Manual journals, bank transactions and statements
Lesson 9 of 12 8 min read
How Supply Lens posts manual journals, bank transactions and statement-style records to Xero, and the settings that decide their accounts.
Not everything that reaches the ledger is an invoice or a bill. Stock moving in or out has a value that finance may want journalled, and some money movements are best recorded straight against a bank account. In this lesson you'll see what the Journal, Bank Transaction and Statement configurations create in Xero, and which settings decide where the amounts post.
Manual journals
The Xero Journal configuration posts a journal Document as a Xero manual journal: a ledger entry that moves value between accounts without an invoice or bill.
How the amounts are worked out
- Each line is worth its quantity times its unit cost, rounded to two decimal places.
- A positive value is a debit and a negative value a credit.
- The journal must already add up to zero before it reaches Xero. That's the job of the
balance-journal plugin, which Supply Lens sets up. It should use its
linerounding level, so the lines still balance after each is rounded.
Who sets up the balancing?
The balance-journal plugin isn't a setting in the Xero configuration. If your journals are failing because they don't balance, contact Support with your Integration ID.
Journal settings
| lineAccountCodeMap | Maps tags to the account each journal line posts to, checked on the line's tags first and then the journal's. A line that matches nothing fails, so every kind of line needs a route. |
|---|---|
| narrationFormat | The journal's narration, where {0} stands for the journal number. For example, '{0} goods received' gives 'PO-1234 goods received'. Defaults to the number on its own. |
| createAsDraft | On: the journal is created as a draft. Off (the default): it's posted. Choose on while testing so finance can review before anything hits the ledger. |
| skipZeroValueJournals | On by default. A journal where every account nets to zero isn't sent, for example a transfer between two warehouses that post to the same stock account. Leave it on unless finance wants a record of every movement. |
Every line needs an account
Unlike invoices, journals have no fallback account. Before go-live, list every kind of journal
line you'll receive and make sure lineAccountCodeMap routes each one, including the balancing
line.
Bank transactions
The Xero Bank Transaction configuration records a Document straight against a Xero bank account, without an invoice. Its settings mirror the invoice line settings:
| bankAccountTagMap | Maps tags to the Xero bank account the transaction is recorded against. |
|---|---|
| lineAccountCodeMap | Maps tags to account codes for the transaction's lines. |
| shippingLineAccountCode | The account for shipping lines. |
| adjustmentLineAccountCodeForCharges / ForDiscounts | The accounts for charge and discount lines. |
| createLinesAsDescriptionsOnly / descriptionLineAccountCode | Send lines without item codes, and choose their account. |
| setTaxTypeOnLineItems | Write the resolved tax type on each line. |
| excludeTaxOnLines / excludeTaxOnLinesMap | Leave tax off the lines, for every transaction or by tag. |
Statements
The Xero Statement configuration builds a record for one Xero contact from tagged amounts on a Document. Each line you define adds up some tagged amounts and subtracts others.
| lineAmountTypes | Whether amounts are tax-exclusive (EXCLUSIVE), tax-inclusive (INCLUSIVE) or have no tax (NOTAX). |
|---|---|
| contactIdTagMap | Maps tags to a Xero contact ID. The first matching tag decides which contact the statement is for. |
| lines | The list of lines. Each has a name, addTags (tag patterns whose amounts are added), subtractTags (tag patterns whose amounts are subtracted) and an accountCode. |
This is a specialist configuration, usually set up with Support for a particular settlement or statement process.
Hilltop Coffee journals its goods received
Hilltop's accountant wants a journal each time stock is received, so stock on hand rises and
GRNI holds the value until the supplier's bill arrives. The implementer sets lineAccountCodeMap
so stock lines go to the stock on hand account and the balancing line to GRNI, uses
narrationFormat of {0} goods received, and keeps createAsDraft on for the first fortnight.
skipZeroValueJournals stays on, so transfers between Hilltop's two warehouses don't clutter
the ledger.
Recap
- Journal lines are quantity times unit cost, rounded to 2 decimal places; positive debits, negative credits.
- Journals must balance before they reach Xero; the balance-journal plugin does that.
- Every journal line must match
lineAccountCodeMap, or the journal fails. createAsDraftgives a review step;skipZeroValueJournalsdrops journals that net to zero.- Bank transactions use the familiar line settings plus a bank account by tag; statements build lines from tagged amounts.
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