Getting started

Create an account with Xero or your email address. No invitation is needed. Returning customers can sign in with their existing account. Have access to a Xero or QuickBooks Online company with a GBP, EUR or USD base currency, or a FreeAgent UK limited company with a GBP base currency, and permission to view its financial reports, plus an authenticator app for your Clarity Ledger account.

1. Accept the Terms and Privacy Policy, set up multi-factor authentication and save your backup codes securely.
2. Choose your subscription and complete checkout. Eligible portfolios receive a 21-day trial, once per portfolio. Onboarding resumes after you return.
3. In onboarding, choose an available accounting provider. For QuickBooks Online or FreeAgent, authorise the intended company at the provider. For Xero, follow the organisation selection steps below.
4. In Xero, choose the organisations you want to authorise and allow access.
5. After returning from Xero, check the Destination portfolio. No organisations are selected automatically. Tick the organisations with supported base currencies that you want to add, staying within your plan's entity limit.
6. For Xero, select Connect selected before the deadline shown. Only your confirmed choices are added. Initial data sync runs in the background after a company is connected.
7. Set your portfolio name and financial year end, complete your profile and finish onboarding.

Add connections later under Settings → Accounting integrations. Providers without configured credentials are unavailable to connect. Xero organisations left unchecked are not added; existing connections remain in place. Choosing Cancel on the selection page adds nothing and keeps your existing connections. If the selection expires, return to setup and start Connect to Xero again. You can also restart when ready if you cancel authorisation in Xero.

How your data flows

AI commentary is currently unavailable. You can use accounting connections and financial reports without AI.

Accounts and report setup

Open Entities, choose your company and select Map accounts. Review the imported accounts and suggested mappings to the portfolio chart of accounts. Confirm suitable mappings and resolve missing or incorrect mappings before relying on consolidated totals. These choices affect Clarity Ledger reports only.

Search and mapping-status filters narrow the account list. If an imported account is missing from the view, clear the search and filters to review all rows before changing a mapping.

Select the reporting period and companies in each report. Mapping and freshness warnings explain limitations in the current data. Compare the same dates, accounting basis and currency with the report in your accounting provider when checking a difference. Source and Standard account views are separate from the currency display choice.

Currencies and FX rates

Xero and QuickBooks Online company base currencies can be GBP, EUR or USD. FreeAgent currently supports UK limited companies with GBP base currency. Portfolio reporting remains GBP. Reports default to GBP management equivalents; select exactly one company to choose its native currency. GBP profit and loss uses monthly average ECB cross rates. Balance sheets and trial balances use a closing rate for every source balance, so their profit and equity figures can differ from average-rate P&L.

Review rates under Settings → FX rates. Saved GBP report versions retain their recorded rates. Updating a rate or refreshing a report does not replace them; use Regenerate GBP report versions and confirm to apply the available rates across the portfolio. If a GBP rate is missing, the single-company native view remains available.

Sync timing and limitations

• Connection queues an initial sync. For later changes in your accounting provider, open Entities and select Sync now. Loading a report displays the last stored snapshot.
• Sync moves through queued, running and completed states. Timing depends on the selected period, queue and provider availability. Check the last successful sync time before using the figures.
• Snapshots older than 24 hours show a freshness warning. Current report reads require a snapshot no older than 30 days; sync again to refresh it. Saved FX report versions and their source evidence follow the Privacy Policy's retention rules.
• A failed sync preserves the previous successful snapshot. Provider rate limits or temporary service errors can delay a job; allow it to finish before starting another.
• Xero and QuickBooks Online support GBP, EUR and USD company base currencies; FreeAgent supports UK limited companies with GBP base currency. A Xero selection containing an unsupported currency is rejected as a whole. If an existing company's base currency changes, contact support before reconnecting so retained snapshots are not relabelled.
• The number of active companies across all accounting providers is limited by your subscription. Disconnect an unused company or review your plan before adding more.
• Syncing stops when billing access ends. If a connection is paused after a billing change, follow the billing and reconnect guidance below.

Reconnect or disconnect

Open Settings → Accounting integrations to see each connected company, status and last sync. If authorisation has expired or been revoked, select Reconnect and approve access with the same provider. For Xero, check the destination portfolio and use Connect selected for the intended organisations. A connection change may ask you to verify MFA again. Portfolio owners can still open these settings and disconnect after billing access ends.

To stop the integration, choose Disconnect for the company and confirm. A successful disconnect stops sync, cancels queued work and removes that company's stored report snapshots, retained FX source snapshots and imported balances. The entity remains in your portfolio as inactive. Saved user content and required audit records follow the Privacy Policy.

If another portfolio uses the same Xero connection, removal affects this portfolio only. The shared connection in Xero is preserved, and no action in Xero is needed for this removal.

Disconnecting an organisation does not cancel your subscription. Manage billing separately under Billing. To close your account or request deletion, contact support.

If remote disconnection is unconfirmed, follow the provider-specific guidance shown in settings. If the app shows Reports removed; check Xero, the imported data has been removed but removal from Xero could not be confirmed. Follow that message and remove Clarity Ledger from the organisation's connected apps in Xero if it is still listed. This is different from a shared connection being preserved. If a connection change is still in progress, wait and retry; contact support if it remains blocked.

Billing changes and access

Review your subscription and manage payments under Billing. Access continues during a valid trial, a paid cancellation period or any grace period granted for a missed payment. A portfolio that has already used its trial does not receive another one.

Once billing access ends, syncing stops and automatic cleanup may remove accounting connections and imported reports and balances. You can still disconnect manually in Accounting integration settings. Renewing does not itself restore data that has already been removed; reconnect and sync again when needed.

If settings says a connection is paused following a billing change, existing reports are being retained while the connection is resolved. Renew your subscription if necessary, then use Reconnect in Accounting integration settings and authorise the intended company. Check the next successful sync before relying on current figures.

Troubleshooting

• Cannot see an organisation: check your organisation access and report permissions in Xero, then try connecting again.
• Re-authentication required: use Reconnect in Xero integrations. Check that the selected organisation is the intended one.
• Stale or missing totals: check billing access and any paused-connection message, then review sync status, selected dates and account mappings. Complete a fresh sync after resolving the issue.
• Sync failure: open the safe error details on Entities. Retry a temporary failure later; contact support if it persists.
• Signup or sign-in failure: if you already have an account, sign in using your existing method. A matching email does not automatically link a Xero sign-in; sign in first and link it under Settings → Security. Contact support if you still cannot continue.