An AI agent for the admin around Xero
Someone still has to find the receipt behind a bank line, chase the overdue invoice and key the supplier bill. Xero keeps the books and has its own AI, JAX, built in. An AI agent can take on that admin around it, and your bookkeeper approves what it prepares.
Bank lines the rules leave, overdue invoices, supplier invoices and the card payments and claims with no receipt.
A proposed account and VAT code for each line, draft follow-ups and customer replies noted, supplier bills prepared as drafts, and receipts chased.
What Xero is and who runs it
Xero is accounting software used to invoice, record bills and expenses, reconcile the bank and prepare VAT returns. Xero says its own AI, JAX (Just Ask Xero), automates routine work such as bank reconciliations and data entry, and answers questions about your figures.
In a small business it is run by the owner, a bookkeeper or a finance manager, often with an outside accountant as well. In an accountancy practice the bookkeepers work across many clients' Xero organisations in a week.
Bookkeeping admin an AI agent can do around Xero
Coding what the bank rules leave
Xero's bank rules handle the suppliers it has seen before. The agent proposes an account and VAT code for the lines that are left, with its reason, and lists the ones that have no document behind them.
Chasing invoices past the reminder
Xero can email a reminder when an invoice is overdue. For the ones that stay unpaid, the agent drafts the follow-up, keeps a note of what the customer said, and passes a dispute to a person.
Supplier bills ready for approval
The agent reads each supplier invoice as it arrives, checks it against the order where there is one, and prepares the bill as a draft for the person who approves payments.
Receipts and expenses chased
Card payments and expense claims with no receipt are chased with the person who spent the money, so the month end does not wait for them.
Roles that work in Xero
Bookkeeping data entry
Codes the lines your capture tool and bank rules leave, and prepares the entries for your bookkeeper.
Invoice and payment chasing
Raises and chases sales invoices, and hands a query or dispute to a person.
Purchase invoice processing
Reads supplier invoices, matches them and prepares the bills for approval.
Expense and receipt chasing
Chases the missing receipts and claims before the month end.
Sectors that run Xero
Accountancy and bookkeeping
AML onboarding, records chasing and bank coding handled, so client managers can look after clients.
Construction contractors and trades
Subcontractor packs, expiring cards and weekly timesheets chased, so contracts managers can run their jobs.
Architects
Fee proposals drafted, timesheets chased and planning documents gathered, so architects get back to designing.
How the connection is set up
Xero publishes an API for other software, which an app reaches through OAuth 2.0. Someone with the right access in your Xero organisation approves the connection, and the app is granted only the permissions it asks for. Which route suits your business is agreed with you first.
Some work Xero keeps to itself. It says bank reconciliation is done inside Xero, so that step stays with your bookkeeper. The role is written around what Xero allows, and the agent is granted only the permissions that role uses.
Questions owners ask
Could the agent do our bank reconciliation in Xero?
Not from outside Xero. Inside it, Xero says its own AI, JAX, automates bank reconciliations. Other software cannot: Xero says reconciliation is done inside Xero and does not let other software see unreconciled statement lines. An outside agent prepares the entries and chases the missing documents, and your bookkeeper does the matching.
Does it need our Xero password?
No. Xero's route for other software is OAuth 2.0, which lets an app work with an organisation without its users' passwords. Someone with the right access approves the connection and can see what it is allowed to do.
Who approves what goes into our books?
Your bookkeeper or accountant. The Agent Resource, an AI worker held to one written role as staff are, proposes and prepares, as drafts where Xero allows, and a named person approves. VAT treatment and the return itself stay with them.
We use Dext or another capture tool with Xero. Does this replace it?
No. A capture tool reads the document and applies the rules you have set. That leaves the line with no rule, the missing receipt and the question to the client, which the agent works on.