DEAR-Xero Integration

This is a technical reference for the Cin7 Core (Dear) to Xero accounting integration. The latest version of the full document is available on Google Docs.

High-Level Architecture

• Dear acts like a traditional ERP with subledgers (Sales, Inventory), “posting” to Xero via the integration
• Dear is the owner of the stock subledger
• Xero is the source of truth for all other ledgers, even those where Dear provides most source transactions (such as AR)
• The integration is partially two-way: under some circumstances, payments entered in Xero can import to Dear
• The integration works well, but has some weaknesses around documents changing in Dear after they have synced to Xero

Document/Transaction Mapping

Dear Document	Xero Document	Notes
Purchase Invoice	AP Bill	Triggered by invoice authorisation
Sales Invoice	Sale Invoice	Triggered by invoice authorisation
Credit Notes	Credit Notes
Shipment	Manual Journal	Stock change when shipment authorised
PO Receipt	Manual Journal	Stock change when PO receipt authorised
Stock Adjustment	Manual Journal	Stock adjustments and stock takes
Manufacturing Steps	Manual Journal	Consume components, add finished goods and overheads
Payments & Refunds	Payment	Customer and supplier payments, deposits, refunds
Paying with Customer Credit	Payment
PO Accruals	Manual Journal	Accruals for stock receipts before supplier invoice
Manufacturing Accruals	Manual Journal	WIP/GIT movements
Landed Costs	Manual Journal	Capitalisation of expenses into stock

Ownership Rules

• Dear is the sole source of truth for stock value — the only transactions in Xero for the inventory account should originate from Dear
• Xero’s Tracked Inventory feature is not used when Dear is present
• Xero is the sole source of truth for all other subledgers

Sync Triggers

Documents are triggered for sync when:

• The document is authorised
• An authorised document changes

The Golden Rule

Once there is a payment applied on a Xero document, Xero will accept no modifications. This generates sync errors on the Dear side.

Two-Way Payment Sync

Dear has two-way payment sync. Payments created in Dear are sent to Xero. Payments entered in Xero are pulled into Dear. The interface remembers which side authored the payment and only considers changes from the authoring side.

Perpetual Inventory

Dear is a perpetual inventory system. Stock is capitalised on acquisition and expensed when shipped. Stock value can be increased by absorbing acquisition costs (landed costs). If stock value changes after shipping, Dear generates additional COGS journals.

COGS vs Revenue Timing

Revenue is recognised when the invoice is authorised; COGS is generated when the shipment is authorised. This can cause timing differences at month end.

Foreign Currency

Dear and Xero work well with foreign currency. Dear sends invoices and payments to Xero in the currency of the supplier, customer, or payment method — it does not translate to base currency. Xero performs unrealised and realised gain/loss calculations normally.

Multiple Instances

GrowthPath’s Analytics Connector takes transaction data from multiple Dear instances into one data warehouse and can convert to a reporting currency.

Required Xero Accounts

Key accounts required for the integration:

Account	Type	Code
Inventory Control	Current Asset	640
Inventory Discrepancy	Direct Cost	305
Cost of Goods Sold	Direct Cost	310
Supplier Deposits/Prepayments	Current Asset	660
Customer Credits	Current Liability	810

Note: Xero’s pre-loaded default Inventory account does not have the correct settings for Dear. A dedicated current asset account is required.

Inventory Accrual (Highly Recommended)

Account	Type	Code
Goods Received Not Invoiced	Current Liability	815
Goods Invoiced Not Received	Current Asset	650