If you've spent time building a plan in Brixx, you’ll know that your forecasts are structured using components, which are organised into groups and sections. These components form the building blocks of your financial model, allowing you to plan, forecast, and explore scenarios with flexibility.

If you're coming from Xero, you'll notice that your Brixx plan may be populated with components named after accounts from your Xero chart of accounts. This naturally raises the question:

Does a Xero account equal a Brixx component?

The answer is both yes and no—and understanding why is key to using Brixx effectively.

When a Component Does Match a Xero Account

Suppose you have the following revenue accounts in Xero:

• 200 Tables

• 201 Chairs

• 202 Cabinets

In Brixx, you might have income components named Tables, Chairs, and Cabinets. These components are set up to represent the sales of different products or services, and you can assign each one to its corresponding Xero revenue account using a dropdown selection.

In this case, the Brixx component aligns directly with a single Xero account. This is a valid and useful way to model revenue, and for simple transactions, the match is clear and straightforward.

When a Component Represents More Than One Account

Let’s take the same example a step further. Imagine your customers can pay within 90 days of purchasing a table. In your Brixx income component for Tables, you might spread that payment delay across one or more months to reflect cash collection timing.

Now, in Xero, this transaction touches more than one account:

• Revenue is recorded under account 200 Tables

• Outstanding payments appear in Accounts Receivable

• Applicable tax (e.g. VAT or GST) is posted to a separate tax account

In Brixx, all of this is handled within a single component. It tracks the timing of income, calculates receivables, applies tax rules, and reflects the financial impact on your forecasts across the appropriate reports.

This highlights an important distinction: a Brixx component does not represent a single account. Instead, it represents a business activity and automatically handles the underlying accounting that spans multiple financial accounts.

Example: Asset Purchases

This distinction becomes even clearer when modelling something more complex, like the purchase of an asset.

In Xero, buying and managing an asset such as a vehicle involves several accounts:

• A fixed asset account for the purchase cost

• A second fixed asset account for cumulative depreciation

• An expense account for depreciation charges

• An account to record profit or loss on disposal

• Tax accounts and accounts payable, depending on how the purchase is made

In Brixx, all of this is modelled using a single asset component. Here, you enter details like purchase cost, payment terms, depreciation, disposal plans, and tax. The component automatically calculates and distributes the relevant figures to your financial statements. Behind the scenes, it produces the correct journal entries without requiring you to manually manage the individual accounts.

You can also link multiple Xero accounts to a single asset component if you want to keep the connection between your real-world data and your forecasts.

Why Components Work This Way

The component-based approach in Brixx is designed to help you think like a business owner or manager—not just an accountant. Rather than focusing on individual ledger accounts, you're focused on modelling real-world activities.

This approach offers several advantages:

• Forecasting is faster because you're working with high-level business actions, not low-level account entries

• Scenarios are easier to build and compare

• Forecasts are more accurate and less prone to accounting errors

• Team members without financial training can still understand and contribute

• The model gives you a clear view of how your business operates

• Strategic conversations are more grounded in actual business activities

Summary

A Xero account represents a specific place in your ledger. A Brixx component represents a real-world activity that may affect multiple accounts at once. While they may sometimes align one-to-one, Brixx components are designed to give you a more intuitive and comprehensive way to build forecasts and explore scenarios.

By focusing on what your business is doing—not just how it's accounted for—you can model faster, plan better, and make more informed decisions.