Airwallex offers two ways of syncing card expenses to Xero: syncing as a Spend Money or as a Bill. Learn more about both options below.
Regardless of syncing preference, card expenses are synced one of two ways:
- Automatically, upon final approval: sync is triggered in real-time and should appear in your accounting provider within seconds
- Manually by any admin: admins may use the ‘sync’ button on an expense to manually sync prior to approval (or to update an expense after an automatic sync). This is helpful for cases where admins are waiting for missing requirements to be attached by the submitter, but still need the expense recorded for month-end close. These expenses may be synced again later if additional information is attached.
This article includes:
- Vendor setting (applicable regardless of syncing preference)
- Sync card expenses as Xero spend money transactions
- Sync card expenses as Xero Bills
Vendor setting (applicable regardless of syncing preference)
If you have allowed employees to select Xero contacts: If the merchant entered in Airwallex is an existing Xero contact, the Xero contact on your spend item is mapped to that merchant. If the merchant is new (i.e., does not exist in Xero as a contact), the check is mapped to a default contact created by Airwallex, “Airwallex Expenses”. This behaviour is in place to safeguard against the creation of duplicate/unnecessary vendors that otherwise may occur.
If you have not allowed employees to select Xero contacts: All checks will be mapped to a default vendor created by Airwallex, “Airwallex Expenses”.
You may check your vendor setting by navigating to Connections > Imported accounting data > Contacts in the Airwallex web application.
Sync card expenses as Xero spend money transactions
- Receipts: All attachments will be synced to the Xero transaction as a file (see top right in the example Xero transaction below)
- Airwallex Merchant: If an existing contact is selected, this field determines the Xero Contact. If a merchant value is entered in Airwallex that does not exist in Xero, it will sync to a default “Airwallex Expenses” contact to reduce clutter from one-off merchants or accidental duplicate contacts.
- Airwallex description: syncs to Xero description
- Expense category: syncs to Xero chart of account
- Tracking categories (if applicable): sync to the corresponding Xero tracking category fields
- Tax rate: syncs to Xero tax rate
- Comments: syncs to History & Notes
- For employee cards, Cardholder name + last 4 digits of card sync to the Xero Reference field
- For company cards, Card Nickname + last 4 digits of card sync to Xero Reference field
Sync card expenses as Xero Bills
- Airwallex Merchant: Maps to either the default Contact, Airwallex Expenses or the imported Xero contact if Xero contact import is enabled
- Transaction Date: Maps to Xero Invoice Date (date field)
- Expense Reference: Maps to Xero Invoice Reference and Invoice Number (format: "Airwallex Expense {ExpenseId-Short};{MerchantName-Truncated};{CardholderName-Truncated};{Last 4 Card}")
- Transaction Currency: Maps to Xero Currency Code (falls back to billing currency if transaction currency not available)
- Expense Description: Maps to Xero Line Item Description (for single line items, or "Header description" prefix for multiple line items)
- Expense Category: Maps to Xero Chart of Account
- Tax Rate: Maps to Xero Tax Type
- Tracking Categories: Map to corresponding Xero Tracking Category fields (trackingCategoryID and trackingOptionID)
- Line Item Amount: Maps to Xero Line Item Unit Amount (uses transaction amount when available for multi-currency scenarios)
- Line Item Description: Maps to Xero Line Item Description (with "Line item description" prefix for multiple line items)
- Expense ID: Maps to Xero Invoice URL (deep link back to Airwallex expense)
- Currency Rate: Automatically calculated for multi-currency scenarios between billing and transaction currencies
- Invoice Type: Always set to "ACCPAY" (Accounts Payable/Bill)
- Invoice Status: Always set to "AUTHORISED" (Approved for payment)
- Due Date: Set to current date when invoice is created
- Line Amount Types: Set to "INCLUSIVE" (tax inclusive amounts)
- Attachments: All receipts sync to Xero as file attachments to the Bill record
Important notes:
- Expenses that are still pending when approved will only begin syncing to Xero once the transaction settles.
- Note when importing assets from your chart of accounts to Airwallex, you cannot import accounts that are marked with the “Inventory” asset type in Xero
- Individual comments synced to Xero will be displayed at the bottom of the bank transaction, under History & Notes.