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Payments & finance

Xero suspense account queries sent to clients

Client query automation gathers the transactions a bookkeeper has coded to suspense in Xero and asks the client about them in one short form. The answers come back matched to each transaction, so a person can recode them without searching through email threads.

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

From unexplained bank lines to answers a bookkeeper can post.

  1. Step 01

    Queries gathered

    Read the transactions coded to the suspense account in each client’s Xero organisation, with date, amount and payee.

  2. Step 02

    Form prepared

    Create a short Typeform listing each item, with common answers to tap and space for a note or a receipt.

  3. Step 03

    Client asked

    After the bookkeeper checks the list, email the link from the practice’s Gmail, with one reminder if there’s no reply.

  4. Step 04

    Answers matched

    Match each answer back to its transaction and list it for the bookkeeper, with any receipt attached.

  5. Step 05

    Posted by a person

    The bookkeeper reviews each answer and recodes the transaction in Xero, and answered items drop off the next request.

The result

Client answers arrive in one tidy list instead of scattered email threads.

Answers never change the books on their own. Each transaction is asked about once per round, and nothing reaches a client until the bookkeeper has checked the list.

Before we connect it.

Where this is useful

Useful for accountancy and bookkeeping practices that chase clients every month for explanations by email or spreadsheet. A sensible first version runs for a handful of clients at month end, with each request checked by the bookkeeper before it is sent.

What we need to connect

  1. 01Access to each client’s Xero organisation through an app connection the practice approves, limited to reading transactions.
  2. 02A Typeform account, with agreed wording for the form, the covering email and the single reminder.
  3. 03The suspense account used in each organisation, the practice Gmail account and who checks each request before it goes out.

What needs careful handling

Clients sometimes explain several lines in one note or split a single payment across purposes, so answers are reviewed rather than posted directly. Personal spending on a business card may need a director’s loan entry, so the form offers that as an answer without deciding the accounting treatment. If an item is recoded before the client replies, it is dropped from the list so they aren’t asked about it again.

Questions people ask.

Don’t practice tools already do this?

Some practice and bookkeeping tools include client query features, and if yours works well, keep it. This suits practices that want queries pulled straight from Xero and sent as a simple form, without asking clients to log in to another portal.

Will clients actually fill it in?

It helps when the form is short, specific and easy to answer on a phone. Each item shows the date, amount and payee with common answers to tap, and a single reminder follows if it is ignored.

Receipt received → Filed in Xero
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