Integrating Cin7 Core with Xero helps businesses synchronise inventory transactions, invoices, payments and financial records while reducing manual accounting work. Accurate integration settings and account code mapping are essential for keeping financial data consistent and ensuring transactions are recorded in the correct accounts.
Key takeaways:
- Configure Xero integration settings in Cin7 Core to control invoice statuses, payment synchronisation, purchase orders and credit notes.
- Enable Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) exports to automatically transfer relevant inventory cost journals to Xero.
- Use automatic synchronisation and error notifications to keep financial records updated and identify integration issues.
- Configure tracking categories, attachments and invoice consolidation according to your reporting and reconciliation requirements.
- Create new account codes in Xero first, then import them into Cin7 Core before completing account mapping.
- Map essential accounts, including Inventory Control, COGS, Tax Liability, Revenue, Inventory Discrepancy, In-Transit and Work in Progress (WIP).
- Configure Goods Received Not Invoiced and Goods Invoiced Not Received accounts when using accrued inventory transactions to manage timing differences between invoices and stock receipts.
One of the benefits of Cin7 Core is how it seamlessly integrates with other platforms that improve efficiency within your business. In today’s blog, we’re going to take a look at the available settings with the Cin7 Core Systems and Xero API integration, including the required accounts you’ll need and the different configuration options.
Checking Xero integration settings in CIN7 CORE
Once you have Xero all set-up within your Cin7 Core account, you will see this as an option within your user like our example below:
Here you’ll be able to see all your Xero information, but before going into the property, it’s important to check that your settings are correctly configured. To do this, select Integration from your left hand side menu. Here, you will see all integrations available within Cin7 Core:
From your available apps, select Xero. You can also get to this screen by selecting My Integrations at the top, which will show those you already have set up. There’s a lot of different options you have in here of different configurations that are available.
In this blog, we’ll take you through a few of the main ones.
- Xero Invoice Status: This tells Cin7 Core and Xero how you want your invoices to be sent across, e.g., do you want them sent as drafts in case changes are needed.
- Xero Payments are: You can choose to have these sync both ways, pulled from Xero or set as only push to Xero. Most customers have this set as both ways, but you may have this on pull from Xero if you want only one process to be followed.
- Export COGS: This stands for Cost of Goods Sold and we find many users keep this on as it exports your costs of goods sold journals and create these for you.
- Export Purchase Orders to Xero: If you turn this feature on, Cin7 Core will create and send a purchase order in Xero. If you have this turned off, your purchase order will remain in Cin7 Core, and the Cin7 Core system will just send a bill to Xero.
- Sync Invoices and Credit Notes For: This allows you to decide if you want to sync your invoices and credit notes for different areas (Cin7 Core API, Cin7 Core, Cin7 Core POS) so, if for example, you didn’t want to sync anything from your Point of Sale, you can untick this and it will only sync invoices from the other areas.
- Category 1 & 2: This is where you can map your tracking categories. Cin7 Core will pull over two tracking categories from Xero and you will be able to tell what these relate to. For example, you may have a tracking category of region and you might want to map this to a specific field within your DEAR inventory system, such as a specific product attribute.
- Load Items/Invoices from Xero: This is if you want to pull any products or items that you’ve created in Xero. We recommend turning this off as you will have a lot of service items, overheads, bills, etc in there so it’s best to keep this switched off.
- Export Attachments to Xero: We recommend turning this on as if you attach any purchase orders or similar documents to orders in Cin7 Core, these will also be sent over and stored in your Xero system as well.
- Auto-synchronisation: If you turn this feature on, you can instruct Cin7 Core when you want to sync and how often. If you switch this off, you will need to manually sync hourly or daily. If you select the auto option, you can set the date and time for the sync to start and select whether you would like any email or internal alerts to be sent if there are any errors.
- Consolidation Information: This allows you to consolidate information that goes over to your Xero system, for example consolidated sales invoices and credit notes. This is quite commonly done for the Cin7 Core API; this is where you might consolidate your invoices in Cin7 Core from Shopify, for example. You may have fulfilled all the invoices but when they go to Xero, you want to consolidate them down to one. Once payment is processed from Shopify, it makes your reconciliation process much easier.
The right Cin7 Core and Xero synchronisation settings depend on how your finance team handles invoices, payments and financial reporting. Before enabling automatic synchronisation, decide whether invoices need approval in Xero, which system will be responsible for recording payments, and whether sales transactions should be exported individually or consolidated. These decisions help prevent duplicate processing and make it easier to reconcile transactions between the two platforms.
Can my finance team review Cin7 Core invoices in Xero before they are finalised?
Yes. You can configure the Xero Invoice Status setting to export invoices as drafts, allowing your finance team to review or amend them in Xero before authorisation. This is useful when invoices require an additional approval step before being finalised.
Why are several Shopify orders appearing as one invoice in Xero?
This can happen when transaction consolidation is enabled in your Cin7 Core and Xero integration. Instead of exporting every Shopify sale as an individual invoice, the integration can combine transactions into consolidated invoices. This can simplify payment reconciliation, depending on how your sales and accounting workflows are configured.
Xero tracking categories and product synchronisation also need careful configuration. For example, businesses can use tracking categories to report on sales by region, location or other mapped business attributes. However, importing items from Xero into Cin7 Core should be considered separately, as your accounting system may contain service or overhead items that do not belong in your inventory catalogue.
Managing your chart of accounts
Once you have confirmed all your settings, the next area you’ll need to check for your Xero integration is your chart of accounts. To get to this area, select Settings from the left-hand side menu and go to Reference Books. Within the new window, under Financial, select Account Mapping. You’ll also want to look at Chart of Accounts.
Account Mapping is where we tell Cin7 Core what accounts we want to map to. The Chart of Accounts is what we create our accounts. If you need to create an account code, we recommend creating this in the Xero system and then coming back to the Chart of Accounts option in Cin7 Core. As the account is already in Xero, you can select the Load from Xero option to pull this into Cin7 Core:
Once you’ve uploaded new codes into Cin7 Core from Xero, you can go to the Account Mapping screen and start to map your accounts. It’s important to remember that these are your default account codes for each journal or transaction type. If you use any unique accounts for the product, customer, or sales level, they will override these. If they’re blank, your codes will be used – for example, if your default account code is 200 and a product doesn’t have a special account code (or customer doesn’t have a special account code), then account code 200 will be used as default.
Why is Cin7 Core posting transactions to a different Xero account than my default mapping?
A product, customer or sales-level account code may be overriding your default account mapping. If a transaction appears under an unexpected Xero account, check whether a specific account code has been assigned to that record before changing your default settings.
- Inventory Control Account: This is the current asset account.
- Cost of Goods Sold: This is where all your cost of goods sold journals will be posts to and where the costs will be accumulated from. This will need to be a direct cost account.
- Tax Liability Account: This is where all your tax transactions will be posted to.
- Customer Credit Account: This should be a current liability account that is used for prepayments on sales quotes, for example deposits.
- In-Transit Account: This is another current asset account where journals will be created when goods are in transit, mainly from stock transfers. So, if you create a stock transfer, it will be moved from your inventory account to in-transit and when it’s received, it will be moved back to the inventory account selected.
- Unrealised Currently Gains Account: This is if you have any changes in FX rates.
- Inventory Discrepancy: To be used for stock takes and stock adjustments – to use this there should be an expense account in the system.
- Default Revenue Account: A revenue type, so you can select sales in there as an example.
- Work in Progress: This is where any journals will be sent to when completing manufacturing jobs. For example, they’ll be moved from raw materials to work in progress and, when the task is complete, they’ll be moved from work in progress to finished goods.
- Supplier Deposits: A similar field to the Customer Credit field on the left, this should be a current asset rather than a liability account.
- Gift Card Liability: If you’re using any gift cards in Cin7 Core – this should be a liability account.
To check your Cin7 Core and Xero account mapping, review how different inventory transactions are recorded in your accounting system. A stock transfer, stock adjustment, customer deposit and completed sale can affect different accounts. Testing these transactions helps confirm that inventory values, direct costs, liabilities and revenue are being recorded in the correct places before you rely on the integration for financial reporting.
Is inventory transferred between warehouses recorded as an expense in Xero?
Not as a normal sales expense. Cin7 Core uses an In-Transit Account to track the value of stock moving between locations. When configured as described, the value moves from the inventory asset account to the in-transit asset account and returns to the appropriate inventory account once the goods are received.
As mentioned earlier in this blog, it’s important to make your accounts in Xero first and pull these over before you commence with your account mapping. There are two final accounts that you’ll need to consider as part of your integration and account setup.
Go to Settings then General Settings and select Purchase Process Customisation:
If you have accrued inventory transactions turned on, you will need to create a Goods Received Not Invoiced Account and Goods Invoiced Not Received Account. Goods Invoiced Not Received will be a current asset and Goods Received Not Invoiced is an asset or liability account. If you receive the goods but don’t receive the invoice until the end of the month but you want to put a cost against the items received, this is where you would want to turn this option on and vice versa. If you get invoiced in advance of receiving the goods, then you’ll want to use the accrue transactions process.
Inventory accrual accounting becomes particularly important when stock receipts and supplier invoices fall into different accounting periods. The Goods Received Not Invoiced (GRNI) account is used when stock arrives before the corresponding supplier invoice, while Goods Invoiced Not Received (GINR) applies when an invoice is received before the goods. Configuring these accounts helps businesses account for inventory transactions even when purchasing documents and physical stock movements do not occur at the same time.
Can Cin7 Core account for stock received before the supplier sends an invoice?
Yes. With accrued inventory transactions enabled, Cin7 Core can use the Goods Received Not Invoiced account to record stock received before the supplier invoice arrives. This is particularly useful when deliveries and invoices fall into different accounting periods.
How to check your Cin7 Core and Xero integration after the first sync
Once the integration settings and account codes are configured, it is worth checking how a few representative transactions appear in both systems. Start with a sales invoice and purchase invoice, then review any relevant credit notes, payments and inventory journals. Confirm that transactions reach Xero with the expected status and account codes, and check whether tracking categories or consolidation settings produce the reporting detail your business needs.
Cost of goods sold (COGS) is another important area to verify. Cin7 Core creates COGS journal entries when a sales shipment is authorised, with those entries exported to Xero during the next synchronisation. If expected journals are missing, review the shipment status, COGS export settings and synchronisation results. For a broader explanation of connected stock and accounting processes, see our guide on connecting warehouse and accounting systems with Cin7 Core.
Why isn’t a cost of goods sold journal appearing in Xero immediately after a sale?
Cin7 Core creates COGS journal entries when the sales shipment is authorised, rather than simply when an order is created. The entries are then exported during the next Xero synchronisation. Check that the shipment has been authorised, COGS export is configured correctly and the synchronisation has completed.
For more helpful tips of using your Cin7 Core system and Xero integration, visit our YouTube channel or check out more of our blogs here.
Frequently Asked Questions About Cin7 Core Systems and Xero Integration
1. How do I access Xero integration settings in Cin7 Core?
To access your Xero integration settings, go to the Integration section on the left-hand side of Cin7 Core, then select Xero from your list of available apps. You can also use the My Integrations tab at the top to find Xero if it’s already set up.
2. What does the “Xero Payments Are” setting control in Cin7 Core?
This setting determines the direction of payment syncing. You can choose to sync payments both ways, pull from Xero only, or push to Xero only—depending on how you want your payment records handled between platforms.
3. Should I enable “Export Purchase Orders to Xero”?
That depends on your workflow. If enabled, Cin7 Core will create and send purchase orders directly to Xero. If disabled, purchase orders will stay in Cin7 Core and only bills will be sent to Xero instead.
4. What is the purpose of Account Mapping in the Xero-Cin7 Core integration?
Account Mapping tells Cin7 Core which accounts to use from your Chart of Accounts in Xero. These mapped accounts become the default for each journal or transaction unless specific overrides are set for products or customers.
5. Which accounts do I need to configure for Cin7 Core and Xero integration?
You’ll need to map several key accounts including Inventory Control, COGS, Tax Liability, Customer Credit, In-Transit, Inventory Discrepancy, Revenue, WIP, Supplier Deposits, and Gift Card Liability. Additional accounts like Goods Received Not Invoiced and Goods Invoiced Not Received are needed if you turn on accrued inventory transactions.
