Settings and activity
2 results found
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79 votes
Hi everyone, we understand why people would want to be able to apply a credit note within a locked period however we wanted to provide more context on the purpose of lock dates and reasons for the way they work at present.
Basically put lock dates prevent users making changes to the accounting records prior to the lock date. Their role is to prevent unintended changes which would alter reporting outcomes be they financial reports, VAT/GST/Sales Tax reports etc. Lock dates ensure financial data is accurate and trustworthy.
When a credit note is allocated to an invoice the allocation date is dated the later of the two documents, the first day where both exist. Credit note allocations require creating journals on both a cash and accrual basis, which is why if both the invoice and the credit note are in a locked period, the allocation can’t be done. Those journals…
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Charlotte Woodbridge
supported this idea
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502 votes
Hey everyone, we've been following the conversation closely and we want to acknowledge how important this is for many of you.
Atm, we’re on a long journey to provide more controls within Xero features that our customers need. Being such a broad idea that touches many areas of our platform, we’d like to encourage adding your votes to specific user permissions that matter most to you, such as:
- Bank Accounts: For more control over who can see bank account balances and access specific accounts, please see the idea here: User Role - Restrict access to individual bank accounts
- Sales and Invoicing: If you’d like to see changes to permissions around sales reporting and editing invoice templates, you can follow that conversation here: User roles: Restrict access to Invoice Settings
- Reports: To have your say on restricting access to specific reports, the relevant idea is here: User permissions - Assign user…
An error occurred while saving the comment Charlotte Woodbridge
commented
I am in exactly the same situation as Stuart Mohamed! Reconciling customer payments (deposit summaries) is causing a huge problem, as the owner of the business I should not have to perform this task myself but am left with no choice as the permissions do not allow for any other way.
An error occurred while saving the comment Charlotte Woodbridge
commented
I completely agree that Bank Accounts would be a great place to start when adding restricted access to users. I am so glad this is being looked at by xero! Great news!
An error occurred while saving the comment Charlotte Woodbridge
commented
I agree, the user roles are ridiculous, there is a huge jump between invoice only and standard, bank feeds are visible when they don't need to be, there should be a lot more options available so you can select if you want them to see bank feeds and if so which ones! There should ALWAYS be the option to keep certain bank feeds/reports private. This is a big issue and needs addressing ASAP!
Allow Credit Notes to Be Allocated in Locked Periods Where No Transaction Values Change
The Problem
Xero currently prevents a customer credit note from being allocated to an invoice if both the credit note and invoice are dated prior to the organisation's lock date.
This creates a practical issue for businesses because customer credits are often not allocated until the customer makes payment, which may be months or even years after the credit note was originally raised.
In my case:
Invoice dated August 2025
Credit note dated March 2026
Lock date 30 June 2026
Customer paid in August 2026 and chose to allocate the credit against the invoice
Because the customer only made payment recently, I could not know in advance which invoice they would allocate the credit against. However, Xero prevented me from allocating the credit without first removing my lock date.
Why this is a problem
The allocation:
Does not change turnover
Does not change VAT
Does not change profit
Does not change the value of the invoice
Does not change the value of the credit note
Does not change the overall customer balance
However, users must unlock and relock closed accounting periods simply to record how the customer has settled their account.
This creates unnecessary administration and weakens controls by requiring access to locked periods for routine sales ledger tasks.
It also creates issues when reconciling payments, as the credit note often needs to be allocated before the customer receipt can be fully processed and reconciled.
Suggested solution
Allow users to allocate existing customer credit notes against existing invoices after a lock date without needing to unlock historical periods, provided:
The invoice already exists.
The credit note already exists.
No transaction values are changed.
No VAT returns are affected.
Alternatively, provide a setting allowing organisations to permit credit allocations in locked periods whilst still preventing amendments to the underlying invoice and credit note.
Business impact
Customer payment timing is outside a business's control. It is often impossible to know:
When a customer will pay.
Whether a credit will be used.
Which invoice the customer will allocate the credit against.
The current functionality does not reflect how customer settlements are managed in the real world and results in users repeatedly unlocking and relocking accounting periods for administrative matching purposes.