Xero is the system of record for a lot of fractional CFO and bookkeeping clients. Boards, owners and lenders still want Excel. Exporting the Profit and Loss, pasting it into last month's file, and re-checking the totals does not scale across a portfolio.
Ilka closes that gap: connect each client's Xero organisation with read-only access, design the pack layout once, and let every delivery copy the figures straight from Xero into a real .xlsx — with a Source check sheet proving the totals match.
When Xero → Excel automation makes sense
- You rebuild a P&L, balance sheet, or receivables pack from exports every month
- Each client file drifts depending on who pasted the report
- Reviewers re-add columns because they do not trust a pasted range
- The client wants a workbook they can filter and forward, not another dashboard login
Ilka is not a live dashboard. It produces the same reviewed workbook every month, then delivers it by email, client portal, SharePoint, Drive, or webhook.
What Ilka pulls from Xero
Sign in with Xero and pick one organisation. Ilka asks for read access only. Choose one of:
- Sales invoices (receivables) — customer, dates, status, totals, amount due, days overdue
- Bills (payables) — the same shape, by supplier
- Profit and Loss for a lookback window (for example the last 90 days), flattened to section, account, and period columns, with subtotal rows marked
- Balance sheet as at the run date, in the same section-and-account shape
Connect each organisation separately so a pack never mixes two clients' books.
Invoice and bill pulls stop at 500 rows. Use a shorter lookback for busy organisations.
Design the pack once
Describe the pack in one sentence, for example "Profit and Loss by section with monthly columns, then a Source check". AI proposes the layout — columns, groupings, totals, and chart — from the headers and a few sample rows.
You see the pack filled with the client's real numbers before anything is scheduled. Remove columns you do not need, then lock the layout.
Good starting points:
Schedule delivery
Pick the day — the 1st, the 5th after close, or every Monday — and the recipient:
- Email with the
.xlsxattached, under your firm's name on the Firm plan - Client portal link with optional password and expiry, no Ilka account for the client
- SharePoint, Drive, or a signed webhook
Send the first packs to yourself, then switch the recipient to the client.
Why the numbers can be trusted
After the layout is locked, the model never types a figure. Each delivery copies and totals the amounts in code, straight from Xero. The last sheet, Source check, recomputes each total with Excel formulas and shows the difference with the source — 0.00 when it ties out.
If a column disappears in the Xero report, the delivery stops with a clear message instead of sending a wrong number.
Related resources
- QuickBooks on a schedule
- Stripe payout packs
- For accounting and bookkeeping firms
- Fractional CFO client reporting
Get started
- Build a pack free with sample data, then connect one Xero organisation
- Move to Pro for three clients or Firm when you run packs for ten or more
- Firm subscribers can book a setup call for their first clients