Partner agreement
This agreement sets out terms for accountants and bookkeepers who are Xero partners.
Last updated: 29 July 2024
On 29 July 2024 the Partner Agreement was updated. The Partner Agreement was updated to help ensure greater clarity and transparency, and to better align with the way we do business. The updates also include requirements for Partners, which are designed to ensure their clients have subscription access rights.
On 5 December 2022 the Partner Agreement was updated to include a link to the updated Xero Partner Brand Guidelines.
On 28 July 2022 the Partner Agreement was updated to include requirements of Partners to ensure compliance with the ATO Digital Service Providers regulations.
On 27 November 2017, the following updates were made to the 18 April 2017 version of this Partner Agreement:
Prior to being accepted to the Program, you must now have at least one staff member commit to completing Xero advisor certification within 30 days, rather than 60 days.
To maintain status as a Xero Partner, you must now add at least one paid client subscription (not including the Xero subscription for internal use provided as part of the Program benefits) to your Partner account within 60 days of acceptance into the Program, rather than 90 days.
If you are an accountant, bookkeeper or other provider of professional advisory services approved by Xero Limited and its affiliates (Xero) then you can become a recognised Xero Partner and receive the benefits of the Xero Partner Program (the Program). By applying for registration into the Program you are accepting and agreeing to the terms and conditions set out in this Partner Agreement (Partner Agreement), as well as Xero’s Terms of Use, as updated or amended from time to time in Xero’s discretion (Xero’s Terms of Use), which are incorporated into this Partner Agreement by reference.
If you are agreeing to this Partner Agreement not as an individual but on behalf of your company, organisation, firm, partnership or other corporate entity, then you agree and acknowledge that you are binding such entity to this Partner Agreement, and that you are fully authorised to do so.
Xero may update or modify this Partner Agreement and any applicable benefits from time to time in its sole discretion. All updates and modifications to this Partner Agreement will be published on Xero’s website. If Xero decides in its reasonable discretion that an update to this Partner Agreement and any applicable benefits is material, such update will be communicated to you via email, at the email address on record. Xero will reasonably endeavour to provide you with 60 days’ notice of material updates to this Partner Agreement and any applicable benefits before they become effective, unless we need to make immediate changes for reasons we don’t have control over.
Partnership prerequisites
Prior to being accepted to the Program, you must:
- Fill out a Partner Application Form;
- Have at least one staff member commit to completing Xero advisor certification within 30 days; and
- Set up your Xero HQ subscription including designating a Principal and entering in payment information to establish your Practice Billing Account (together, the Partnership Prerequisites).
Xero will determine whether you are accepted to the Program once the Partnership Prerequisites above have been completed. Xero reserves the right to accept or decline any organisation or individual as a Xero Partner regardless of whether the partnership prerequisites have been met, for example if Xero determines that you are likely to be unable to meet the ongoing requirements set out below.
Program benefits
Once you have been accepted to, and as long as you remain part of, the Program, you will receive access to the applicable benefits of the Program, at the specified status level, including:
- Access to Xero HQ, a subscription to manage clients centrally;
- One subscription to Xero for internal use by your business; and
- Access to Partner-only information and support from a Xero Account Manager.
Ongoing obligations
To maintain status as a Xero Partner, you agree to:
- Actively promote Xero to existing and potential clients consistent with your professional and ethical obligations;
- Adhere to the Xero Partner Code of Conduct (the Code);
- Ensure that at least one staff member is up to date with Xero advisor certification at all times;
- Either (a) add at least one paid client subscription (not including the Xero subscription for internal use provided as; part of the Program benefits) to your Partner account within 60 days of acceptance into the Program, and then maintain at least one paid client subscription to your Partner account on an ongoing basis; or (b) be invited into, with an advisor role, at least one paid client subscription, and continue to be invited into, with an advisor role, at least one paid client subscription on an ongoing basis;
- Promote Xero on your website (if you have one) by maintaining an active hyperlink to www.xero.com;
- Adhere to the Xero Partner Brand Guidelines, including not using or registering XERO as part of your trade marks, company names, business names or domain names;
- Comply with the ATO Digital Service Providers regulations, as set out below; and
- Otherwise act in good faith in the offering and use of Xero.
Your obligations as a subscriber under the Xero Partner Code of Conduct
You acknowledge and agree that:
- If you act as the subscriber (as defined in Xero’s Terms of Use) on behalf of your client, there are certain requirements you must comply with, including during any dispute between you and your client (see clauses 3.1 - 3.3 of the Code);
- If you breach any of those requirements, in accordance with clause 5.2 of the Code, Xero may reasonably direct you to provide your client with read-only access to the Xero subscription within a specified timeframe (including while a dispute remains unresolved); and
- If you do not comply with Xero’s direction to provide your client with read-only access to the Xero subscription, Xero may also take any action it considers reasonably appropriate in the circumstances in accordance with clause 5.4 of the Code. This includes:
a. temporarily reducing or removing any benefits, points, status, and/or discounts you may have under the Program (or any benefits and/or discounts you may have outside of the Program) until read-only access is provided to your client, to be effective at the start of the next billing cycle; and
b. removing you from the Program, including removing any benefits, points, status, and/or discounts you may have under the Program, to be effective upon 14 days’ written notice.
Requirements for Partners to comply with ATO Digital Service Providers regulations
Xero and the Partner acknowledge there are government regulations which set out the minimum level of security requirements a Digital Service Provider (DSP) like Xero must meet in order to use the Australian Tax Office (ATO) Digital Services. The Partner plays a critical role in the verification steps required for each of its clients to ensure they are legitimate businesses for tax and reporting purposes.
As such, it is a requirement under this Partner Agreement that Partners must complete each of the following steps whenever uploading individual entities through Xero’s Bulk Loader, or as otherwise directed by Xero from time to time:
a) verify the entity (i.e. ABN and current name) of each of your client’s businesses through a reliable independent source, for example the Australian Business Register;
b) ensure you have valid and up to date client contact details, including an email for the particular business and phone number;
c) ensure you can provide the information required in points (a) and (b) where requested by Xero or a relevant regulator; and
d) ensure you do not set up any client’s businesses through Xero’s Bulk Loader if you have reasonable grounds to believe any of their entities are not legitimate businesses.
Duration of the partner agreement
This Partner Agreement is effective immediately upon you being accepted into the Program by Xero, and remains in force until:
- Superseded by Xero at any time effective upon the online publication of updated or modified terms or after notice of material updates to this Partner Agreement, as applicable;
- This Partner Agreement is terminated by either party for any reason by providing one month’s notice in writing to the other party; or
- This Partner Agreement is terminated by either party, with immediate effect upon written notice being provided to the other party, for that other party’s material breach of any of the terms of this Partner Agreement.
If this Partner Agreement is terminated for any reason, you will no longer be able to participate in, or receive the benefits of, the Program.
For the avoidance of doubt, notwithstanding the termination of this Partner Agreement, Xero’s Terms of Use will continue to apply to your use of the Services (as defined in Xero’s Terms of Use) that Xero may make available to you as a non-partner, and the following sections of this Partner Agreement will survive any such termination: “Applicability of Xero’s Terms of Use”, “Relationship of Parties” and “Indemnity”.
Billing
If your client does not wish to manage and pay for a Xero Business Edition subscription themselves, you may manage and pay for that subscription on their behalf.
To qualify for applicable reduced pricing on Xero Business Edition subscriptions for which you are the subscriber (as defined in Xero’s Terms of Use), you must:
- only have one billing account associated with your Xero Business Edition subscriptions, and one billing account associated with your Xero Partner Edition subscriptions;
- the billing account must be paid by you or your business and not by an individual client; and
- nominate and advise Xero who, within the business, will be responsible for all matters relating to the billing account.
You agree to adhere to the Xero subscription and payment terms set out in Xero’s Terms of Use, as updated or amended from time to time.
Status
Partner status is determined in accordance with the Partner points scheme in place from time to time. More information regarding the Partner points scheme is set out in the Partner points guide below. For the avoidance of doubt, any determinations by Xero on matters relating to the Partner points scheme (including status level and the operation of the points system) will be final where the determinations have been made reasonably by Xero.
Applicability of Xero’s Terms of Use
This Partner Agreement applies in addition to, and should be read in conjunction with, Xero’s Terms of Use, which are incorporated into this Partner Agreement by reference to the extent applicable and which govern matters in relation to your dealings with Xero, including limitations on liability, indemnification, intellectual property, and governing law.
You acknowledge and agree that all access (including by invited users, as defined in Xero’s Terms of Use) to Xero’s services will be subject to Xero’s then current Terms of Use.
In the event of any inconsistency between this Partner Agreement and Xero’s Terms of Use, Xero’s Terms of Use will take priority.
Relationship of parties
No agency, partnership, joint venture or employment is created between Xero and you as a result of this Partner Agreement. You are not authorised to create any obligation, express or implied, on behalf of Xero.
Indemnity
You agree to indemnify Xero against any and all claims, costs, damages and/or loss that Xero may sustain or incur, as a result of any claim by a third party, including your clients and any Xero users, arising from: (a) your acts or omissions including, but not limited to, your provision of professional services, implementation support, or other products or services, (b) your breach of this Partner Agreement.
Points guide
Your Partner status is based on the points guide set out below. More details are available on the status levels page.
This guide has been developed to give an overview of how you can earn points in the Xero Partner Program.
Subscription points
How to earn points:
- Owning the subscription for a client on Xero.
- Being invited in with the advisor role into your client’s active Xero subscription.
Things to note:
- You can only receive points one time per subscription irrespective of how many staff are invited in.
- Trial organisations do not count towards points. The subscriptions must be paying.
- Points will be calculated based on active subscriptions used by a legal entity.
- Point values per clients are described on the status levels page of xero.com.
- To receive points for being “invited into” a client’s active Xero subscription, where the client is paying for the subscription, you must be actively serving clients (defined as having logged into the client’s organisation within the last 120 days).
Additional things to note
- At least one member of your staff must hold a current Xero advisor certification. Partner benefits including reduced pricing on Xero Business Edition subscriptions for which you are the subscriber (as defined in Xero’s Terms of Use) will be suspended in the event that no one associated with your firm has a current Xero advisor certification.
- All Xero Business Edition subscriptions that your business owns must be on one billing account. Partner benefits including reduced pricing on Xero Business Edition subscriptions for which you are the subscriber (as defined in Xero’s Terms of Use) may be suspended until you consolidate your billing accounts or transfer billing to your clients.
- Only staff members that are actively serving clients (defined as having logged into client organisations in the last 60 days) will count towards your Xero certification requirements.
- You and your staff must be listed as a Practice Staff member in Xero HQ for Xero certifications to be recognised.
- This points program may be superseded by Xero at any time effective upon the online posting of modified points scheme.