How to connect Xero to Fathom: what accounting firms are building

Yes, Xero connects to Fathom natively through Fathom’s official integration, which pulls financial data automatically for reporting, KPI dashboards, and advisory packs. Formulaic builds custom data pipelines on top that enrich Fathom’s financial reporting with non-accounting data from CRM systems, operational tools, and industry-specific platforms. This is particularly relevant for accounting practices building advisory services where financial data alone doesn’t tell the full story.

Short answer: Yes, Xero connects to Fathom natively. Fathom pulls financial data automatically for reporting and KPI tracking. Formulaic enriches Fathom dashboards with non-financial data from CRM and operations systems.

What data moves between Xero and Fathom

Fathom pulls a comprehensive set of financial data from Xero. The specific fields include: chart of accounts with account codes and types, profit and loss statements (monthly and annual), balance sheet data, budget figures (if budgets are set up in Xero), tracking categories for departmental or project-level reporting, and journal entries. For multi-entity setups, Fathom pulls data from each connected Xero organisation separately and consolidates at the group level.

The data flow is one-directional. Fathom reads from Xero but doesn’t write back. Changes made in Fathom (KPI formulas, custom metrics, commentary) stay in Fathom. This means Fathom is a reporting layer, not a two-way sync.

What Fathom doesn’t pull from Xero: individual transaction data, contact details, invoice-level data, or aged receivables/payables at the customer level. Fathom works with summarised financial data. If your advisory dashboard needs transaction-level detail or customer-level analysis, you need to supplement the Fathom data with additional sources.

Non-financial data that advisory firms want in their dashboards includes: pipeline value from CRM, headcount from HR systems, customer churn rates, NPS scores, website traffic, and industry-specific metrics (billable utilisation for law firms, audit completion rates for accounting practices). None of this comes through the native Xero-Fathom connection.

The native integration

Fathom’s native Xero integration is one of the strongest in the accounting tech stack. It handles the financial data pipeline well: data syncs daily, multi-entity consolidation works reliably, and Fathom’s reporting templates produce client-ready advisory packs from Xero data without manual CSV exports.

For practices delivering standard management accounts and financial KPIs, the native integration covers the core workflow. Fathom generates month-end reports, tracks financial KPIs against benchmarks, and produces visual dashboards that partners can present to clients.

Where the native integration stops: it only sees financial data from Xero. Modern advisory work increasingly requires blending financial and non-financial data. A client’s revenue might be growing, but if their pipeline is shrinking and customer acquisition cost is rising, the P&L alone misses the story. Fathom’s non-financial KPI feature allows manual data entry, but most firms find that manually updating 20 KPIs for 50 clients each month is unsustainable.

The other limitation is automation of the reporting workflow itself. Fathom generates reports, but distributing them to clients, collecting feedback, and triggering follow-up actions requires manual steps outside the platform.

What Formulaic builds

Formulaic builds automated data pipelines that feed non-financial metrics into Fathom’s KPI framework via its API, and automated reporting workflows that distribute Fathom outputs to clients.

The typical architecture has three components. First, a data collection layer that pulls metrics from client systems: pipeline value from Pipedrive or HubSpot, headcount from BrightHR or BreatheHR, website analytics from Google Analytics, and industry-specific data from vertical platforms. Second, a transformation layer that normalises these metrics into Fathom’s non-financial KPI format and pushes them via Fathom’s API on a daily or weekly schedule. Third, a distribution layer that pulls completed Fathom reports and delivers them to clients via email or a branded portal.

One mid-tier accounting practice we worked with was spending 6 hours per client per month assembling advisory packs that combined Fathom financial reports with manually-entered CRM and operational data. The custom build automated the non-financial data ingestion for their top 30 clients, reducing advisory pack preparation from 6 hours to 45 minutes per client. The practice estimated this freed up 150+ hours per month across the advisory team.

For practices registered with HMRC’s Making Tax Digital programme, the system can also flag MTD compliance status alongside the advisory metrics, ensuring that statutory reporting doesn’t get lost in the advisory workflow.

DIY vs Zapier vs custom build

	DIY / Manual	Zapier / Make	Formulaic Custom Build
Setup time	N/A	Not available	2-3 weeks
Cost	Free (your time)	Fathom has no Zapier integration	Custom-scoped
Data accuracy	Manual entry errors	N/A	Automated, API-verified
Customisation	Limited to Fathom templates	N/A	Full: any data source into Fathom
Compliance	Manual checking	N/A	MTD and HMRC-aware
Maintenance	You update KPIs manually	N/A	60-day warranty

Timeline and investment

Every build is scoped and priced based on complexity. Simpler data syncs take less time than multi-system orchestration with compliance requirements. Start with an audit to get a clear proposal.

Take the AI Opportunity Scorecard to see which integrations would deliver the highest ROI for your firm.