Schedules
Create a schedule
Fill in New Schedule step by step, preview the periods, then create or save as a draft.
Where
Who
Anyone with access to the organisation.
Have the bill or invoice in front of you. Before your first schedule, make sure the default account for its type is set in Settings; if it isn’t, New Schedule shows an amber warning and the Create Schedule button stays grey.
New Schedule
Schedule Type & Invoice
Type, contact and invoice details
Expense paid upfront, recognised monthly
Revenue received upfront, recognised monthly
Schedule Period & Posting
Dates, accounts and amortisation
Same amount each period
Pro-rata by days in each period
Summary
Preview schedule totals and period breakdown
The deferral account is automatically set from your default account settings. For prepayments, this is your Prepayment Asset account.
Schedule Preview
12 periods — Total: $18,000.00 (equal monthly)
| Period | Posting Date | Days | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31 Jul 2026 | 31 | $1,500.00 |
| 2 | 31 Aug 2026 | 31 | $1,500.00 |
| 3 | 30 Sept 2026 | 30 | $1,500.00 |
| 4 | 31 Oct 2026 | 31 | $1,500.00 |
| 5 | 30 Nov 2026 | 30 | $1,500.00 |
| 6 | 31 Dec 2026 | 31 | $1,500.00 |
| 7 | 31 Jan 2027 | 31 | $1,500.00 |
| 8 | 28 Feb 2027 | 28 | $1,500.00 |
| 9 | 31 Mar 2027 | 31 | $1,500.00 |
| 10 | 30 Apr 2027 | 30 | $1,500.00 |
| 11 | 31 May 2027 | 31 | $1,500.00 |
| 12 | 30 Jun 2027 | 30 | $1,500.00 |
| Total | 365 | $18,000.00 | |
- 1Schedule Type. Prepayment or Unearned Revenue.
- 2Contact and Invoice Reference from the bill.
- 3Invoice Date from the bill.
- 4Total Amount to spread, usually excluding GST.
- 5Invoice file (optional).
- 6Amortisation Method. Equal Monthly or Actual Days.
- 7Period Start Date and Period End Date.
- 8Expense Account (Revenue Account for unearned revenue) and Description.
- 9Tracking, if your organisation uses Xero tracking categories.
- 10Preview Schedule shows every period before you commit.
- 11Create Schedule saves it and opens it.
- 12Save Draft keeps it to finish later.
Fill in the form
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Schedule Type | Prepayment for a bill you paid in advance; Unearned Revenue for an invoice your customer paid in advance. It decides which account list you see and which default deferral account is used. |
| Contact* | The supplier or customer. Start typing to pick from names you have used on other schedules. It appears in the narration of every journal. It is a label only and is not linked to your Xero contacts. |
| Invoice Reference* | The bill or invoice number, so you can match the schedule to it later. |
| Invoice Date* | Type dd/mm/yyyy or pick from the calendar. The balance is counted from this month on the Dashboard, in Analytics and in Xero Reconciliation. |
| Total Amount* | The amount to spread: what you coded to your prepayment or unearned revenue account in Xero, which is usually the amount excluding GST. |
| Invoice | Optional. A PDF, JPG, PNG or DOCX of up to 10 MB. A preview appears under the form, and you can download it later from the schedule page. |
| Amortisation Method | Equal Monthly (default) or Actual Days. See how the amount is split. |
| Period Start Date* | The first day the bill or invoice covers. |
| Period End Date* | The last day it covers. Or type +12 for twelve months, less a day. |
| Expense Account / Revenue Account* | The profit and loss account each month is released into. The list shows your active expense, direct cost and overhead accounts (or revenue, sales and other income accounts). |
| Description | Optional. It appears on each journal line in Xero, so a short description of what was bought or sold is useful. |
| Tracking (for example Region) | Only shown if your organisation uses Xero tracking categories, up to two. Leave as None for no tracking. The option you choose is applied to both lines of every journal. |
The Summary on the right fills in as you type. Its Deferral Acct line shows the default account from Settings that this schedule will release from.
Preview, then create
Select Preview Schedule
The Schedule Preview lists every period with its posting date, days and amount, and the total. Changing the amount or dates hides the preview (select it again); switching the method updates it straight away.
Select Create Schedule
The schedule gets the next number for this organisation (for example #17) and its page opens, with every period Pending.
Post it, or let Prepaidly post it
Select Post to Xero on any period whose month has ended, or do nothing: on the 1st of each month Prepaidly posts every unposted journal dated up to the end of the month just finished. See Posting journals to Xero.
Save a draft instead
Missing the dates or the account? Select Save Draft. Only the total amount is needed. The draft opens in the editor; finish it whenever you are ready. Drafts are never posted and don’t count towards your plan. See Drafts and schedules from Xero bills.
If you reach your plan’s limit
Each plan allows a number of active schedules. If creating this one would go over, a You’ve hit your plan’s limit window explains why. Select Upgrade plan to go to Billings (admins), or Not now to keep your work on the page. Saving it as a draft is still possible.
Messages you might see
“Default Prepayment Asset Account not configured”
Set the default account for this schedule type in SettingsDefault Accounts, then come back.
“Default Prepayment Asset Account cannot be used: …”
The default account in Settings has been archived or deleted in Xero, or is a Xero system account. Choose another default in Settings.
“+1 and +2 only work in the End date field”
The +N shortcut only works in Period End Date. Type a real date in the other date fields.
“Add an invoice reference before creating the schedule” (and similar)
A required field is empty. Fields marked with a red asterisk are required to create a schedule; only the amount is required to save a draft.
“End date must be on or after start date”
Check the two period dates: day first, then month (dd/mm/yyyy).