XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero
Country Restriction: All supported countries
Risk Type: Data Quality Risk
Business Function: Purchases
Overview
The "Inactive account" XBert finds general ledger accounts in your chart of accounts that have had no genuine activity for about two years. These dormant accounts can clutter your chart of accounts and lead to transactions being coded to the wrong place, so flagging them helps keep your books clean and your reporting accurate.
What it does
This XBert scans the accounts in your chart of accounts and looks at the date of the most recent activity posted to each one. It then identifies accounts that:
Are still active (not already archived)
Are not balance sheet or system accounts (asset, liability and equity accounts are deliberately left alone, as these are expected to hold long-standing balances)
Have had no real activity for at least two years (732 days)
To keep the cleanup manageable, XBert focuses on the five oldest inactive accounts at a time. Once you review and resolve these, the next oldest accounts are surfaced.
How it works
XBert measures activity using the date each entry was recorded against an account. An account is flagged when its most recent genuine entry is more than two years old.
Importantly, XBert only counts real, live activity. Entries that came from a document later set to draft, voided or deleted are ignored, because that transaction no longer exists. This means an account is not kept "alive" by a transaction that was reversed or removed, and the "last used" date you see reflects true activity.
Accounts are listed oldest first, by the date they were last used, so you always tackle the most dormant ones first. Asset, liability and equity accounts, and built-in system accounts, are never flagged.
Example/Use Case
Martin set up an expense account called "Contractor Fees" to track a one-off coffee shop fit-out. The renovation finished more than two years ago and nothing genuine has been posted to the account since. There was one bill coded to it last year, but Martin later voided that bill, so it no longer counts as activity.
XBert flags "Contractor Fees" as an inactive account. Martin reviews it, confirms it is no longer needed, and archives it. Now when a new plumber invoice arrives, he is guided to the correct, ongoing contractor account instead of accidentally reviving the old one, keeping his expense reporting clean and accurate.
Accounting software
This XBert runs on Xero.
Which countries it supports
All supported countries.
Processes
This XBert supports your Purchases and chart of accounts cleanup. Keeping unused accounts out of the way prevents misposting, makes reports clearer and supports more efficient bookkeeping.
To resolve this XBert:
Open the flagged account and review its recent history to confirm it is genuinely no longer in use.
Check whether any expected activity is missing or was coded elsewhere by mistake.
If the account is no longer needed, archive it in your accounting software so future transactions are directed to the correct, active account.
If the account should stay active, leave it in place and continue using it as normal.
Once the account has been archived or confirmed as still required, mark the XBert as resolved.