Hike offers built-in integration with Xero, a seamless connection between your point-of-sale solution and accounting software.

By pairing Hike and Xero, retailers can forgo laborious manual data entry, with precise accuracy of your data, that goes directly from Hike to your Xero account.

Hike offers seamless integration with Xero to automatically sync the following records:

• Products, inventory

• Customers profiles

• Sales transactions, payments & Discounts given

• Credit notes, Layby & On account sales

• Purchase orders, Supplier profiles

• Stocktake, inventory change log

• Gift cards sales & redemptions (with proper liability allocation/reduction in Xero)

• Loyalty points earned & used (with liability allocation/redemption in Xero)

Note: If you’re using Hike on multiple outlets, you can link those outlets to separate Xero organizations. Get accurate sales history and more automatically posted to Xero for all your outlets.

Before you start the integration, we strongly recommend you speak to your accountant to discuss the accounts you’d like to post data from Hike to Xero. Please ensure that Xero’s Chart of Accounts has all the accounts that you require for mapping, especially in relation to:

• Do you have a refund account already created in Xero?

• Corresponding payment types in Xero

• Expense and liability accounts for loyalty points

• Payment and liability account for gift cards

• Revenue & COGS accounts designation for Inventory & non-inventory items

• Asset account for inventory

• Corresponding names for Hike payment methods in Xero & related banking accounts

For instructions on how to edit or add accounts in your Xero’s Chart of Accounts, please click here

Disclaimer: Throughout this article, we’ve made some suggestions regarding account type selection in Xero’s Chart of Accounts. However, those suggestions are only for tutorial purposes only. We strongly recommend you speak to your accountant to obtain professional advice before deciding on accounts mapping criteria and selections for your business account.

Let’s start setting up the Xero integration

You’ll set up the integration in 3 main steps:

1. Activate Hike & Xero connection

2. Map Xero accounts

3. Apply sync settings

Activate Hike & Xero connection

1. In Hike, open the Menu tab, and click on Integrated Apps >> Integrated Apps.

2. From there you will find a list of applications to which Hike connects to. Integrate your Xero account, by clicking on Activate to the right of the Xero icon.

3. You will then be directed to the Login page of Xero.

4. Login using your Xero credentials (Note: If you’ve already logged into your Xero account, Xero will automatically skip this step for you.)

5. Click on the Allow Access button to authorize Hike to sync with Xero.

6. Once your connection to Xero is active, you’ll automatically be redirected to the Xero integration settings screen in Hike.

Note: If you want to make sure that your Xero integration with Hike has successfully been activated, Close the settings screen, and you’ll land back on Hike’s Integrations list page. You’ll notice that next to the Xero Integration row, the Activate option has been replaced with Manage, which means you have successfully activated the Hike + Xero connection.

Map Xero accounts

This is where we’ll map relevant account types in Hike to define how your data will be posted to Xero.

For example, if you are selling gift cards in Hike, by mapping a Xero liability account for it, you will be able to track the increase and decrease in your liability relating to gift card sales.

Primary Settings

Select how you’d like to sync sales transactions data with Xero:

This is where you will select how you’d like to sync your sale transactions from Hike to Xero.

Create individual (separate) invoice in Xero for each sale:

This option is suitable if you prefer to sync each individual sale as an invoice in Xero. It provides you with more visibility options into your transactions, however, it also adds many more transactions to Xero's sales transactions list.

Send one summary invoice to Xero:

Sync your total sales summary for the day by simply posting totals to relevant accounts. The total transaction summary is sent to Xero as one big sale invoice at the end of the day when you close your cash register in Hike.

Please note: Hike will always sync 'on account' sales as individual transactions even if 'Send summary by account' is activated. Also, when this option is enabled, Hike will not sync product & inventory with Xero. Thus, the initial stock of products and any stock adjustment performed in Hike won't trigger any journal creation in Xero.

What works best: Sync details invoice or summary?

It depends on your industry, business size, and what you wish to achieve from this integration. For example, some of our customers who run coffee shops, prefer to sync by sale summary as there are so many small transactions – mostly walk-ins with no customer details on the sale. There is little purpose for them to sync invoice details as it would unnecessarily clutter their Sales section in Xero.

However, our users in the furniture industry, do prefer to sync with detailed invoices for each sale, as almost every sale has a customer associated with it, and the invoices sizes are comparatively large.

Common Customer Name for Walk-In Sales

Select a common customer name for walk-in sales. All cash/walk-in sales will be synced to Xero under this customer profile. Even though you won’t receive customer information to engage with them further if a generic name is used, you can still identify shopping trends, for all your walk-in customers.

Product Settings

Purchase (COGS) account for inventory items:

This is your default cost of goods sold (COGS) account for inventory products. Your cost-of-goods-sold (COGS) refers to the expenses involved in creating or purchasing the products that your store sells.

PLEASE NOTE: Hike also lets you set product specific Revenue and COGS accounts for each of your products. However, if nothing is specified at a product level, the above default accounts will be used to post revenue and COGS amounts.

Sales (Revenue) account for inventory items:

Select a default sales/revenue account for your inventory products.

Inventory asset account:

Select an asset account in Xero for your inventory. This is where inventory movement will get recorded because of a sale, purchase, stocktake, or return.

Inventory adjustment account:

When undertaking a stocktake, you may find some discrepancies (and even occasional gains). Hike will record all inventory spillage/spoilage under this account.

Don’t have an inventory adjustment account? Create a new account in Xero’s Charts of Accounts. Normally, this is an Expense account.

Sales (Revenue) account for non-inventory items:

Select one of the revenue accounts from Xero’s Chart of Accounts, to be populated here. This is the account you will allocate revenue/income generated, from the sales of products or services with inventory tracking disabled.

Purchase (COGS) account for non-inventory items:

When you sell a non-inventory item, the costs associated with that item will be recorded in this account.

PLEASE NOTE: Hike also lets you set product specific Revenue and COGS accounts for each of your products. However, if nothing is specified at a product level, the above default accounts will be used to post revenue and COGS amounts.

Accounts for Payments

Refund Account:

Refunds are automatically posted to your Sales as negative values, using the ‘sales – refunds = net sales’ formula. However, when sales totals are less than the refunded amounts, it will result in the posting of a negative sales total for the day. Xero does not allow for the creation of negative invoices. Therefore, anytime that the daily sales are LESS than the refund totals, Hike will post the refunds to the account you have specified here.

To create a new refund account in Xero:

Go to Chart of Accounts and click Add New and select Current Asset for account type. Name the account and tick the checkbox for Enable Payments.

Account for Discount Given:

Please specify a corresponding account in Xero for the discounts given to customers. You can either use a Xero Revenue or an Expense account here.

To create new account for Discounts Given in Xero:

Go to Chart of Accounts and click Add New and select Expense Account or Revenue Account for account type. Name the account and save.

Cash Rounding Expense Account:

Small cash rounding can occur with decimal values, tax calculations, and cash payments. For example, if an invoice total is $10.12 and customer is paying with cash, it will result in a rounding of $0.02.

To create new rounding adjustment account in Xero:

Go to Chart of Accounts and click Add New and select Expense Account for account type. Name the account and save.

Accounts for Liability And Expense

Important: If you have not already created a current liability account for store credit, gift cards, or loyalty in Xero, ensure that you do so first and tick Enable Payments in the Edit Account screen. If Enable Payments is not ticked, your liability will not be reduced when these payment options are redeemed.

Store Credit Liability Account:

Hike lets you create credit notes. Here you can map customer credits to the corresponding liability account in Xero. Whenever store credit is redeemed by a customer, your liability will be reduced in Xero.

Gift Card / Gift Certificate Liability:

Using Hike’s gift card feature? Gift card sales are different from other products because they do not result in an income, unlike other products. With gift cards, you accept payments in exchange for the promise of providing goods and services later. As such, gift cards are recorded and posted to Xero as a liability when sold. Your liability amounts are reduced when a customer redeems the gift certificate.

Loyalty Liability & Expense Account:

Please specify the loyalty liability and expense accounts if you’re using Hike’s Loyalty feature.

Loyalty points are posted to Xero as an expense and liability when a customer starts earning points. Whenever accrued loyalty points are used by customer as payment, your loyalty liability will be reduced in Xero.

Accounts for Cash Management

Here you will be mapping for cash movements in Hike so that they will be posted into Xero. Please note, incorrect mapping may result in wrong amounts posting or Xero may decline to sync the transaction.

Cash In/Out Account:

Create an account to post additional cash that you add to or remove from your cash register.

To create new Cash In/Out account in Xero:

Go to Chart of Accounts and click Add Account and select Current Asset for account type. Name the account, check the box for Enable Payments to this account, and save.

Till payment discrepancy account:

When you close your cash register at the end of the shift/day, Hike will prompt you to enter ‘actual’ counted amounts against amounts ‘recorded’ as received. This account will be used to record any cash discrepancies between your actual cash takings and expected cash takings in Hike.

To create new Cash Discrepancy account in Xero:

Go to Chart of Accounts and click Add Account and select Expense for account type. Name the account, check the box for Enable Payments to this account, and save.

Cash Float Account:

Your opening and closing cash float will be recorded in this Xero account.

To create new Cash Float account in Xero:

Go to Chart of Accounts and click Add Account and select Current Asset for account type. Name the account, check the box for Enable Payments to this account, and save.

Tip Account:

Suggested account type: Liability or Income

Do you accept tips? If so, here is where you will define its corresponding account in Xero. The type of account will depend on how tips are processed in your business.

• Liability – Some Hike users record tips as liability as they normally distribute them amongst their staff. When recorded, tips are added as a liability and the liability is reduced when tips are paid out to the staff.

• Income - For some Hike users, where they don’t have external staff, tips are simply recorded as income for the business. In the above example, we’ve used the Other Revenue account in Xero to sync any cash received via tips. Tips are not their main business and hence are recognized as ‘Other Revenue’.

Xero account for freight charges:

This is the Xero account where sale/order related freight charges will be posted to.

On Account / Park Sales and Purchases

Hike allows you to record ‘on account’ sales and tracks customer outstanding payments and credit limits as well. Here Hike lets you choose whether your sales invoices will be sent to Xero as a Draft, Submitted, or Authorised. You can also define what will be the standard invoice ‘due within’ timeframe in Xero for all the invoices generated from Hike.

Inventory Settings

Select the outlet to sync data to/from Xero. If you have multiple outlets, you can choose which outlets you want to sync inventory with Xero. Alternatively, you can link those outlets to separate Xero organizations by setting up a connection for each outlet separately.

Tax Mapping

Here on the left are all the tax options available in Hike. Use the pull-down menus on the right to map corresponding sales and purchase tax codes in Xero.

To update/change tax rates in Hike, go to Store Setup > Tax Rules. You will need to create the same tax rates in Xero as well in order to map the tax between Hike and Xero.

Payment Mapping

Every payment type in Hike must have a corresponding account in Xero for transactions to sync properly. Normally, most Hike users would use a ‘Bank’ account type in Xero as a corresponding account for payments. However, some retailers prefer to send payments to a Clearing Account first before reconciling.

If you decide to use a Clearing Account, retailers would usually label it as a Current Asset account with the Enable Payment box checked.

For Card Payments, most Hike users prefer to map those against the corresponding Bank Account in Xero so that receipts are easy to reconcile with automated bank feeds.

For Cash & Custom payments, Hike users mostly use a Clearing Account. A Clearing Account is where cash is parked until bank deposits are cleared. Normally, a current asset account, it’s likely you’ll need to first create a new Cash Clearing account in Xero, if one has not already been set.

In the following example, we’ve mapped Hike card payments directly to our bank account – CCARDS ANZ (AU) Card Payment – in Xero. Our cash payments are being sent to a cash clearing account in Xero.

Map Location Tracking Categories

This feature is useful when you are using the feature of "tracking categories" in Xero to track the account transactions by locations/outlets. Regarding how to set up the tracking categories, please refer to the support article by Xero.

After setting up the outlets as tracking categories and options in Xero, you can then activate the feature and map your outlets with the tracking options. The images below show an example of how it's used.

Xero: Settings > Looking for advanced settings > Tracking categories

Hike: Store setup > Integrations > Xero > Manage

Sync Settings

Here you will define sync direction. For example, if you do not wish to import existing customers from Xero to Hike then define Hike to Xero only for customer records. There are 5 types of data for which you can define sync direction: Customers, Products & Inventory, Sales, Supplier & Purchase Order.

2-way

Selecting this option will allow you to sync your data to and from Hike and Xero. 

Hike -> Xero

Select this option if you want your data to be ONLY sent from Hike to Xero. For example, by selecting Hike -> Xero for Products & Inventory, all your Products & Inventory data WILL be shared from Hike to Xero, but NOT from Xero to Hike.

Xero -> Hike

Select this option if you want your data to be ONLY sent from Xero to Hike. For example, by selecting Xero -> Hike for Sales, all your sales information WILL be shared from Xero to Hike but not the other way around.

No sync

Continue

Once you’ve completed all the necessary steps, it’s time to save and start syncing. Click on the Continue button either at the top or bottom of the page, to go on.

Hike Tip: If the Continue button is greyed out, it means you have not completed a step. Ensure you have completed everything on the page, before moving on.

First Time Sync

If this is your first time syncing or if you’ve made any significant changes to your sync settings, you will be prompted with this screen.

If you’ve selected 2-way sync, you will need to confirm which platform is the primary source, which will then overwrite the other in the case of duplicate records. For example, we’ve previously selected Customers as our 2-way sync. Now you will need to advise which app will overwrite the other if a customer with the same name exists in both apps.

Hike -> Xero: Selecting this option will make Hike the primary source.

Xero -> Hike: Selecting this option will make Xero the primary source.

Sync Past Transactions

Specify from which date you would like your existing sales records to start synching to and from Hike.

Once you’ve selected your primary source and dates, simply select Save & Sync Now to finalize your sync settings, and Hike will immediately begin syncing with Xero!

Note: Please be advised that syncing your data across may take some time (depending on number of products and existing transactions to sync).

Add to or update an existing account within Xero’s Chart of Accounts

While setting up accounts mapping for Xero, if you need to edit an existing or create a new account within Xero’s Chart of Accounts, it is accessible from Xero’s Accounting tab under Chart of Accounts.

There you will see a list of all your accounts, of which you’ll be able to filter through Assets, Liabilities, Expenses etc. You can also use the search bar to find the account you want by name.

From here, you can create a new account or update the existing account.

1. To create a new account in Xero you will first need to select Add Account on chart of accounts page.

Note: Anytime you create an account in Xero you will be asked to enter a unique code. This code will make it easy for you to refer to, when you have the map the corresponding Xero accounts throughout this integration.

2. To edit the existing account, click on desired account from Chart of accounts page.

Important: Tick Enable Payments to This Account if you wish to record payments for accounts other than bank accounts.

Hike Recommends: If you haven’t already spoken to your accountant, Hike strongly recommends that you do before commencing preparation of your Xero account for Hike integration.

Xero requires a complete integration when connecting the two applications. That means, if any piece of data is incorrect, all will be rejected. For example, if you performed the end-of-day sync, and one item had an error syncing, all data would be rejected.

Create a Bank Account in Xero

1. To create a Bank Account in Xero you must first navigate to your Chart of Accounts and select Add Bank Account.

2. Next you will be prompted to search for your Bank, and enter your account details – including the BSB and account number.

Note: The unique account code you enter here will be the one you use to map in Hike. It cannot exceed 10 characters.

3. After selecting Continue, you will be given the option to download a form to get your sales transactions in Hike automatically imported into Hike. Whether you download the form now or click on Skip to do so later, your Bank Account will be created in Xero.

4. To view and edit your account, you can enter your code in the search filter in your Chart of Accounts.