Xero and reconciliation automation

Receipts filed from a photo. The bank feed matched before you look at it.

A build that matches the bank feed against your invoices and bills, captures supplier bills as they arrive by email, and files receipts from a photo taken at the counter. What is left for a person is a review, not a data-entry session.

Get your free plan Three sizes

The standard size takes: Two weeks
You own: The capture and matching rules, in your accounts
Runs monthly: Only if you choose to pay monthly

No figure appears on this page. Your free plan comes back with the price of every size, and with what the whole job costs together.

What it is

Most bookkeeping hours are spent on two mechanical jobs: typing what a document says into a system, and matching one list against another. Neither needs judgement, both are done more consistently by a system, and the hours saved come off a bill you pay every month rather than once.

The knock-on effect matters more than the hours. When bills are captured as they arrive and receipts are filed at the counter, the accounts are current instead of a month behind, GST time stops being an archaeology exercise, and the numbers you make decisions on are actually this month's.

This is for you if

Receipts live in the ute, the wallet and a shoebox
Supplier bills get typed into Xero one at a time
The bank feed sits unreconciled for weeks
You pay bookkeeping hours for matching that a system could do

One of these is usually enough. If none of them is true, this is not the first thing I would build for you, and the plan will say so.

Why it comes where it does

Bookkeeping hours are mostly matching and typing. Both are work a system does better, and the bookkeeper you keep is then spending their time on the judgement calls.

Nothing has to be built before this one, so it can be the first thing you do. Your free plan still puts it in order against everything else you are considering.

Worth knowingThis does not replace your accountant. It replaces the typing, so the accountant's time goes on advice.

Three sizes, by scope

The sizes differ by how much is in them, not by how well it is done. Start at the size that matches the business today; moving up later is normal.

The Essentials

Receipts and bills captured, not typed.

Supplier bills captured from email and coded
Receipts filed from a photo
Coding rules written down and yours to change
Written documentation

One week

The usual choice

The Standard

The bank feed matched before you look at it. Most businesses choose this.

Everything in the size before, plus:

Bank feed matched against invoices and bills in Xero
A short exception list instead of a full reconciliation
Costs coded to the job or project that caused them
Training for your bookkeeper and the crew

Two weeks

The Works

The books current, every week.

Everything in the size before, plus:

Supplier statement checks, so missing bills are found
Debtor chasing on your terms, with your wording
GST and payroll dates prepared rather than remembered
A monthly cash position report you can steer by

Three weeks

The figure for each of the three sizes is not published here, because it depends on what else you are building at the same time. Build your free plan and the figure for each size comes back with it, along with what the whole job costs together.

How it is built

01
I look at a month of your actual bank feed, bills and receipts to see where the time goes.
02
I write the coding rules with you: which supplier goes to which account, what always needs a person.
03
The build: bill capture from email, receipt capture from a photo, bank feed matching in Xero.
04
Job or project coding, so costs land against the work that caused them.
05
A month running beside your current process, then the old way stops.
06
Written documentation and a session with your bookkeeper and the crew.

Before you decide

Three things people get wrong.

They sayThis replaces our accountant.

No. It removes the typing and the matching. Your accountant keeps the judgement calls, the tax position and the advice, which is what you were paying for anyway.

They sayAutomatic coding will get things wrong.

It codes what it is confident about and holds the rest for a person. Anything unusual is flagged rather than filed, and the rules are yours to correct.

They sayOur crew will never photograph receipts.

They will if it is one photo at the counter and nothing else. The failure mode is a system that asks them to also pick a job, a code and a category on a phone in the rain.

Your options

The alternatives, side by side.

Doing it yourself and hiring it out are both real answers. Here is how the three compare on the things that actually decide it.

Slide the table sideways to read every column.

Option	What it costs	What you own	Time	Outcome
Keep doing it by hand	Bookkeeping hours every month, and a shoebox at GST time	Nothing new	Now	Accounts a month behind, receipts missing
Hire a bookkeeper, or add hours to the one you have	A salary plus leave, or an hourly bill that grows with the business	A person or a contract	Weeks to hire, months to train on your suppliers	Current accounts, at a cost that scales with volume
This build	One build, or a monthly fee	The capture and matching rules, in your accounts	Two weeks	Bills and receipts captured on arrival, the bank feed mostly matched

In practice

Bookkeeping down to a review

Supplier bills arriving by email are read and coded before anyone opens them, the crew photograph fuel and hardware receipts at the counter and they land against the right job, and the bank feed comes in mostly matched. The monthly bookkeeping session becomes a review of the exceptions.

Straight answers

Questions I get asked about this.

01Does this work with Xero?

Yes, Xero is the one I build against most. MYOB is possible and scoped on the call.

02Who checks the coding?

You or your bookkeeper, once a week or once a month. The system codes what it is sure about and puts everything else in a short review list.

03How do receipts get in?

A photo from a phone at the counter. The build reads the amount, the supplier and the GST, and where you want it, asks only which job it belongs to.

04Will our accountant be happy with this?

They get complete records, on time, with source documents attached. Reviewing a reconciled file takes less of their time than assembling one, so the hours they do bill go on the work you actually want from them.

Also in administration

What sits next to this.

Business operations retainer

The admin that runs itself.

Workflow audit

Where the hours actually go, measured over two weeks.

Quote and invoice automation

Quotes that follow themselves up. Invoices that chase themselves.

See all of administration

The next move

Xero and reconciliation automation, priced in context.

The free plan asks a few questions about the business, then comes back with this service at the size that fits, anything that has to come first, and the figure for each part and for the whole job. Nothing is charged and nothing is booked at the end of it.

Get your free plan stuart@sevenlens.co

Get your free plan