Accounts Payable Automation for Cin7

Cin7 Core's purchase module is built around stock, not around the supplier's invoice. Its own documentation describes the flow: you create a purchase order, then "link supplier invoices and stock received to the relevant purchase order", and "the stock received quantity must match the quantity invoiced, but can be different from the purchase order quantity" (Cin7 Core help, Introduction to the Purchase Module, checked 06/11/2026). A purchase can also be entered with no PO at all through a "Blind Receipt". The Stock Received vs Invoice report shows what was received but not invoiced, or invoiced but not received, after the fact.

So Cin7 keeps the three documents next to each other, and it stops the received quantity drifting from the invoiced quantity. What it does not do for an accounts payable team:

• Read the invoice. Someone keys the supplier's PDF into the purchase screen. Cin7's March 2025 release added invoice matching through its IDR add-on, which has to be on your subscription plan (Cin7 Core release notes, 9 March 2025); without it, capture is manual.
• Match prices with a tolerance. Quantities are checked; a unit price that is 3% over the PO is not held, flagged or routed. The documentation describes no tolerance settings.
• Route exceptions. There is no approval queue for a line that does not match, and no rule that lets forty-nine good lines post while one bad line waits.
• Post to two systems. Cin7 syncs to Xero or QuickBooks, but an invoice that must also land in a second ledger, a job-costing system or a group ERP is a manual re-key.

If your suppliers are few and your POs rarely change, that is fine. If you process hundreds of supplier invoices a month and the prices, units of measure and partial deliveries do not line up, it is where the AP team's week goes.

The build sits beside Cin7 and leaves it as the system of record. The agent reads each supplier invoice as it arrives, resolves the supplier and the purchase order against live Cin7 data, and matches line by line: SKU to SKU, unit of measure to unit of measure, received quantity to invoiced quantity, PO price to invoiced price within the tolerance you set. Lines that match are ready to post; lines that do not go to a person with the reason attached. Nothing is written to Cin7, Xero or QuickBooks until the reconciliation check passes and the exception has been approved.

The rules that keep it safe, and that an auditor can sign off:

• Read-only against Cin7 until a human approves a posting; the agent never edits a PO or a stock receipt.
• Every match has a tolerance you set, per supplier if you want, and every out-of-tolerance line is held, not guessed.
• A mathematical reconciliation gate on every invoice: extracted lines must add up to the invoice total before anything can post.
• A full audit trail per invoice: what was read, what it matched, who approved what, and when.
• Posting to Cin7 and to a second system (Sage, Business Central, a job-costing ledger) in one step, so nothing is re-keyed.
• Runs in your own cloud tenant; your data stays yours and the access is a named user you can revoke.

The same design runs in production for a Canadian industrial distributor on a different ERP: about 1,500 supplier invoices a month, matched automatically, with the accuracy gate catching a $23,908 extraction error in its first run before anyone saw it.

Send us a sample of your supplier invoices and a Cin7 export of the matching POs. Within one business day you get a short recorded walkthrough of how the agent would read and match them, and where your current process loses time. If it is worth going further, a scoping call sets the tolerances, the posting targets and the approval route, and the build is quoted as a fixed price after that call. Minimum engagement is $2,500; euro and sterling quotes on request.

If a ready-made Cin7 AP tool fits your process, we will say so. The mid-market AP automation comparison covers the vendors worth checking first.

Cin7 offers two distinct products, and both integrate with Xero -- but the integrations differ in scope and architecture. Understanding the difference matters before you commit to a plan.

Cin7 Core (formerly DEAR Systems) is built for small to mid-sized businesses. It offers around 30 integrations, strong manufacturing and bill-of-materials (BOM) features, and a straightforward Xero connection wizard. If you were previously using DEAR Systems with Xero, your integration continues to work under the Cin7 Core name with no migration required.

Cin7 Omni is the enterprise and mid-market product. It offers 500 or more integrations, advanced EDI and 3PL support, and a newer Xero V2 integration with improved sync performance. Cin7 Omni also includes enhanced COGS sync features that are not available in Core.

For most growing European businesses running Xero, Cin7 Core provides the best balance of features and cost. If you need 500+ integrations, EDI compliance, or advanced warehouse management, Cin7 Omni is worth the custom pricing conversation.

Understanding the Cin7 Xero sync data flow is essential before you connect the two platforms. Data moves in specific directions depending on the type of record.

One of the most valuable aspects of the Cin7 Xero integration is its ability to sync cost of goods sold (COGS) and inventory valuation data automatically. This is where many businesses struggle with manual processes, and where the integration delivers the most time savings.

How COGS syncs to Xero: When goods are sold in Cin7, the system calculates the cost based on your chosen valuation method (typically weighted average or FIFO). Cin7 Omni creates a monthly COGS transaction that syncs to Xero as a manual journal entry -- debiting the COGS account and crediting the Inventory account. Cin7 Core handles COGS through journal entries tied to individual transactions.

Inventory adjustments: Stock adjustments made in Cin7 (write-offs, stocktake corrections, production completions) are synced to Xero as journal entries. A positive adjustment debits the Inventory account and credits an Expense account; a negative adjustment reverses this.

Manufacturing and BOM: If you use Cin7's production features, the cost of raw materials consumed during manufacturing is tracked within Cin7. When the finished goods are sold, the full production cost flows through to Xero as COGS -- giving you accurate margin reporting without manual cost allocation.

Important limitations:

• COGS sync is only available for the past 12 months of transactions
• You cannot re-sync COGS for periods on or before the Xero lock date
• Do not enable inventory tracking in Xero when using Cin7 -- Cin7 must be the sole inventory tracking system, otherwise you will get duplicate Cin7 Xero journal entries for COGS

The Xero integration is included in every Cin7 plan at no additional cost. Here is the current pricing structure:

All plans include the Xero (or QuickBooks Online) integration, 24/7 global support, access to the Cin7 Help Centre, and the Cin7 Academy. A 14-day free trial is available for Cin7 Core plans.

It is worth noting that some user reviews mention significant annual price increases of 13-14% with limited additional features. Factor this into your total cost of ownership calculations when comparing Xero inventory apps like Cin7 against alternatives such as Unleashed, Katana, or Fishbowl.

The Cin7 Shopify integration connects your Shopify store (or multiple stores) to Cin7 so that product data, inventory levels, orders, and customer records stay synchronised between the two platforms. Cin7 acts as the central hub for inventory and order management, while Shopify remains your customer-facing storefront.

Products created in Cin7 can be pushed to Shopify, and products already in Shopify can be imported into Cin7. The sync covers product names, descriptions, prices, images, variants, and SKUs. Once linked, changes made in Cin7 -- such as updating a price or adding a variant -- are reflected in Shopify automatically. This bidirectional capability ensures your product catalogue stays consistent without manual updates on both platforms.

When stock levels change in Cin7 -- whether through a purchase order receipt, a stock adjustment, a warehouse transfer, or a sale on another channel -- those updated quantities are pushed to Shopify. This prevents overselling, which is particularly important if you sell the same inventory across Shopify, Amazon, and wholesale channels simultaneously. Cin7 supports location-level inventory, so you can map specific Cin7 warehouses to specific Shopify locations.

Orders placed on your Shopify store are automatically downloaded into Cin7 for processing. Once an order is picked, packed, and shipped in Cin7, the fulfilment details -- including tracking numbers and carrier information -- are pushed back to Shopify. Your customer receives the shipping notification directly from Shopify, keeping the experience seamless.

No integration review is complete without an honest look at the problems. The Cin7 Shopify integration has well-documented issues that you should be aware of before committing.