Module · Accounting export

Where to find it in the app

• Use it: Finance → Accounting export
• Turn it on/off: your business name (top-left) → Settings → Modules → Finance → Accounting export

Plan: Solo and Business · Module group: Finance · Depends on: Invoicing (it exports your invoices)

1. Overview

Purpose. The Accounting export turns your HappierBiz invoices into a CSV file that imports straight into your accounting software, Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks, or that you hand to your bookkeeper. It removes double entry: you raise invoices once, in HappierBiz, and your books stay in sync.

Live Xero connection. Xero now also supports a live connection that pushes your invoices straight into Xero as drafts, no CSV file needed. Connect it once (see 7d below) and you get live account/tax-rate dropdowns and a Push button per invoice. You can also make it hands-free: optional toggles auto-push finalised invoices and post a credit note when you refund a card payment (see 7e). MYOB and QuickBooks stay CSV-only (the content below). Either way, Xero stays the source of truth, pushed invoices arrive as drafts you review and approve in Xero; nothing posts to your ledger without your say-so.

What it does not do. It never exports quotes or draft invoices, only real, issued invoices that are Sent or Paid. For MYOB/QuickBooks it does not connect live (CSV only). Even with the Xero live connection it does not push payments, a paid invoice still arrives in Xero as an unpaid draft for you to reconcile there.

2. When to use it

• At BAS time or month-end, to give your bookkeeper a clean file.
• Whenever you want your paid income reflected in your accounts.
• As a one-off, to reconcile a date range against a bank statement.

3. Required permissions

• View / export accounting (accounting.view).

By default the Owner and Manager roles have this. Grant it to other roles on Team → Staff list if you want, e.g. a bookkeeper login.

4. Navigation path

Finance → Accounting export

The Finance group only appears if you have at least one finance module (Payments, Invoicing or Accounting) switched on and your role can see it.

5. What you'll see

The screen has two panels side by side.

Left, Export

• Which invoices, a two-way toggle: Sent & paid or Paid only.
• From (issued) and To (issued), optional date filters on the invoice issue date.
• A summary box: the number of matching invoices and their total dollar value, with a Download button.
• A Preview of the first five matching invoices (number, customer, amount).

Right, Format & mapping

• Format, Xero, QuickBooks or MYOB / Generic.
• For Xero only: a Sales account and a Tax rate field. When Xero is connected these become live dropdowns pulled from your Xero org's real chart of accounts (revenue accounts) and tax rates; when it isn't connected they fall back to plain free-text.
• A Save settings button, and a reminder that quotes and drafts are never exported.

Sync to Xero (when connected). A Connect Xero button sits on the Xero card (with a printable Setup guide (PDF) for owners new to Xero). Once connected, a Sync to Xero panel lists your filtered invoices with a per-row Push button and a Push N to Xero bulk button, showing a Synced badge or Retry on error.

Purchases (bills). Below the export panels, a Purchases (bills) section counts your received purchase orders and downloads them as a bills CSV (see section 9).

6. Turning it on

1. Go to Settings and open the Tools list.
2. Under Getting paid, switch on Accounting export. (It pairs naturally with Invoicing, which produces the invoices it exports, turn that on too if it isn't already.)
3. Open Finance → Accounting export.

If the module isn't in your plan it appears locked, upgrade on Plan & billing.

7. Step-by-step tasks

7a. Choose your format (one-time setup)

1. Open Finance → Accounting export.
2. In Format & mapping, choose Xero, QuickBooks or MYOB / Generic.
   • Choose Xero if you use Xero, it produces a Xero-shaped sales-invoice CSV.
   • Choose QuickBooks if you use QuickBooks Online. It matches QuickBooks Online's invoice-import template.
   • Choose MYOB / Generic for MYOB or a bookkeeper. It's a clean, neutral CSV with one row per invoice line item.
3. If you chose Xero, set:
   • Sales account code, the account code in your Xero chart of accounts that sales should post to (default 200).
   • Tax rate name, must match a tax rate in Xero exactly. If your business is GST-registered, this is your GST-on-income rate (default "GST on Income"); if you're not registered, it's your GST-free rate (default "GST Free Income").
4. Select Save settings. You only need to do this once; it's remembered.

Free-text vs dropdowns. Until Xero is connected, Sales account and Tax rate are plain free-text fields, type the values exactly as they appear in Xero. Once connected, they become live dropdowns loaded from your Xero org, so you pick from the list instead of typing (see 7d).

Your GST-registered status comes from your business settings (set under Invoicing/Settings), and it decides which tax-rate field shows here. Individual invoice lines can also be marked GST-free in Invoicing, the export gives those lines your GST-free tax code automatically, so mixed invoices split their tax codes correctly.

7b. Export a CSV

1. Open Finance → Accounting export.
2. Under Which invoices, pick Sent & paid (everything you've issued) or Paid only (money actually received).
3. (Optional) Set From and To dates to limit to an issue-date range, e.g. a single BAS quarter.
4. Check the summary: it shows how many invoices match and their total. Glance at the Preview to confirm it looks right.
5. Select Download Xero / Download CSV.
6. The file downloads as yourbusiness-invoices-<format>-<date>.csv.

preview showing.

7c. Import into your accounting software

1. Open your accounting software's invoice/sales import.
2. Upload the CSV.
3. Important (Xero): amounts are GST-inclusive, choose the "Tax Inclusive" option during import so tax isn't added twice.
4. Map columns if prompted (the Generic/MYOB format uses plain, self-explanatory headers), then complete the import.

7d. Connect Xero and push invoices as drafts (live sync)

If you use Xero, you can skip the CSV and push invoices straight in.

1. Open Finance → Accounting export. On the Xero card, select Connect Xero and sign in to authorise HappierBiz. (New to Xero? Use the Setup guide (PDF) button on the card, a plain-English printable walkthrough.)
2. Use the live dropdowns. In Format & mapping, the Sales account and Tax rate fields are now live dropdowns drawn from your Xero org, pick the revenue account and tax rate you want sales to land on, then Save settings. (This avoids typos: the tax rate must exist in Xero, and picking it from the list guarantees a match.)
3. Push invoices. Set your filters as usual (Which invoices / date range), then use the Sync to Xero panel: Push an individual invoice, or Push N to Xero to send the whole filtered set. Each row shows a Synced badge when done, or Retry if it errored.

What to expect:

• Invoices arrive in Xero as DRAFTS, Xero stays the source of truth. You review and approve them in Xero; nothing posts to your ledger automatically.
• Amounts are GST-inclusive, matching how you'd import the CSV.
• Re-syncing is safe (idempotent): pushing the same invoice again updates the same draft in Xero rather than creating a duplicate.
• It does not push payments, a paid invoice still arrives as an unpaid draft to reconcile in Xero.
• MYOB / QuickBooks stay CSV-only; use the export panel for those.

Synced badge.

7e. Make the Xero sync automatic (optional)

Once Xero is connected, an Automatic Xero sync box appears under Format & mapping with two opt-in toggles, both off by default:

• Auto-push finalised invoices, sent and paid invoices push themselves to Xero (still as drafts) on a schedule, with no manual Push click.
• Credit note on refund, when you refund a card payment, a matching Xero credit note posts automatically, so the books reverse without re-keying.

Tick the ones you want, then select Save settings.

Try the Demo Company first. Test these on Xero's Demo Company to confirm they post the way you expect, then switch them on for your live org.

8. Examples

Beginner. A sole-trader tutor wants last month's income in QuickBooks. They set Format = Generic / MYOB, leave Which invoices on Sent & paid, set the From/To dates to last month, download the CSV and import it.

Real-world business. A GST-registered salon does its quarterly BAS. They use Format = Xero, Sales account code = 200, Tax rate name = GST on Income. Each quarter they set the date range to the BAS period, choose Paid only to report cash received, download, and import into Xero as Tax Inclusive.

Advanced. A bookkeeper is given a read-only login. The owner creates a Bookkeeper role with only View / export accounting (and perhaps View invoices), so the bookkeeper can pull exports each month without seeing rosters, customers or settings.

9. Reports & exports

This module is the export. The output is a CSV:

• Xero format, a sales-invoice CSV ready for Xero's invoice import, using your sales account code and tax-rate name.
• Generic / MYOB format, one row per invoice line item with neutral headers, suitable for MYOB, QuickBooks or manual handling.
• Bills (purchases) CSV, the Purchases (bills) panel exports received purchase orders (see Invoicing) as an accounts-payable CSV your bookkeeper can import as bills. Only lines marked purchased are included, at the reconciled price where corrected; it honours the same date filter.

Only invoices with status Sent or Paid (and document type invoice) are ever included in the sales export, purchase orders are never mixed into your sales figures.

10. Common mistakes

• Expecting quotes or drafts to appear. They're deliberately excluded. Send the invoice first; only then is it exportable.
• Importing into Xero without "Tax Inclusive". Amounts are GST-inclusive, not choosing Tax Inclusive double-counts GST.
• A tax-rate name that doesn't match Xero. The Tax rate name must match a rate that already exists in your Xero org, character for character, or Xero rejects the rows.
• Wrong "Which invoices" choice. Sent & paid reports everything issued (accruals view); Paid only reports cash received. Pick the one your accountant expects.
• Date filter confusion. The From/To dates filter on the issue date, not the paid date.

11. Troubleshooting

12. Error messages

The Accounting export screen is filter-driven and shows guidance inline rather than error dialogs:

• Download disabled / "0 invoices", your current filters match nothing (see Troubleshooting above).
• "Saved ✓", your format/mapping settings were stored successfully.
• Import errors (tax rate, account code, duplicate invoice number) are raised by your accounting software, not HappierBiz, resolve them there using the Troubleshooting table.

Related: Invoicing · Payments