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Payments & finance

Xero supplier payment runs with Revolut Business

Supplier payment run automation gathers the approved bills in Xero that fall due and prepares them as one weekly run. It drafts each payment in Revolut Business, where an authorised person must approve it before any money leaves the account.

An example of how the studio would build it. No live services are connected.

From bills due in Xero to payments waiting for approval.

  1. Step 01

    Payment day

    On the agreed day, read the approved bills in Xero that fall due before the next run.

  2. Step 02

    Run checked

    Leave out disputed bills, suppliers on hold and any bill whose bank details haven’t been confirmed, with the reason noted.

  3. Step 03

    Run shared

    Post the proposed run to Slack with a total per supplier, so the owner can remove anything before drafting.

  4. Step 04

    Payments drafted

    Create payment drafts in Revolut Business for the agreed bills, each with its invoice number as the reference.

  5. Step 05

    Approved in app

    An authorised person approves the drafts in Revolut Business, and each payment is recorded in Xero once it has left the account.

The result

Suppliers paid on time, with a person signing off every payment.

The workflow only ever creates drafts, so a person approves every payment. Each bill can sit in one open run at a time, and it is marked as paid in Xero only after the payment has completed.

Before we connect it.

Where this is useful

Useful for wholesalers, trade merchants and small manufacturers who pay suppliers weekly and build each run by hand from the accounts and the banking app. A sensible first version drafts payments only for regular suppliers with long-standing bank details, and leaves everything else to be paid manually.

What we need to connect

  1. 01Xero access to approved bills, due dates, supplier contacts and the bank account that payments come from.
  2. 02Revolut Business API access limited to what the run needs: creating payment drafts and reading their status.
  3. 03Your payment day, the cut-off for including bills, any suppliers on hold and who is allowed to approve the run.

What needs careful handling

A change of supplier bank details is a common route for invoice fraud, so any change is held until a person confirms it with the supplier on a phone number already on file. Part-paid bills, credit notes and bills in other currencies need their own rules rather than a single total per supplier. If a draft is rejected or a payment fails, the bill stays open in Xero and appears in the next run for a decision.

Questions people ask.

Can it pay suppliers without anyone approving?

No. It only creates drafts, and every payment is approved by an authorised person in Revolut Business. The decision to move money stays with your team.

Doesn’t Xero already have batch payments?

Xero can group bills into a batch payment, and for some banks it can produce a file to upload. This flow suits businesses that bank with Revolut Business and want the drafts prepared for them, with the run discussed in Slack first. We check whether Xero’s own option is enough before building anything.

Invoice overdue → Owner alerted
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Automated overdue invoice reminders

Receipt received → Filed in Xero
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Email receipts to Dext and Xero automation

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