Connection and setup
How do I connect Sterling to Xero? In Sterling's onboarding, choose Xero on the "Connect your accounting system" step and authorise in Xero. Full walkthrough: Getting started with Sterling + Xero.
Can I connect more than one Xero organisation? Yes. Go to Skills → Ledger Connections → Xero → Add Organisation and authorise each organisation. Sterling keeps each one's data separate. See Managing your Xero connection(s).
How do I disconnect from Xero? Go to Skills → Ledger Connections → Xero, click the disconnect icon next to the organisation, and confirm. Sterling revokes its token with Xero immediately and soft‑deletes its local copy of your data. Your Xero records are not touched. See Managing your Xero connection(s).
Can my team sign in with Xero? Yes. Under Settings → Security, select Xero — Sign in with Xero accounts. Team members then use an email‑first flow that redirects to Xero automatically.
Which countries does Sterling support? Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, and Global. Multi‑jurisdiction is supported if you have multiple organisations in different countries.
Data and sync
When and how does data sync occur? Sterling syncs in four ways:
On connection — immediately after you authorise, Sterling pulls your Chart of Accounts, tax rates, contacts and recent transactions.
On demand — before filing an invoice, Sterling refreshes the supplier lookup and duplicate check.
Periodically — a background job re‑syncs at least daily so new accounts, contacts and tax changes are picked up.
Via webhooks — Xero pushes events like connection changes, which trigger targeted refreshes.
Syncs are rate‑limited to respect Xero's API limits and never exceed 5 concurrent calls per organisation.
Does Sterling use my Xero data to train AI? No. Sterling processes data using OpenAI's API under zero‑retentionterms. OpenAI does not store the data, and it is never used to train Sterling's, OpenAI's or any other model.
What doesn't Sterling do? Sterling is a drafting and review assistant. It does not:
Pay suppliers or move money.
Reconcile bank transactions.
Post approved (non‑draft) bills.
Delete anything in Xero.
Offer lending, insurance, payments, bank feeds, or other regulated financial services.
What data can Sterling see? Sterling reads your Chart of Accounts, tax rates, contacts, invoices/bills, organisation settings and reports. It writes draft bills, new supplier contacts, and PDF attachments. Full breakdown: Data sharing, permissions and security.
Filing and reconciling
How do payment processing fees appear in Xero? Sterling doesn't process payments, so fees don't flow through Sterling directly. If a supplier invoice includes payment‑processing fees as a line item, Sterling codes them as a separate line (typically to a bank fees or merchant fees account) so they reconcile naturally against the supplier payment.
How do I reconcile sales data synced to Xero? Sterling always files as Draft with the original PDF attached and a detailed History & Notes entry, so reconciliation follows your normal Xero process. Match the bill to the bank statement line in Xero's reconcile screen as you would with any bill.
Where do filed bills appear in Xero? Under Business → Bills to pay, in Draft status. Open any bill to see the line items, GL codes, tax rates, attached PDF and Sterling's coding note.
Can I edit a draft bill Sterling filed? Yes — drafts are fully editable. Change anything in Xero before approving. Sterling uses your corrections as signal for future bills from the same supplier.
How does Sterling pick the right GL account? Sterling reads your Chart of Accounts from Xero, filters to active accounts of the appropriate class (e.g. expense accounts for expense invoices), and picks the best match using the invoice content and prior bills from the same supplier. Its reasoning is saved in the bill's History & Notes.
Which Xero tax rates does Sterling use? Sterling syncs tax rates from your Xero organisation and uses them directly. It never calculates tax independently — if a rate doesn't exist in Xero, Sterling won't apply it.
What if Sterling codes something incorrectly? Edit the draft in Xero before approving. Your change is authoritative, and Sterling learns from the correction for that supplier.
Billing and trial
Is there a free trial? Yes — 30 days, no credit card required, full access.
Where do I manage my Sterling subscription? In Sterling, go to Settings → Billing.
Help and support
How do I get help? Email [email protected]. Include the Sterling task or Xero bill reference if your question is about a specific record. Most queries get a response within one business day.