Xero v2 Integration - Payroll Export

 

Overview

A payroll journal is created in Xero for each pay run that is exported from Astute. If there are multiple pay runs available for export from Astute, these can be exported at the same time but will be posted as separate journals in Xero.

Each line item in a payroll journal will include:

• GL Code.
• Description, based on the Pay Item in Astute.
• Tracking categories, if these have been set.

A payroll journal export must have at least 2 lines in it, otherwise, it will not pass validation. This means you can not export pay runs that have a nil value. 

Export Payroll

A pay run will be available for export to Xero once it is in a Paid status (ie the bank file has been downloaded). This applies for both PAYG and Supplier pay runs. 

To export payroll data from Astute to Xero:

1. Go to Reports > Integrations > Xero Integration.
2. If your portal has multiple entities, confirm that the correct Billing Entity is set in the Report Settings > Billing Entity drop-down list. 
3. Click Export > Export Payroll.

A message confirming the success of an export will appear in the Xero Integration screen. If a pay run has not been exported successfully, you’ll see error messages requiring action.

NOTE: Successfully exported items cannot be reset for export again. 

The exported items will appear in the Export History report. Items which have failed to export will be listed in the Export History report as ‘failed’.

Please note that the payroll journal created in Xero will be automatically posted during export. 

Errors

If something has not passed Xero validation, error messages will display in banners across the top of the screen. 

Large Exports

Xero has some limitations around how long your portals can be connected as well as how much data can be sent in one export. To work around this, we’re going to send data internally in smaller blocks to prevent any timeout errors when large exports are required. 

What this means is that exports will be grouped into chunks of 100 when you’re exporting. It's less likely this will happen with payroll, for example if you were exporting 120 pay runs, this would be broken down into 2 chunks (100/20). You won’t see this during the export, but you will see in the API Log report that there are 2 logs instead of 1. 

If any items were successfully exported, your export will be marked as ‘Sent’. The next time you generate the Xero Integration report, the ‘Invoices Sent’ ‘Payrun’ and ‘Credit Notes Count’ numbers will only show the remaining number of items to be exported.

Identify a Journal in Xero

The Narration is the name given to a journal that is created in Xero after an export. This is formatted for each journal as ‘AP: Payrun: [Pay Run ID]’. For example:

• a pay run with the ID 123 would appear in Xero as ‘AP: Payrun: 123’.
• a Supplier pay run with the ID S1 would appear in Xero as ‘AP: Payrun: S1’.

Payroll Tax in a Journal

The Payroll Journal that is exported to Xero will include a line for Payroll Tax, with the value defined as per the Payroll Report - Attributable Costs export. 

The Payroll Tax value is an attributed value only and will not consider thresholds or exemptions so you may need to make manual adjustments to the total liability in Xero.