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Xero: Tracking Categories & Wages Expense Account
Xero: Tracking Categories & Wages Expense Account

Configure Tracking Categories & Wage Expense Account in Xero and Tanda

Jov Mendez avatar
Written by Jov Mendez
Updated over a week ago

You can export tracking category information with the timesheet you export to Xero. Tracking categories are associated to Teams in Tanda. This provides a way to report your wage costs in Xero by Team in Tanda.

Setting up tracking categories in Xero

First you need to ensure you have Tracking Categories setup in Xero. This article from Xero might be useful to have a read of first to ensure you have set it up correctly. 

In this example, we have setup the following:

Once you have set up your Tracking Category and its options, you'll also need to enable tracking on your timesheets in Xero.

In Xero, navigate to Settings > Payroll Settings > Timesheet Categories

Setting up tracking categories in Tanda

  • In Tanda, navigate to Settings  > Integrations > Payroll Integrations

  • Select 'edit' on your Xero integration

  • Enter the below details:

    • Tracking category name in Tanda is the Tracking category name in Xero 

    • Default tracking option is one of your Category options from Xero, which is used if the shift cannot be matched, it will default to this:

In the example above, the shift in Tanda will track to Front of House if there isn't a category option on the shift.

Enter tracking categories to Teams in Tanda

If your Xero Categories and Teams in Tanda are spelled exactly the same, then you won't need to configure this next step. 

An example of this, is if your Category in Xero is Front of House and your Team in Tanda is Front of House then they're already configured. But if you have FOH in Xero and Front of House in Tanda, you will need to enter the same tracking category as it is worded in Xero in the Team settings.

  • In Tanda, navigate to Workforce > Teams

  • Click on the Team name to edit and click on Show Advanced Options

  • In the Payroll cost tracking code field, enter the Category name from Xero

  • Click Update Team Details at the bottom to save and repeat for all other Teams where the name is different to Xero.

Timesheet in Tanda

The Team listed on each Shift (pulled from the Roster or manually selected on the Shift) will then be exported with the hours over to Xero:


In Xero, you can then bring up this information in the relevant Report you want to use, otherwise you can also check on the Timesheet to ensure it has come over the way you wanted it to:

Wage Expense Account

If your account is enabled with a Tanda Managed Award Template, configured under Compliance > Award template > Manage, when you integrated Tanda with Xero, Tanda will create new Pay Items in Xero.

A Pay Item will be created for each multiplier required, and base rates will be added for all staff to their pay templates.

Tanda’s Pay Items will be assigned to the account code that you’ve defined in Xero under Settings > Payroll Settings > Organisation > Wages Expense (see screenshot below).

If no account is set there, Tanda will use whichever account is set on an already configured earnings rate:


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