How to pick an AP tool for Xero: 7 questions to ask first

Short answer

1. Ask the seven questions below. Write each answer in one table.
2. Run your five messiest bills through each tool on a trial.
3. Open the result in Xero, not in the tool.
4. Ask how you would leave before you sign.

For a ranked list of tools, read best AP automation software for Xero. This page is the question list.

Before you start

• Five real bills: one with many lines, one with mixed GST, one against a purchase order, one from a new supplier and one credit note.
• A list of who approves what today.
• Your Xero login, so you can connect a trial.

The seven questions

1. Does it read every line or only the header? Header means supplier, date and total. Lines mean each row on the invoice. Test it with the many-line bill.
2. How does it code? Ask where the account and GST code on each line come from. Good answer: learned from how that supplier’s bills were coded before, per line.
3. What does it check before you pay? Ask about duplicates, changed bank details and ABN checks. Ask whether it flags or blocks.
4. How does it route approvals? Ask for rules by supplier, amount, account or job. Ask about teams and a second approver.
5. Does it match purchase orders? Ask about line-level matching and partial deliveries. Ask whether it can raise POs in Xero.
6. What lands in Xero? Ask for the bill status (draft, awaiting approval or approved), the file attached, tracking categories and tax codes. Open it in Xero to check.
7. How do you leave? Ask what you can export, when and in what format. Ask about contract length and the cancel date rule.

The manual way in Xero

Xero on its own can take a bill by email or upload and lets you add lines and approve.If you have one approver and few bills, you may not need a tool. See two-step approval in Xero for what Xero offers.

The Pulsify way

Here is how Pulsify answers each question, so you can compare.

1. Lines: reads every printed row as its own line.
2. Coding: account and GST per line, learned from past bills in Xero or MYOB. Pulsify reports 99% accuracy.
3. Checks: duplicates, changed bank details and ABN checks. It flags them. It does not block payment or move money.
4. Approvals: rows by supplier, amount, GL account and tracking category. Teams, a review step, auto-approve and bulk approve.
5. POs: line-level matching including partial deliveries. Raise, approve and create POs in Xero.
6. Xero: the approved bill is created in Xero with the file attached, as draft, awaiting approval or approved.
7. Leaving: your bills stay in Xero. Ask us about exports.

Multi-step approvals need the Approval Workflows add-on.

Worked example

Example Plumbing Supplies lists its five bills: a 14-line trade invoice, a mixed GST freight bill, a bill against PO 1042, a new supplier and a credit note.

It trials two tools. Tool A reads the header only, so the 14-line bill arrives as one line. Tool B reads 14 lines but needs every account set by hand on the first bill. The bookkeeper scores each tool on the seven questions and picks by what she sees in Xero, not by the demo.

Common mistakes

• Judging by the demo. A demo uses clean bills. Use your messiest.
• Counting capture speed. Seconds saved on reading matter less than minutes saved on coding and approving.
• Skipping the exit question. Ask now, not at cancellation.

Next step

Try an invoice with your five test bills. See connect Xero or MYOB for setup.