Before I joined Streamtime, I spent a lot of time around the numbers side of an agency.
Xero was on one screen, our project tool on the other.

The two never quite agreed.

When I was trying to bring Streamtime into the studio, the Xero integration was one of the first things I properly poked at —
partly out of nerdy curiosity, and mainly
because trying to get numbers to match across platforms had cost me more evenings than I care to admit.
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Off the back of our recent acceptance into the Xero Developer Growth Program, it feels like a good time to talk about why these two platforms fit together so well — and the difference Streamtime and Xero working together can make for creative businesses.

They're built for the same kind of business
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Xero was built for small and medium-sized businesses that don't have a huge finance function behind them.
Streamtime was built for creative businesses that would rather spend time doing the work than spending time in spreadsheets.
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It's the same instinct: tools that respect your time, work the way your team does, and don't punish you for not being an accountant.

The integration goes deeper than people realise‍

Most customers I speak to use the core features.
They push expenses, purchase orders and invoices from Streamtime into Xero, so nothing gets entered twice.
That alone is worth the connection.
But the parts that genuinely change how a studio reports on its business, are often the features agencies haven't fully implemented yet:

• Account codes against master items and expenses: every line of revenue or expense lands in the right place in your chart of accounts automatically.
• Tracking categories: mapped to job numbers, branches or POs, so your Xero reports can finally be viewed by project, department or business unit.
  That's where we really start to see the impact of the integration.‍‍

What changes day to day?‍
When both platforms are talking to each other properly, here's what moves:

• Expenses land against the right job when they happen, with no surprises appearing weeks later.
• Invoice and expense payment statuses are visible directly from the job view. No need to chase finance for an update.
• Scope, pricing and capacity decisions can be made using accurate information rather than guesswork.
• Client services, production and finance are all looking at the same picture, not three different versions of it.

‍It's not particularly glamorous, but it's the difference between: reacting to problems after the fact and spotting them while there's still time to do something about them.
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‍Why this matters beyond the admin
‍The part that sits closest to what we actually believe at Streamtime is this: every hour you don't spend wrestling with reconciliation,
is an hour you don't have to claw back from someone's evening or weekend.‍

That's the Productive Wellbeing thread.
‍Better systems create healthier studios.
Less admin friction is rarely the headline benefit, but it's often the one people feel most.
When information flows properly, teams spend less time chasing answers, fewer things fall through the cracks, and everyone gets a little more headspace to focus on the work they're actually there to do.

What's next?

Being part of the Xero Developer Growth Program means a closer, more collaborative relationship with the Xero team.
It's an exciting programme that brings together apps Xero sees as strong additions to its ecosystem and supports them with greater visibility, marketing opportunities and shared growth initiatives.

For us, it's recognition that Streamtime is a serious part of how creative businesses run on Xero.
For our customers, it means closer collaboration on where the integration goes next, continued improvements to the experience, and greater visibility for the Streamtime & Xero combination across the wider ecosystem.

We're excited about what that's going to unlock.
If you haven't connected Streamtime and Xero yet, here's the guide.
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New to Xero entirely? Start here.
And if you're already running Xero, tracking categories are well worth exploring — they can unlock a level of reporting most agencies don't realise they're missing.

Want to chat about any of the above? Let's grab 30 minutes. I'd love to hear how you're working today and where we might be able to help.