How to email a Xero unpaid bills list before each payment run

Before a payment run, the person who approves it needs to see what's owed, to whom and when it's due. In Xero that means logging in and exporting something. If the approver isn't a Xero user, or just doesn't want to log in, someone ends up emailing a spreadsheet every time. This is how to do it by hand, and how to have it arrive on its own.

The manual way in Xero

Go to Accounting, then Reports, and open Aged Payables Summary or Aged Payables Detail. You can also go to Purchases, then Bills, and look at Awaiting Payment.
Set the date to today (or to the payment run date) and click Update.
Click Export and pick PDF or Excel.
Email the file to the approver.

It's quick, but it only gets done if someone remembers, and it's usually the day of the payment run, when everyone is busy.

What Reportpost sends

The Unpaid Bills report in Reportpost is a list with one row per open bill, so the approver can tick off what's going out. It's built from your bills in Xero. For an overview by supplier, add the Aged Payables Summary, which shows each supplier with columns for how long the amount has been outstanding. Totals match Xero, because credit notes, overpayments and prepayments are netted off.

Setting it up

Connect your Xero organisation (read-only).
Create a schedule and choose Unpaid Bills. Add the Aged Payables Summary and Bank Summary if the approver likes to see cash alongside what's owed.
Choose weekly or monthly, with a day, hour and timezone. If you pay suppliers every Thursday, send it on Wednesday morning, which gives the approver a day to review.
Pick the format. Excel or CSV lets the approver sort by due date, and PDF reads well on a phone.
Add the recipients, up to 20 per schedule. Write a subject and message such as "Bills awaiting payment, for approval". Replies come back to you.

Send test mails you a copy immediately so you can check it looks right.

Things worth knowing

It reflects Xero as it is when the email is sent. Anything entered or approved after that point will be in the next one.
It doesn't make payments. Reportpost has read-only access and can't change anything in Xero. The approver still approves and pays in the usual way.
Standard layouts only. Custom report layouts aren't available through the Xero API.

Pairing it with cash

Payment decisions depend on what's in the bank. A good approver pack is the Unpaid Bills list, the Aged Payables Summary and the Bank Summary, sent together as one PDF or as an Excel workbook with a sheet for each. See the bank summary guide for the cash side.

Cost

Reportpost is US$12 a month for one organisation, US$39 for 10 and US$99 for 40, excluding VAT. There's a 14-day free trial with no card needed.

See how Reportpost works