Help centre / Money & accounts / Connect Xero
Connect Xero
An admin connects Xero from the Integrations page. You sign in to Xero and approve read-only access. We then suggest how to map your accounts, and nothing is saved until you choose Apply selected. We never write anything to Xero.
Connect your Xero account
- Sign in as an admin and open Integrations (under Admin & settings).
- Find the Xero card in the Finance & fundraising group.
- Choose Connect to Xero. Your browser goes to Xero's own sign-in page.
- Sign in to Xero and approve the connection. If you belong to more than one Xero organisation, pick your charity's.
- You come back to CharityControl and see "Xero connected successfully".
- Choose Review what we found in your Xero. We read your chart of accounts and suggest fund accounts, income groups and impact measures. Each suggestion explains why in one plain sentence.
- Untick anything that doesn't fit, or edit the names and account codes. For example, Meadowbank Community Trust accepted a "Course fees" income group but renamed a measure to "Learners this year".
- Choose Apply selected. Nothing is saved until you do. You can also choose Skip for now and set things up later.
What happens next
The Finance page starts showing live figures: cash at bank, free reserves, runway, profit and loss, and your fund balances. Figures refresh on a schedule, from every hour to once a day. Choose Refresh from Xero to fetch the latest.
The connection is read-only. We never write anything to Xero, so you can't break your books from here. See Read your finance dashboard for what each figure means.
Common questions
It's asking for a client ID and secret
That means app credentials aren't saved for your workspace yet. An admin pastes the client ID and secret from a Xero app (created at developer.xero.com), and the Connect button then appears. If that sounds unfamiliar, ask us and we'll sort it with you.
Can we connect QuickBooks as well?
No. A charity keeps one accounting connection at a time. Disconnect one before connecting the other.
The card says "needs reconnect"
Connections sometimes lapse. An admin chooses Reconnect on the Xero card. Your set-up is kept, and we fill in the monthly measure readings that were missed while it was down.
No suggestions appeared
If the AI assistant isn't switched on, we can't suggest a mapping. You can still set everything up by hand: use the Fund accounts button on the Xero card, and manage income groups under Settings.