Bank feeds in Xero

One of the quickest ways to speed up your accounting is to connect your bank statements directly in your accounting software. This means your transactions will show in your bank feed to be processed and allocated to the correct place, so that they feed through into your profit and loss or balance sheet correctly. Most banks connect with accounting software easily and it’s a free service – so it’s definitely worth setting up. 

High street bank feeds in Xero

When connecting a high street bank feed, you log in to Xero and follow the instructions:

• Go to ‘Accounting’ and click ‘Banks’.
• Click ‘Add Bank Account’ and type in your bank in the search bar.
• You will see an agreement screen to approve, which outlines that Xero partner Tink is used to connect the bank transactions into Xero.
• Once agreed, Xero will guide you through the connecting setup, which will send you to your bank login page. With the likes of high street banks such Lloyds and Barclays, you will need your pinsentry device and debit card to finish the setup, so be sure to have this at-the-ready.
• Once set up, you can choose which date to start importing the transactions. Make sure to check this before completing the setup because if any transactions are missed, they need to manually imported. Your bookkeeper or accountant will know how to do this – but if you’re doing this yourself, it will cause more work for you, so it’s worth checking beforehand.
• Once complete, you will see the bank feed in your Xero dashboard. It may take some time for Xero to pull the transactions in, but you will be able to process them once they’re all in the bank feed.
• You will need to refresh this bank feed every 90 days by following the login steps prompted by Xero.
• You can get more information on this from Xero support here.

Starling bank – why is it different?

If you bank with Starling, you’ll notice the process is different to high street banks. This is because Starling is run within the app, so it makes sense that the bank feed connection and refresh prompts are also done in the app. To connect your bank feed, here’s what you need to do:

• Go to ‘Accounting’ and click ‘Banks’.
• Click ‘Add Bank Account’ and type in Starling in the search bar.
• It will take you to this information page to give you the guide on how to do this in your Starling app.
• Go to the Starling app and click the suitcase icon in the top right-hand corner.
• Scroll down to ‘Marketplace’.
• Click ‘Xero’ and follow the instructions.
• If you’re doing a bank feed refresh, Xero should show at the top of the list to save you searching for it.
• Follow the screens in the app and select which date to start importing the transactions.
• You’ll need to refresh this every 90 days in the app.

My bank feed connections aren’t working any more?

If you have any issues with your bank feed, try disconnecting the feed and reconnecting. You shouldn’t need to do this often, but it can be a fix for statement feeds not pulling through. If you have a bookkeeper or accountant, they can help with any issues – and if you’re doing your accounts yourself, you can contact Xero support to help, too.

If bank feeds, accounting and finances are taking more time and mental space than you’d like, get in touch and see how we may be able to help.