Overcoming Xero’s API Limitations for Trial Balance Data Via API with Solutions

Introduction

Xero, serving over 4.2 million subscribers globally as of 2024 (Xero Annual Report), is a leader in cloud accounting, but API limitations highlight the need for workarounds.

The 5,000 call limit, while sufficient for many, may constrain large organizations, especially with multiple API uses like P&L/BS exports.

Financial reporting tools like Calxa, Joiin, Gather.Nexus, mentioned in reviews, also integrate with Xero, suggesting broader ecosystem support for trial balance data.

What is a trial balance and Why Does It Matter?

A trial balance is a financial report listing all general ledger accounts and their debit/credit balances at a specific time, It ensures totals match for accuracy before preparing financial statements like balance sheets or income statements.

It’s crucial for year-end closing, audits, investor reporting, and more, used by accountants, CFOs, and auditors (Investopedia).

Tools like Fathom and NetSuite often rely on this data for reporting, though specifics may vary.

When is Trial Balance Data Important & Who Needs It?

• When It’s Needed:

  • At the financial year-end for closing books
  • During audits (internal or external)
  • For investor reporting and financial presentations
  • During due diligence for mergers and acquisitions
  • When reconciling general ledger data for accuracy
  • Periodic internal reviews and forecasting

• Who Needs It:

  • Accountants for preparing journal entries and reconciliation
  • CPAs for audit and compliance reporting
  • CFOs/Finance Managers for financial oversight and strategic decision-making
  • Controllers for managing internal controls and ensuring data accuracy
  • Auditors for independent financial reviews

• Which Tools or Software Need It:

  • Financial reporting platforms (e.g., Fathom, Spotlight Reporting)
  • ERP and consolidation tools (e.g., Gather.Nexus, Quick Consols, Calxa, NetSuite, Oracle Cloud)
  • Budgeting & forecasting tools (e.g., Adaptive Insights, Vena)
  • Custom-built dashboards and analytics platforms
  • Automation platforms for monthly/quarterly and financial year-end closes (e.g., FloQast, BlackLine, Trintech, Planful, Workiva, SkyStem, Vena, OneStream)

Understanding trial balance data and use cases helps inform the need for more accessible, segmented reporting, primarily through APIs or advanced reporting tools.

The Problem

Some older content claimed Xero’s API doesn’t support trial balance exports, but recent research suggests otherwise.

Check below animated GIF which shows Xero’s Trial balance report allowing you to filter data by both tracking categories.

But there are still many votes on Xero’s User voice forum about requesting for Tracking CategoryID parameters in Trial Balance API endpoint.

Below is another screenshot for User voice with 15 up votes from carl thompson

Some more from Xero Central , Anna Kata sharing her problem that without tracking category she needs to combine multiple reports to get the trial balance data, and its really time consuming and counter productive.

Below image shows an illustration of of trial balance report with both tracking categories available at column level.

At the moment xero doesn’t allow to show tracking category columns in trial balance too.

Xero’s developer documentation indicates the API does allow exporting trial balance via the GET TrialBalance endpoint.

However, Xero’s API does not currently support exporting trial balance reports with tracking categories.

Below screenshot from xero’s official developer documentation showing that there are no optional parameters available for api developers to get trial balance data filtered by tracking category.

The Implication

Financial reporting platforms, multi-entity Consolidation software, and Budgeting and forecasting tools cannot directly retrieve trial balance data using API, which is segmented by tracking categories, such as department, project, or location, via Xero’s API due to its current limitations.

• It requires manual export of trial balance data from Xero’s UI, which increases time and errors.
• Breaks automated workflows in tools like FloQast or BlackLine.
• Complicates CFOs’ department-wise audits and reporting.
• Prevents financial reporting tools (e.g., Fathom, NetSuite) from accessing segmented trial balance data.

To learn more about API rate limits in accounting platforms and how they affect SaaS businesses, check out our API Limits Guide for SaaS Accounting

Solutions for Businesses

If you need trial balance data, here are some options:

Solution 1: Manual Export via UI

• Use Xero’s interface to export reports manually in Excel in the trial balance
• Import the file into the desired platform or tool

As per Xero’s trial balance documentation on Xero Central.(https://central.xero.com/s/article/Trial-Balance-report-new-version)

Solution 2: Use P&L and BS Reports via API

Xero’s API supports exporting P&L and BS reports filtered by tracking categories. Businesses can use these reports to reconstruct trial balance data externally.

Did you know?

• The trial balance combines the Profit & Loss (P&L) and Balance Sheet (BS) reports.
• By consolidating the data from both, you can recreate a trial balance structure.
• This is why some workarounds rely on these two reports for reconstruction.

This requires additional processing in external tools or spreadsheets to align the data with trial balance format.

Pro Tip for careful trial balance API integration

• Using P&L and BS API approach will consume two API calls
• Xero has 5000 API limits per day. So use this approach wisely
• Additional effort is required to merge both reports to construct a single trial balance report
• This may cause FX (foreign exchange) inaccuracies due to mismatched exchange rates between P&L and BS
• Here is the pseudo code for doing integration

import xero_api_client

def get_reconstructed_trial_balance(...):
    client = xero_api_client.connect()
    pl_report = client.reports.get_profit_and_loss(...)
    bs_report = client.reports.get_balance_sheet(...)
    trial_balance = transform_to_trial_balance(pl_report, bs_report)
    validate_trial_balance(trial_balance)
    return trial_balance

Option 3: AI Agent Automation

• Use an AI agent like Manus or ChatGPT Pro Operator (Starts with $199 a Month) that securely logs into your Xero account
• Automatically exports the trial balance report
• Uploads the data to any workflow automation platform like n8n automation or reporting system
• No technical skills or API scripting required

Conclusion

While Xero does not allow direct extraction of trial balance data via its API, businesses can utilize workarounds such as leveraging other report types, integrating third-party tools, or creating custom scripts for automation.

These solutions require additional effort but can effectively bridge the gap for organizations needing detailed financial reporting segmented by tracking categories.

However, through Satva Solutions’ custom Xero API integration approach, businesses can overcome this limitation while maintaining their investment in Xero’s platform.

Struggling with Xero’s trial balance API limitations?

Satva Solutions provides

• Free 30-minute consultation to assess your reporting needs
• Live demo of custom integration solutions
• Small-scale proof of concept to test our approach
• Comprehensive, tailored implementation with our expert team