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It seems so bizarre that the default is for journals to show up on cash basis reports. It's so hard to remember to turn this off every single time I post a journal, and if I don't then my cash reports don't work properly. At least allow users a default choice please!

Journals (General Journals, Manual Journals) are inherently an ACCRUALS transaction. Not cash.

Manual Journals can't be recorded against a bank account in Xero.

Manual Journals should NOT be Cash Basis by default. They should be Accruals ONLY, by default. Xero should give you the OPTION to include your Manual Journals on cash based reports.

This causes so much confusion AND is such an easy fix. Come on Xero.

This is a ridiculous default setting. A manual journal will likely never be a cash item. Is Xero designed by accountants for accountants? Sometimes I doubt it...!

Agree with all comments made prior - manual journals are mainly used by accountants to be on an accruals basis. It does makes cash summary report hard to use/more time consuming having to fix journals to untick cash basis due to default.

Not a financial advisor etc, but I imagine the Xero stock price would have its biggest single day rise in 15 years if they fixed this issue. It would indicate that the product team understands what accountants actually need.

If you can make the software default for it to be ticked, is it not possible for the box to be unticked by default and then ticked by the user if it is required? this would make the cash reports more useful for many more people. Thank you

Having to remember to untick the box every time a manual journal is posted is frustrating, as manual journals are generally not cash based.

Yes for me the Statement of Cash Flows is basically a useless feature as it includes journals which in our case we would very very rarely use a journal to provide a cash entry.

Xero - PLEASE listen to what we are saying! Rob Schmitt has made it very clear. I cannot rely on any cash-based reporting that Xero claims to provide.

Well said Rudi.
One minor change will make a considerable improvement

Kelly - I believe the Xero Product team may have misunderstood the issue.

The core problem is that cash reports are inaccurate because imported journals are being included - even though this is almost never required. This prevents users from accurately relying on Xero’s cash reporting features and undermines valuable existing functionality.

This affects a material part of your product, yet the fix is simple: change the default so that “Show journal on cash basis reports” is unticked by default — which is correct 99% of the time. It’s extremely rare to journal a cash transaction - that’s what bank feeds are for.

You don’t need to make this a configurable default; just change it centrally. Doing so would instantly improve accuracy and make your entire user base happier. The only reason you haven’t heard more complaints is likely because many users simply don’t realise their cash reporting is wrong.

Implementing this small change would resolve the issue for most users and remove unnecessary frustration. Please reconsider.

Unfortunately, this response demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of what a manual journal actually is. In no way should entries on Xero made on a manual journal be reported on a cash report. I hope this decision is reviewed and reversed, preferably by a team that includes some qualified accountants.

This response is unreasonable and nonsensical. This is a clear product issue that undermines the accuracy of cash reporting and is more important than introducing new features. Our use of journals for revenue recognition, given that Xero does not support this either, creates a significant problem for us and many others. If Xero’s staff had a better understanding of their clients and the broader impact on other features, they would prioritise resolving this issue immediately - wake up...

It looks great but essentially Xero's cash means nothing to us as long as journals automatically posting come through with the cash tick on, which discounts Xero's information significantly. This is an urgent essential upgrade Xero is behind on.

Incredible that after *nine years* of this being an open issue, Xero finally responds just to say "yeah nah, we're not going to fix this setting which never made sense in the first place".

Clearest sign yet that Xero does not understand its customers or their requirements.

This does seem like such a simple change for Xero to make. It's not even as if it impacts other areas of the system, its just changing a default or allowing it to be set as the default option.

Very frustrating, especially given this was raised 9 years ago!

So, let's get this straight. You can spend $2.5bn on a payment platform but you can't pay a software developer for half a day to make what will be an easy change? This is not rocket science.

It is stuff like this, plus the excessive price rises, makes it increasingly hard for me recommend Xero to my clients.

Agree, unsatisfactory answer from XERO regarding this.
This functionality needs to be actioned to enable users to produce sensible cash flow reports.
As an example, why would depreciation (a typical journal for most business) be considered as a cost that should go through the cash flow.

I would hope XERO could at least, set default journal as "UNTICKED" for this particular box as this would be the general rule for 95% of journals.
Then a user can tick the box, on the odd occasion it does affect the cash flow.

Response from Xero is unsatisfactory.
"may look at with finer lens down the line" is a joke!
This needs to be rectified ASAP, please