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Why Integrate Cliniko and Xero?

Writer's picture: James HuangJames Huang

Updated: Apr 11, 2024

Cliniko is world-leading cloud-based practice management software for healthcare clinics and providers. It can be used for appointment scheduling, patient management, invoice and secure medical records. It's used by over 20,000 clinics.


Xero is the accounting system of choice for Alongside Accounting. So, it makes sense to link our client's systems into Xero.


This blog posts looks at how Alongside Accounting set up the finance processes for an aesthetics doctor client to integrate Cliniko and Xero for seamless finance processes. The aim is to minimise the time the client spends on finance administration so that they can concentrate on serving their patients.


Why Integrate Cliniko and Xero?

No single system can do all the tasks that a business requires. Systems integration is designed to connect different software applications to share data and create unified systems.


A good integration setup means that you benefit from each system's speciality while keeping one source of truth for your data.


Without an integration set up, there is:

  • Duplication of data

  • More manual copying and pasting of data

  • Time delay in updating different systems

All of which leads to an increase cost in time and increased risk of mistakes.


In this case, we benefit from the patient management functionality of Cliniko and the financial management capability of Xero. The solution is also expandable and future proof. For example, it is possible to link Cliniko to a website booking page.


What does the Clinko and Xero integration look like?

The below diagram shows how the data flows between Cliniko and Xero when it is set up correctly.


Cliniko and Xero integration diagram

How do you Integrate Cliniko and Xero?

Cliniko do provide guidance on how to integrate to Xero. These are the broad steps with some additional nuances to watch out for:

  • Set up the required nominal accounts in Xero. This requires some planning on how your clinic will operate. For example, will you have different revenue types requiring different revenue accounts and how you will receive payments.

  • Set up Cliniko

  • Set up the integration between Cliniko and Xero:

Connect to Xero

  • In Cliniko, map the Xero accounts to the different payment methods and revenue types. Set up your tax rates.

  • Set up your payments processing platform (e.g. Stripe) and integrate this with Xero

  • Make sure that historic transactions are pushed from Cliniko and Stripe into Xero


Downsides of the Cliniko and Xero integration

Integrations are very satisfying when they are working properly. But there are a few things to watch out for:

  • The integration only works one way from Cliniko to Xero and items are only pushed over once. That means changes to published invoices in Cliniko won't be reflected in Xero. You'll need a robust process to manage such cases but this is a manual process. Having said that using app integration plaform like Zapier or Appypie can help build a genuine two-way integration.

  • You'll need to work closely with your accountant on initial setup. At the moment, there isn't an accountant role in Cliniko so the client has to do some of the setup work.

  • Integrations can break!

Finally, you need to make sure that your integration process is future-proof and can expand as your business expands.


What Next?

Talk to Alongside Accounting at hello@alongsideaccounting.com if you want advice with your business's finance integrations.

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