Vigil · Xero review of offshore bookkeeping

Check every client's quarter in Xero, and open only the ones with something wrong.

Your offshore team does the books, and someone senior still reviews each client's quarter by hand before the BAS is lodged. Vigil connects to your firm's Xero, runs nine checks over every client's quarter, and shows only what they flagged. Your accountant approves the quarter, sends it back, or escalates it.

Talk about a pilotWhat it checks

Vigil is in a paid pilot and not open for sign-up. The email reaches Jesse Jenkins, who built it.

What it checks

Nine checks over each client's quarter. Four are errors; five are worth a look.

Each review reads the client's Xero when it starts, so it checks the books as they stand, not an old copy. A check that cannot run says so, rather than passing.

Blocking

Clear errors. The quarter is not ready to lodge while any of these fail.

Bank reconciliation
No unreconciled bank transactions are left in the quarter.
Suspense and clearing accounts
Suspense, clearing, unallocated and “ask my accountant” accounts sit at zero at quarter end.
Error accounts
No bank transaction is coded to an account such as suspense, uncategorised or miscellaneous, even where the account nets to zero.
GST codes
Every tax code on a bank transaction exists in the client's file, and no bank, equity or depreciation account carries GST.

Warnings

Worth a look. Each one can be right, so a person decides.

BAS figures
Any BAS figure that moved more than 50% against the prior quarter.
Recurring items
Something that went through the bank last quarter and has not appeared this quarter.
Possible duplicates
Two or more bank transactions on the same day, for the same amount, on the same account.
Account balances
Any account balance that moved more than 200% since the end of the prior quarter.
PAYG and super
PAYG withholding or super still owing at quarter end.

Why rules

Every flag is a rule you can point to.

No model decides anything in Vigil. Each check is a fixed rule over the figures in Xero, so the same books give the same flags every time, and each flag names the rule it broke and shows what it found.

“The AI thinks this looks off” is not something a partner can act on before a BAS is lodged. It is the position the trust audit tool takes too: code does the mechanical work, and every exception goes to a person.

The review

Your accountant decides. Vigil only flags.

A quarter with nothing flagged stays out of the review queue. One with a flag waits for a person, who opens it, follows the flagged transactions and accounts into Xero, and does one of three things.

  1. 01

    Approve

    The quarter is ready to lodge. The approval is recorded against it, with who gave it.

  2. 02

    Send back

    Vigil writes the email to your offshore team: each check that failed or warned, and your note. Unreconciled and duplicate transactions link straight to Xero.

  3. 03

    Escalate

    The quarter is marked for a senior, with your note, and stays in the queue.

Your Xero

Read-only, and checked in Sydney.

This describes Vigil's own system. The file handling on How it works is the trust audit's, a different one.
Read-only
Vigil asks Xero for read permissions only, so it cannot change your books. It never edits Xero and never lodges anything.
Where it runs
The check engine and its database run in Google Cloud's Sydney region. The engine cannot be reached from the internet: only Vigil's own app can start a review. The dashboard your team signs in to is served by Vercel.
The Xero connection
The tokens that keep Vigil connected to Xero are encrypted with Google Cloud's key management service before they are stored, so a copy of the database alone opens no one's Xero.
Signing in
By a link emailed to you, so there is no password to steal. Sign-in links and send-back emails go out through Resend.

Pilot places

In a paid pilot with a Sydney firm covering about 250 clients.

Vigil is not open for sign-up yet. Each pilot is set up with your firm rather than self-serve, places are limited, and the terms are agreed in a written proposal before it starts.

Talk about a pilot

Who it is for
Firms whose bookkeeping is done offshore in Xero and reviewed each quarter before the BAS is lodged.
What happens next
Jesse Jenkins replies to talk through how your firm reviews a quarter today. The person who replies is the person who built Vigil.
Email about a pilot place

Or write to info@mushin.com.au with the subject “A Vigil pilot place”.