one. Then click Search[3].
Xero won't display transactions dated on or before an all users lock date. Review the lock date and adjust in
Financial Settings, if needed.

Recode Transactions
Recode contacts, account codes, tax rates, and tracking to correct transactions in bulk, and keep the
accounts accurate.
●
Select[1] one or more transactions to recode from the search results. Click a transaction line to view it.

● Click the Recode[1] menu and select Recode source transactions or Recode with a manual journal.
● Enter the Contact (source transaction only), Account or Tax Rate you want to recode to. Click
Add[1] to recode tracking. Recoding the tax rate can change the unit price, but the transaction total
remains the same.

● Click Review[1] to view a summary of the changes.

● If you've selected Recode source transactions, click Confirm[1] to complete the recode
● If you’ve selected Recode with a manual journal, click View Manual Journal[1] to create and view the
journal.

● Change the details, if needed. Save as draft[1] or Post[2] the journal to complete the recode.
●
View the history of recoded transactions from the Find & Recode screen. Click Summary[1] to view details
about a recode, or click the links under Status[2] to view posted and draft journals.
Xero also displays information about the recode and pre-recoding details in the History & Notes section of a
transaction.

Capabilities
Find and recode a number of supported transactions and their details. Recoding can result in significant changes to
accounts and reports. Therefore Find & Recode is only available to Adviser users, and only recommended if you
have experience with recoding.
Find and recode a number of supported transactions and their details. Recoding can result in significant changes to
accounts and reports. Therefore Find & Recode is only available to Adviser users, and only recommended if you
have experience with recoding.

Supported Transactions
You can recode invoices, bills, credit notes, spend and receive money transactions, prepayments, expense claims
and manual journals.
Excluded Transactions
You can't recode fixed assets, purchase orders, quotes, bank transfers, overpayments or payroll transactions. You
can only recode transactions in a foreign currency with the source transaction option. You can't recode voided
transactions.

Support Fields
You can recode the account code, tax rate, contact or tracking on transactions. You can only recode contacts with
the source transaction option. You can't search for archived contacts.
System Accounts
You can't recode some locked system accounts, including accounts receivable and payable, tracked inventory and
bank accounts. Xero uses locked system accounts for specific reporting or accounting purposes. You can't
manually adjust them, to ensure the integrity of the balances.
1 Manual Journals
Add manual Journals
Add a journal to make adjustments to the general ledger, or when you can't add or edit transactions. 
You need the Adviser or Standard + All Reports user role to add and post manual journals in Xero.
●
Go to Accounting, Advanced[1] and select Manual journals[2], if you have the Adviser user role.

Access the Manual Journals screen or add a new journal from the Journal Report if you have the Standard +
All Reports user role.

● Click New Journal[1].

●
Enter the journal details. Add a journal title in the Narration[1] field and choose whether to use it as the
default journal line descriptions[2]. Tick to show the journal on cash basis reports, such as the Statement of
Cash Flows. Set an auto reversing date[3] to reverse the journal automatically on a selected date.

● The total debits and credits[1] must agree before you can post the journal. Save as draft[2] if you’re likely to
make changes, or post[3] the journal to the general ledger.
Import Multiple Journals

Add multiple draft journals at once using a CSV import template.

This is useful for large adjustments, such as accruals or depreciation. Import up to 300 lines at a time.

● Click Import[1] from the Manual Journals screen.

● Download the template file[1].
●
Columns with an asterisk (*) are mandatory. Don't delete or re-order any columns. Use the date format
dd/mm/yyyy or dd mmm yyyy, for example 31/08/2018 or 31 Aug 2018. Enter a different narration and/or
date for each separate journal you want to create, or enter the same narration and date to create a single
journal. Positive amounts are debits and negative amounts are credits. Save as a CSV or TXT file.

● Click Browse[1] from the Import Manual Journal screen, and select the file. Click Import[2] to upload. Xero
will let you know if there are any errors in the file. Correct the errors and upload the file again. Then click
Import.

● Review the message and click Complete Import[1]. The journal/s will appear on the Draft tab of
the Manual Journals screen, ready to be posted.
Post Journals
Post draft journals to reflect the entries in the general ledger.
Select one or more journals from the Draft tab on the Manual Journals screen, then click Post [1].
Journal Options
Perform a number of different tasks including copying, voiding and editing manual journals.
●
Select Repeat[1] in any posted or archived journal, to create a new repeating journal. Automatically
create journals on a weekly or monthly series, for a specified period. For example, to account for the
recognition of revenue on a monthly basis, where the business received a total annual subscription
payment in advance.

● Select Reverse[1] to create a new journal that reverses the effect of a posted or archived journal, on
a specified date. For example, reverse a journal you posted for month end accruals on the first day
of the following month. Reversing a journal doesn't affect the original journal.

●
Void journals to remove the line items from the general ledger, on the same date as the original
entry. For example, if you posted a journal in error and need to remove it. Select one or more
journals from the Posted [1] tab on the Manual Journals screen, click Void [2], then OK.
Alternatively, select Void from the Journal Options menu in a posted journal. Xero moves the
journals to the Voided tab and you can’t restore them.

● Delete draft journals to completely remove them from Xero. Select one or more journals from the Draft[1] tab
on the Manual Journals screen. Click Delete[2], then OK. You can’t restore deleted draft journals. You can’t
delete posted manual journals, only void.
 Delete draft journals to completely remove them from Xero. Select one or more journals from the Draft[1] tab
on the Manual Journals screen. Click Delete[2], then OK. You can’t restore deleted draft journals. You can’t
delete posted manual journals, only void.

●
Select Copy[1] in any journal, to save time when creating a new draft journal with the same or similar details.

● Select Edit[1] in a posted journal, to change its details. Editing a posted journal reverses the original general
ledger entries and posts the journal with the updated details. To edit draft and repeating journals, click into
them from their respective tabs. You can’t edit voided or archived journals.

● Archive journals that you want to remain posted, but no longer want to see on the Posted tab. Select one or
more journals from the Posted[1] tab on the Manual Journals screen, click Archive[2], then OK. Xero
moves the journals to the Archive tab, where you can restore them, if needed.

Repeating Journals
Set up repeating journals with placeholders to automatically create journals in a weekly or monthly series, for a
specified period. For example, to account for the recognition of expenditure on a monthly basis, where you’ve
paid a total annual insurance policy in advance.

● Click New Repeating Journal[1], from the Manual Journals screen.

● Set the first journal date[1], the frequency[2] and the last date[3] Xero should generate the journal.
●
Select Save as Draft[1] to review the journal before posting, or if the amount changes each time.
For example, when making regular month end adjustments to the same accounts, but for varying
amounts. Select Post[2] for Xero to automatically post to the general ledger, if the journal remains
the same each time.

●
Enter a narration[1], or insert placeholders[2] to automatically apply week, month and/or year
detail, based on the journal date. Add or subtract within the placeholder to change it’s value. For
example, a journal dated Aug 2018 with a placeholder of [Month-1] [Year], will display July 2018.
Choose whether to use the narration as the default journal line descriptions[3].

● Click Preview placeholders[1] to see how they’ll look.

●
Xero reports manual journals on an accrual basis by default. Tick to show the journal on cash basis
reports[1], such as the Statement of Cash Flows. Enter the journal line details[2], then click Save[3].

● View all the repeating journal templates set up for the organisation from the Repeating[1] tab on
the Manual Journals screen.

Journal Report
Run the Journal Report to view the entries Xero makes in the general ledger when you post manual journals, and
approve or edit transactions.

● Go to Accounting and select Reports[1].
●
Click Journal Report[1]. You need the Standard + All Reports, Adviser or Read Only user role to access
this report.
● Select a date range[1] and choose how to order the results[2]. The Journal date is the date you've given the
manual journal or transaction. The Journal ID is a unique sequential number Xero assigns each journal in date
order, based on when you enter a journal, edit or post a transaction.

●
Click to show tracking[1] options you’ve applied to journals and to show posted manual journals only[2].
Leave the Show Posted Manual Journals Only option unticked to display the entries Xero makes when you
approve or edit transactions, such as invoices and bills. Xero won’t include purchase orders and quotes as
they don’t affect the general ledger.

● Click Update[1] to view the report.

1 Monitor Journals
Assurance Dashboard

Adviser users can use the Assurance Dashboard to help identify errors in Xero, or potentially uncover activity
which may not be in the interests of the business. 
● Go to Accounting, Advanced[1] and select Assurance dashboard[2].

●
View a list of users, their user role and an activity heat map, to keep track of what they’re doing in the
organisation. The heat map shows when a user last logged in and their activity for the past year, with each
square representing one day. Hover the mouse over a blue square to view the date and time period of activity,
items created or edited and the quantity of each item.

● View a list of bank accounts with deleted statement lines[1] or marked as reconciled transactions[2], to help
ensure bank accounts are in balance. For example, if there are deleted statement lines, the statement balance
may not agree with the actual bank balance.

●
View contacts with the same bank account[1] or whose bank account has been edited[2], to ensure the
accuracy of batch payments made to suppliers. This helps identify any errors or potentially fraudulent
activities where funds for multiple suppliers are being directed to a single bank account. Click on a contact to
view it and make changes if necessary.

● View a list of invoices and bills that have been backdated by more than 30 to 365 days, to spot any errors with
data entry. Backdating could be legitimate or could indicate that someone has attempted to manipulate
records.

History and Notes

The history of actions and notes are displayed below each transaction in Xero. For example, the History &
Notes section of a paid invoice shows the creation, approval, paid and sent dates, and any notes. Adviser users
can run the History & Notes Activity report to view a summary of these actions and notes made by all users.

● Go to Accounting, Advanced[1] and select History and notes[2].

●
Select a period[1] to run the report for, or choose a custom period. The options run backwards
from today's date. The report is run off the user action date, not the transaction date.
● View All items or filter by specific items[1]. Only Adviser users with Payroll admin permissions
can view payroll transactions.

● View all user activity or filter by active and archived (deleted) users[1]. You can add an
unlimited amount of users in Xero, so it’s good practice to ensure that all users have their own
login. That way you can see exactly who did what and when.

● Click Update[1]. Xero displays the 1000 most recent items.

●
Click the column headers to sort the results. Enter letters or words from any of the columns to further
filter the results. For example, enter the word ‘approved’[1] to show all approved actions[2].

Export Accounting Data

Adviser users can export general ledger data from Xero to import into other accounting products and tax
authorities. This might also include files like the chart of accounts and trial balance.
●
Check that all bank accounts in the chart of accounts have account codes. Banks that are
added from the bank accounts screen do not have codes. Click on the account name[1] from
the Chart of Accounts screen, to edit[2] the bank account details if needed. Without codes, the
data may not import into another product.

● Go to Accounting, Advanced[1] and select Export accounting data[2].

● Select a product[1]. The list is grouped by file types, such as general ledger and trial balance.
This list may look different, depending upon the region the organisation is based in.

● Select the Date range[1], then click Download[2].