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Setting Up a Xero Account for Testing

To thoroughly test and validate the integration between Mythradon and Xero, we strongly recommend setting up a dedicated Xero organisation specifically for testing. This ensures test data remains isolated and doesn't contaminate your live accounting environment.

Xero Accounts vs. Organisations — What's the Difference?

In Xero:

  • A Xero account is your personal login (based on your email address), which can access one or more organisations.
  • A Xero organisation represents an individual business or client, each with its own set of financial records, settings, and users.

For testing purposes, we suggest creating a completely new Xero account and organisation, even if you already use Xero. This clean separation helps avoid conflicts and reduces the risk of accidental data syncing to a production environment.

Create a Dedicated Test Account

When registering a new Xero account, your email address becomes your login. We recommend using a separate email address dedicated to testing. If you're using Gmail, you can create a unique address with the plus aliasing feature (e.g., yourname+testxero@gmail.com), which Xero supports.

What This Guide Covers

This setup guide walks you through:

  • Creating a Xero account for test purposes
  • Enabling multi-currency support
  • Creating sample bank accounts for each currency
  • Connecting your Xero account to Mythradon
  • Best practices for syncing test invoices, payments, and contacts

Important Notes

Use a Separate Xero Organisation

Always use a dedicated Xero organisation/account for testing to ensure test records are not mixed with production data.

Trial Account Availability

Xero provides a 30-day free trial when you create a new organisation. Although all organisations are technically “live” environments, this trial period can be used to safely conduct integration testing with Mythradon.

Recreating Trial Accounts

Once a trial expires, you can easily create a new Xero trial account using a different organisation name. This is a common and supported practice for repeated testing cycles.

Setup Xero Account for Testing

Sign up for a new Xero Account: Xero Sign Up

Add Additional Currencies in Xero (for Testing)

To test multi-currency scenarios in your Mythradon integration with Xero, you'll need to enable additional currencies in Xero and create corresponding bank accounts for each one.

Steps to Add a New Currency

  1. In Xero, go to: Settings → Currencies from the main navigation menu.

Xero Add Currency Menu Option

  1. Click the Add Currency button.

  2. In the popup dialog, search for and select the currency you'd like to enable (e.g., USD, EUR, GBP).

Xero Add Currency

  1. Click Add Currency to confirm and enable it in your Xero account.

Next Step: Add Bank Accounts for Each Currency

After adding a new currency, make sure to create one or more bank accounts in that currency. This allows you to process transactions and payments in multiple currencies when testing the Mythradon integration.

Note

Adding currencies and matching bank accounts ensures your test environment is properly configured for realistic multi-currency scenarios across both systems.

Create a Bank Account in Xero (for Testing)

To simulate real-world scenarios during testing, you'll need to create one or more fictitious bank accounts in your Xero environment. These accounts are not connected to a real bank and are only used for testing integrations with Mythradon.

Steps to Create a Test Bank Account

  1. In Xero, navigate to: Accounting → Bank Accounts from the main menu.

Xero Bank Account Menu Option

  1. Click the Add Bank Account button.

  2. On the next screen, click Add without bank feed. This ensures the bank account is not linked to a live bank feed.

Xero Add Bank Account Without Feed Button

  1. Confirm your selection by clicking Continue on the confirmation dialog.

Xero Add Bank Account Without Feed Confirmation

  1. Fill in the required fields with dummy/fictitious bank account details. Suggested fields include:
  • Account Name: Test Account
  • Bank Name: Test Bank
  • Account Number: Any placeholder (e.g., 123456789)
  • Currency: Your default testing currency
  1. Click Add Account to save.

Xero Custom Bank Account Details

🔁 Repeat these steps to create multiple test accounts if needed.

By adding test accounts in this way, you'll be able to simulate real payment flows and bank mappings when working with the Mythradon Xero integration.

Setting Up the Mythradon Xero Integration

Once you've created your Xero test account and organisation, the next step is to configure the integration between Mythradon and Xero.

Follow the instructions in the Xero Integration Setup Guide to:

  • Connect your Xero organisation to Mythradon
  • Authorise secure API access using OAuth2
  • Configure core integration settings
  • Define sync preferences (e.g., for invoices, payments, contacts)
  • Set up error handling and logging options

This step is essential to ensure your test environment is correctly linked and that data can flow safely and reliably between the two systems.

Test Environment Only

Make sure you're connecting to your test Xero organisation, not a live production one. Double-check the organisation name and ID during the connection process.

Once the integration is complete, you'll be ready to start syncing test records and validating workflows.

Update Mythradon UI to Include Xero Integration Fields

To fully support the Xero integration, the following fields should be added to specific record detail pages within Mythradon. These fields allow users to control sync behaviour, map values correctly to Xero, and ensure reliable integration.

Account Detail Page

Add the following fields:

  • doNotSendToXero – Prevents the account from being sent to Xero.
  • taxNumberMyth – Used to map to the Tax Number field in Xero.
  • referenceNumberMyth – Stores the Xero Contact Reference (useful for syncing or troubleshooting).

Contact Detail Page

Add the following fields:

  • doNotSendToXero – Prevents the contact from being sent to Xero.
  • referenceNumberMyth – Stores the Xero Contact Reference.

Invoice Detail Page

Add the following fields:

  • doNotSendToXero – Prevents the invoice from being synced to Xero.
  • xeroExternalReference – Stores the corresponding Xero Invoice ID for reference and updates.

Tax Class Detail Page

Add the following field:

  • xeroAccountCode – Links the tax class to a specific Xero account code for accurate posting.

Payment Detail Page & Small Payment Detail View

Add the following field:

  • xeroBankAccount – Identifies the Xero bank account used when syncing payments.

Tip

These fields are essential for fine-grained control and visibility of what data is included or excluded from your Xero syncs. Make sure to adjust visibility and permissions as appropriate for your users.

Configure Tax Classes for Xero Integration

To ensure accurate syncing of financial data between Mythradon and Xero, each Tax Class in Mythradon must be linked to the appropriate Xero Account Code.

Steps:

  1. Open each Tax Class record in Mythradon.
  2. Set the xeroAccountCode field to match the correct Account Code in Xero.
  3. Ensure that every Tax Class you plan to use in invoices or payments has a valid and active Xero account code assigned.

Important

  • For tax-free items, you will likely need to create or assign a “270 - GST Free” account code in Xero, and use that code for the Tax Free class in Mythradon.
  • If the Xero Account Code does not exist or is inactive in Xero at the time of syncing, the invoice will fail to import or export.

Properly configuring Tax Classes ensures that line items are accurately posted to the correct general ledger accounts in Xero. This is critical for maintaining clean financial records and avoiding sync errors.

Chart of Accounts

In Mythradon, Chart of Accounts are managed via the xeroAccountCode field on Tax Classes. Each Tax Class must be mapped to the appropriate account code from your Xero Chart of Accounts to ensure accurate financial reporting and successful synchronisation between systems.

Before configuring the integration, review and decide which Xero account codes should be linked to each Tax Class in Mythradon—particularly for:

  • Taxable (GST) sales
  • Tax-Free sales

These mappings are essential for correct GL (General Ledger) allocation during invoice syncing.

Accessing Chart of Accounts in Xero

To find or configure your Chart of Accounts in Xero:

  1. In Xero, go to Accounting → Chart of accounts from the main menu.

Xero Chart of Accounts Menu Option

  1. Review the list and note the account codes you'll use for taxable and non-taxable sales.

  2. Add these codes to the corresponding Tax Classes in Mythradon.

Note

At a minimum, ensure that both taxable and tax-free Tax Classes in Mythradon are assigned valid Xero account codes. This is required for invoice export to function correctly.

Add Menu Items for Xero Integration

To streamline support and administration of your Mythradon → Xero integration, we recommend adding the following menu items within Mythradon. These provide quick access to key areas related to your Xero connection and help with monitoring and troubleshooting.

For step-by-step guidance, see Adding Menu Items.

  • Logs View detailed integration logs, including debug and API payload data (when enabled), to assist with diagnosing sync issues.

  • Xero Bank Accounts Review and manage the bank accounts imported from Xero. These accounts are used when processing payments from Mythradon to Xero.

  • Xero Queue Monitor the Xero sync queue to see what records are pending, processed, or have encountered errors. Enables reprocessing of failed records.

  • Xero Record Mapping Access and manage the ID mappings between Mythradon and Xero. Essential for ensuring records are linked correctly across both systems.

Adding these menu shortcuts enhances visibility and control over your Xero integration, allowing your team to manage the connection more efficiently.

Credit Notes

Credit Notes in Xero are not the same as standard payments and are processed differently, even though they may appear as payments within Mythradon. It's important to understand this distinction when syncing data from Xero to Mythradon.

When a credit note is applied to an invoice in Xero, it reduces the outstanding balance of that invoice. In Mythradon, this is reflected as a payment transaction — but under the hood, it follows a separate handling process compared to a typical payment.

Key Notes:

  • Credit notes are processed separately from standard payments in the Xero → Mythradon sync.
  • While credit notes are imported into Mythradon as payments, they retain metadata identifying them as credit-based transactions.
  • Ensure you test credit note handling as part of your integration validation to confirm expected behaviour in both systems.
  • Credit notes do not carry payment methods and may result in different reconciliation flows in reporting.

Creating a Credit Note in Xero

To create a credit note in Xero:

  1. Go to the Business menu and select Invoices.

Xero Create Credit Note Menu Option

  1. Locate and open the invoice to which you want to apply the credit note.
  2. Use the Credit Note option to issue a credit against the invoice.

Xero Create Credit Note

You can now use this credit note as a payment on an invoice for this customer

Xero Apply Credit Note

Be sure to sync and verify how the credit note is represented in Mythradon once applied in Xero.

Xero Paid Invoice Note

See also