Odoo & Xero Integration: Key Features, Use Cases, and Important Notices

Odoo Xero integration connects Odoo’s end-to-end business management capabilities with Xero’s cloud-based accounting and payroll strengths, enabling real-time data flow between operations and finance.

For Australian businesses, this integration solves a growing gap: Xero handles payroll, tax, and compliance well, but lacks depth in inventory, manufacturing, CRM, and workflows. As businesses scale, Odoo fills these gaps, and integrating both systems ensures teams can work efficiently without duplicating data, retraining staff, or disrupting compliance.

In this article, you’ll learn how this integration works in practice, including:

• Key benefits of integrating Odoo and Xero for Australian and New Zealand businesses
• What key features are included in Havi’s tailored connector
• Typical use cases across industries, with real-world scenarios
• How to prepare your systems before integration.

Why Integrate Odoo and Xero?

Odoo ERP vs. Xero: A Functional Overview

Odoo ERP stands out as the #1 open-source all-in-one business management system built to manage end-to-end business operations — inventory, sales, manufacturing, procurement, customer management, and more. 

In contrast, Xero is primarily a cloud-based accounting software, purpose-built for accounting, tax compliance, payroll, and bank reconciliation. The table below outlines where Odoo and Xero each excel — and why combining them is often more practical than replacing one with the other.

It’s worth noting that some localisation features mentioned — including STP Phase 2 compliance, Employment Hero integration, and automated Deferred GST — are available from Odoo 17, Odoo 18, Odoo 19, or above, depending on the feature and region. Ensure your system is updated to access the latest enhancements. Now, let’s explore why many businesses choose to connect them.

Why Integrate Odoo and Xero?

Many businesses using Xero face operational limitations as they scale. Rather than replacing one system with another, integration allows each platform to focus on what it does best. The illustration below shows the most common reasons why businesses choose integration over migration.

• Minimise disruption: Integration allows finance teams to continue working in Xero while the broader business transitions to Odoo for CRM, inventory, sales, or manufacturing.
• Reduce training time: With Xero retained for finance, your team doesn’t need to learn a new accounting interface. Staff remain productive without undergoing weeks of retraining or adapting to a new system.
• Avoid complex migration: There's no need to import years of financial history into Odoo — data syncs forward from Odoo to Xero.
• Leverage Xero’s STP capabilities: Xero is fully STP-compliant and regularly updated to reflect ATO requirements. By continuing to use Xero for payroll and HR reporting, you can report salary, wages, tax, and superannuation information to the ATO directly from the payroll software.
• Use Xero's bank feeds: Xero offers direct bank feeds and intuitive reconciliation tools tailored for Australian banks. These features make Xero a more reliable option for managing bank transactions and reconciliations.
• Scale with confidence: Add new teams, processes, or departments in Odoo without altering your accounting setup in Xero.

This strategic integration only works if the systems are properly connected, and that’s where a tailored solution makes the difference. Let’s explore what Havi’s Odoo Xero integration offers out of the box — and how it supports real business workflows.

Key Features of Havi’s Odoo Xero Integration

Havi’s Odoo Xero integration provides a structured, end-to-end connector that automates financial workflows, aligns operational data, and preserves compliance across payroll, inventory, and multi-entity environments. It ensures accurate syncing between systems while reducing manual intervention and system disruption.

Automated Data Flow

The integration enables invoices and payments to flow automatically between Odoo and Xero in real-time or on a defined schedule. Odoo-generated invoices are exported directly to Xero for accounting and payment tracking. Likewise, payments recorded in Xero are imported back into Odoo to keep operations aligned with finance. Sync intervals can be configured to suit your operational rhythm — from real-time triggers to batch updates during off-peak hours.

Payroll and Timesheet Integration

Our solution bridges workforce timesheet records in Odoo with wage processing in Xero Payroll. It maps attendance and project-based work entries from Odoo to Xero’s timesheet structure, classifying earnings by type (e.g. ordinary hours vs overtime) for accurate payroll processing. This ensures correct treatment of hours across diverse teams, from salaried office staff to shift-based site workers.

Multi-Company & Multi-Currency Ready

The connector supports multiple Xero accounts across regions and handles currencies, tax rules, and payroll differences by entity. Businesses operating across Australia and New Zealand can sync each Odoo company to its respective Xero file, preserving local payroll calendars and tax codes. This setup ensures financial clarity while keeping operational data centralised.

Inventory & Sales Data Compatibility

Product and sales data in Odoo are structured to align cleanly with Xero’s tracking and reporting categories. This allows for synchronised pricing, categorisation, and stock movement information, ensuring accurate accounting without additional data reconciliation. It supports product-based businesses that rely on inventory visibility and margin tracking.

Bank Feed & STP Support

The integration keeps Xero’s native strengths — bank feeds and Single Touch Payroll (STP) — fully intact. Rather than replicating these functions in Odoo, our integration preserves your existing setup, allowing businesses to continue reconciling transactions via Xero’s live bank feeds and meeting STP obligations without introducing compliance risks.

Custom Enhancements for Flexibility

Beyond syncing, we extend the integration with tailored configurations that support how your teams work. This includes custom views, field mapping, and filters configured through Odoo Studio, helping finance and operations users access the right data in the right context, without needing to adapt to rigid systems.

With these features in place, businesses gain operational clarity. But how do these capabilities translate into outcomes? Let’s look at real-world use cases from Australian businesses putting this integration to work.

Use Cases - How Australian Businesses Apply This Integration Across Industries

Australian businesses use Odoo Xero integration to automate payroll, connect inventory with accounting, and streamline cross-entity operations across projects, manufacturing, retail, and more.

Project-Based Costing Integration

This integration enables project-driven businesses to track time in Odoo and sync earnings into Xero for accurate costing and payroll. With Odoo handling time capture and project-based workflows, and Xero processing wages and accounting entries, the two systems work in tandem to support margin tracking and client billing.

• Capture employee hours against jobs or projects directly in Odoo
• Sync project-specific time entries into Xero with mapped earning types
• Supports internal costing, client billing, and project profitability tracking.

Manufacturing – Shop Floor Integration

Manufacturers rely on the integration to automate the flow from Odoo’s attendance to payroll, especially for shift work and overtime-heavy environments. This data flows into Xero’s timesheet format, reducing manual entry and ensuring overtime and penalty rates are handled correctly.

• Attendance captured on the shop floor syncs directly into payroll
• Supports compliance with awards and payroll standards
• Minimises manual payroll adjustments and spreadsheet work.

Multi-Region Setup (AU/NZ)

The integration supports multi-entity businesses operating across Australia and New Zealand by connecting separate Odoo companies with distinct Xero files. Whether you're managing entities under a single group or running a franchise model, the connector respects localisation, including tax rules, payroll policies, and currency differences.

• Separate Odoo companies connect to their respective Xero files
• Each entity follows its own tax, payroll, and currency rules
• Maintain consolidated visibility across the group.

Inventory and Pricelist Alignment

Inventory-based businesses use the integration to ensure stock, pricing, and sales data flow cleanly from Odoo into Xero for accurate financial treatment. This approach suits wholesalers, distributors, and multi-channel retailers who manage inventory-intensive operations.

• Product and pricing updates stay consistent across systems
• Push revenue, COGS, and tax-relevant data into Xero
• Improve forecasting and profit reporting accuracy.

These use cases show that Odoo–Xero integration isn’t one-size-fits-all — it adapts to the structure and scale of your business. But to make it work seamlessly, the foundation must be right. Next, let’s explore what you need to prepare before integration to avoid friction and ensure long-term success.

What To Prepare Before Integrating Odoo and Xero

Successful Odoo Xero integration begins with data readiness, accounting structure alignment, and stakeholder input. Here’s what to prepare before getting started.

• Conduct a data structure audit: Review how customers, suppliers, products, accounts, and employees are currently organised in both systems. Clean data reduces integration delays and minimises post-go-live corrections.
• Define your accounting structure: Identify key accounts in Xero and determine how they’ll link to operational triggers in Odoo, especially for income, expense, payroll, and project tracking.
• Data mapping and backup: Ensure that the data mapping between Odoo and Xero is accurate, up-to-date, and consistent. Take a complete backup of your financial data in both Odoo and Xero before integrating
• Identify integration scope: Decide which financial data you want to sync between Odoo and Xero, such as invoices, payments, expenses, tax information, etc.
• Involve key stakeholders: Involve relevant team members, especially those responsible for finance and accounting, in the integration process. Get their input and feedback to ensure the integration meets their needs.

Once your systems are prepared, the next step is implementation. But not all integrations deliver the same outcome. In the final section, we’ll explore how to get started — and why choosing the right approach from day one can make all the difference.

Getting Started With Integrating Tailored Odoo & Xero

With the right foundation in place, Odoo Xero integration unlocks clarity, automation, and long-term operational control — but success depends on how well the solution fits your business.

A tailored Odoo Xero integration delivers greater accuracy, scalability, and long-term value than generic sync tools. If your business relies on Xero for finance but needs more control over inventory, projects, timesheets, or multi-entity operations, integrating Odoo is the next logical step. The key is ensuring the connection is aligned with your structure, not forced to fit generic defaults.

Consult with our team to see how a tailored Odoo–Xero integration can support your workflows. We’ll help scope your needs, design the right connector, and ensure your teams get the visibility, automation, and flexibility they need to grow.

Does Xero integrate with Odoo?

Yes — Odoo and Xero can be integrated to synchronise invoices, payroll, payments, and reporting. This helps businesses unify operations and finance without switching platforms.

Do I need to stop using Xero to implement Odoo?

No — the integration allows Xero to remain your finance platform while Odoo runs your operations. This means you keep payroll, BAS, and bank feeds in Xero while unlocking broader functionality in Odoo.

Is the custom integration better than the pre-built connector?

Yes — for complex or localised business setups, a tailored integration like Havi’s offers better control, accuracy, and compliance than a generic connector, especially in Australian and New Zealand multi-entity environments.