The dashboard in Xero is the first screen you come to after you’ve set up Xero.

On your left side, it has your bank accounts and total cash in and out. On the right side you’ve got account watchlist, invoices owed to you, bills you need to pay and expense claims. I’ll go through bank accounts and account watch list in more detail & summarise total cash in & out, invoices owed to you, bills you need to pay and expense claims.

In Summary…

• Total cash in & out - this is just a chart that shows you how much money came into and out of your bank account. Just good to know and a quick snapshot to see if your cash flow is on track.
• Invoices owed to you - this shows you who owes you money (people that haven’t paid you yet. Pay attention to overdue invoices and follow up. You can follow up on overdue invoices by sending a statement and requesting payment.
• Bills you need to pay - this shows you who you own money to. People that have invoiced you but you haven’t yet paid. Again, pay attention to overdue bills and pay them.
• Expense claims - these are claims likely made by employees so the company can reimburse them for their out of pocket costs. Watch for ones that are ‘awaiting authorisation’ or ‘awaiting payment’ and action accordingly.

In More Detail

• Bank Account - you’ll see your balance (how much you have in the kitty) and a neat little graph showing how it’s gone up and down. The difference between the “Xero balance” and the “bank balance” is that Xero balance will be the balance of invoices and the like that you create. The bank balance is stuff that goes through the bank. An example of where this could differ is when someone deposits $1M in your bank (yes please!) but you haven’t invoices them for it. So Xero balance $0 and Bank balance $1M. Once reconcile, you’ll have a tick there.

• Account Watchlist - this is an area that you can maintain a watchful eye over spending or funds coming in. Say you recently launched a new service for sale called “Bits and bobs” and created a new account for that so that sales made for that would go there. You could add it to your account watchlist so each time you go into Xero you can see how much has been made from “Bits and bobs”. Here’s how you add an account to your account watchlist:

  • In the dashboard, click to “Account Watchlist”
  • Click on the account name of the account you want to add to your watch list.
  • Check the box that says “Show on Dashboard Watchlist” (see pic below)
  • Click “Save”. You’re done, now you’ll be able to see your account on your Xero dashboard.