Xero Groups · Track 1 · Tutorial 3 of 3

Build the group chart from a Xero organisation

If one of your Xero organisations already has the chart you want the group to report on, you don’t need to build a group chart from scratch. Copy that company’s chart into the Common COA, and that company is mapped in the same step. Only the other companies are left to map.

You will needYour companies connected to Xero, as in Connect each Xero organisation, with an empty Common COA. Data administrator access in BrizoConsol.

By the endA Common COA copied from Harbour Pte Ltd’s Xero chart, with all three Harbour companies mapped to it.

1Choose the company to copy from

Harbour Pte Ltd is the head company and has the most complete chart, so its chart becomes the group’s.

Harbour Pte Ltd’s Xero chart is copied into the Common COA, which also maps it; Harbour Pty Ltd and Harbour NZ Ltd are then mapped to it in Account Mapping — Copying the chart also maps Harbour Pte Ltd, so only the other two are left to map.

Copying is the quickest route when one company’s chart already suits group reporting. Two other options work differently:

Start from Existing Organisation	Copies the chart of a company already in your group, and maps that company to it. Used in this tutorial.
Import from Connector	Signs in to Xero and imports the chart of the Xero organisation you choose. Use it when the chart you want is in a Xero organisation that isn’t one of your companies here. It replaces the whole Common COA, imports the chart only, and maps nothing.
AI Suggest	Drafts a group chart from all your companies’ accounts when none of them has the right chart. See Map every company to one group chart of accounts.

2Tidy the chart in Xero first

The copy takes Harbour Pte Ltd’s accounts as they came from Xero. Fix these in Xero before you copy, because the copy is made once and doesn’t follow later changes.

Account codes	Xero accounts don’t need a code, and bank accounts are often set up without one. An account with no code gets its Xero account ID as its code — a long string that would then appear in your group chart and reports. A space in a code becomes an underscore. Give every account a code in Xero.
Share capital and retained earnings	Taken from each account’s Xero reporting code: EQU.SHA or EQU.SHA.ORD gives the type SHARE, and EQU.RET gives RETAINED EARNINGS, which the balance sheet’s retained-earnings section reads.
Receivables and payables	Xero’s Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable system accounts come in as ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE and ACCOUNTS PAYABLE.

Changes you make in Xero arrive with the next load: the nightly refresh, or a load you start from Harbour Pte Ltd’s Data Loading page.

Each Xero account type comes in under a matching section — for example Revenue and Sales as REVENUE, Direct Costs as DIRECT COSTS, Overheads as EXPENSE, Current Asset and Prepayment as CURRENT ASSET, and Term Liability as NON CURRENT LIABILITY.

3Copy the chart into the Common COA

Select Your Group in the entity selector.
Open Settings → Global Settings → Common COA. While it is empty, it shows No accounts in your COA yet.
Click Start from Existing Organisation.
In Source organisation, choose Harbour Pte Ltd, then click Copy Accounts.

Start from Existing Organisation dialog: choose Harbour Pte Ltd as the source organisation, then Copy Accounts — Choose the source company (1), then copy (2).

The copy brings across each account’s code, name, section and type, and its tags. In the same step, each of Harbour Pte Ltd’s accounts is mapped to its copy, so it needs no mapping.

A company that has no accounts yet is listed with (No COA) and can’t be chosen. Load it first.

4Check the group chart

The Common COA now lists Harbour Pte Ltd’s 38 accounts, with the same codes and names it has in Xero.

Share Capital and Retained Earnings carry their own types (1).

Read down the Section column. Fix any account in the wrong section with the edit icon on its row — see Account Sections / Class.
Add any account the group needs that Harbour Pte Ltd doesn’t have with the + button.

Check

Every code is a real account code, not a long Xero ID, and Share Capital and Retained Earnings show the types SHARE and RETAINED EARNINGS.

5Map the other two companies

Open Settings → Global Settings → Account Mapping. Unmapped organisations lists Harbour Pty Ltd and Harbour NZ Ltd, but not Harbour Pte Ltd.
Choose Harbour Pty Ltd. Click BrizoMap, then Get Suggestions; untick any wrong suggestion and click Confirm & Map.
Tick Show unmapped only, choose a group account or - Ignore for each account left, and click Save.
Repeat for Harbour NZ Ltd.

The Australian and New Zealand charts were set up separately, with their own codes and names — Trade Debtors rather than Accounts Receivable — so check their Medium and Low suggestions carefully.

Account Mapping for Harbour NZ Ltd: every account mapped to the Common COA or ignored, and Unmapped organisations shows All mapped — Every company is mapped (1), and the NZ company’s accounts point at Harbour Pte Ltd’s codes (2).

BrizoMap isn’t on the Standard edition. There, map each account from its dropdown.

Later, when you connect another Xero company, or a company’s load brings in accounts that aren’t mapped, Data Loading asks New accounts need mapping. Go to Mapping opens that company in Account Mapping.

Check

Unmapped organisations shows All mapped, and no account-type warning is shown.

6If something goes wrong

Start from Existing Organisation is greyed out	No company has accounts yet. Load at least one company from Xero first.
Common COA already has accounts. Clear existing accounts before copying from an organisation.	The copy only fills an empty Common COA. Delete the existing accounts, or keep them and map Harbour Pte Ltd in Account Mapping instead.
The selected company does not have accounts to copy.	That company’s chart hasn’t loaded. Open its Data Loading page and load a period.
Long strings as account codes	Those accounts had no code in Xero. Add codes in Xero, load the company again, and edit the codes in the Common COA to match.
Retained earnings missing from the balance sheet section	The account’s Xero reporting code isn’t EQU.RET. Change it in Xero, or set the type in the Common COA.

Want more detail? See the documentation

Common Chart of Accounts Account Mapping Chart of Accounts Setup Options & Account Status Connecting an Entity to Xero

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