Contact Status for Xero Bills helps Bill Reviewers and Approvers make faster, more confident decisions by automatically highlighting unusual or potentially risky billing patterns based on a Supplier’s historical data.
Instead of manually checking past Bills or switching between systems, you get relevant context and alerts directly on the Bill review and approval forms
Please note: Contact Status for Xero Bills is currently available in beta. If you’d like to enable this feature for your Organisation, please contact us. Once enabled, the feature can be disabled for specific users if needed.
Where you’ll see Contact Status:
An Alert badge is displayed next to the Bill name on the Bill review and approval forms:
Clicking on the Alert badge opens the Contact History pop-up, which provides additional context to help you assess the Bill:
Contact history details include:
List of alerts: highlights any informational, warning or critical alerts triggered for the Contact to help draw attention to potential issues
Accounts payable balance: (Outstanding / Overdue) pulled directly from the Xero Contact data
Bank account details: displays the Contact’s bank account information
Default currency: shows the Contact’s default currency from Xero. If no currency is set for the Contact, the Organisation’s default currency is used
Average monthly Bill total: calculates the Contact’s average monthly billing level based on approved Bills dated within the past 12 months
Rolling 30-day total: calculates the total value of approved Bills dated within the last 30 days
Most recent Bills: a list of the last five Bills for the Contact, including their status and clickable references for quick access
Alerts and Contact history are shown only while the bill is under review or on approval. Once a Bill is fully approved, this information is no longer displayed:
Types of alerts
Different types of alerts are displayed to indicate the level of attention a Bill may require.
Informational
Shown when no other alerts apply, allowing you to view the Contact history and review the contact’s billing status and recent activity.
Warning
Warning alerts highlight details that appear unusual and may need a quick review.
Shown when there are no previous Bills for this contact marked as fully paid.
Shown when the bill uses a currency that hasn’t been used on previously approved Bills for this contact.
Critical
Critical alerts flag higher-risk situations that are more likely to require investigation before approving the Bill.
Shown when there are no approved Bills for this contact on record. This may indicate a new or inactive supplier, so it’s worth reviewing the Bill details carefully before approving.
Shown when the Bill amount is significantly higher than what is typical for this contact. A sharp increase compared to past billing can signal an error or require additional validation before approval.