Plooto

Q: What payment methods does Plooto support for Canadian businesses?

Plooto supports: Canadian EFT (electronic funds transfer to Canadian bank accounts), physical cheques (printed and mailed by Plooto on your behalf), USD payments to US suppliers, and international wire transfers to 40+ countries. This means you can pay virtually any Canadian or international supplier through one platform, with all payments synced to Xero automatically.

Q: How does Plooto's approval workflow work?

Plooto allows businesses to set up customizable payment approval workflows — for example, payments under $500 can be processed by your bookkeeper without approval, while payments above $500 require sign-off from a business owner or manager before funds are released. This creates a meaningful internal control that prevents unauthorized payments and separates the duties of payment initiation and payment approval — a key fraud prevention measure for small businesses.

Bronte Bay CPA Professional Corporation — Plooto Partner · Toronto & Vancouver

Short answer: Plooto automates the entire accounts payable workflow for Canadian businesses — pay suppliers by EFT or cheque, set approval rules before funds leave, and have every payment automatically reconciled in Xero. At Bronte Bay, we use Plooto for clients who want to eliminate manual supplier payments, paper cheques, and the hours of reconciliation that come with them.

How does your business currently pay its suppliers? If the answer involves logging into online banking, manually entering payment details, downloading a confirmation, and then recording the payment in Xero — you are spending significant time on a process that Plooto handles automatically. Plooto is a Canadian-built payment platform that connects directly to Xero, pulls approved bills, processes payments, and reconciles them back — without any manual steps.

How Plooto Works — The Full Accounts Payable Cycle, Automated

Bill arrives in Xero — via Hubdoc (auto-fetched or photographed) or entered manually. Your bookkeeper codes and approves it in Xero.
Plooto pulls approved bills — Plooto syncs with Xero and presents all approved, unpaid bills ready for payment scheduling.
You schedule payment — select the payment method (EFT, cheque, USD, international), set the payment date, and submit for approval if your workflow requires it.
Approval workflow fires — if the payment exceeds your approval threshold, the designated approver receives a notification and approves or declines before any funds are released.
Plooto processes the payment — funds are transferred to the supplier by the scheduled date. For cheque payments, Plooto prints and mails the physical cheque on your behalf.
Automatic reconciliation in Xero — once the payment clears, Plooto marks the bill as paid in Xero and reconciles the transaction against your bank feed. No manual entry, no matching required.

📋 CPA Note: The step most businesses underestimate is step 6 — automatic reconciliation. Without Plooto, paying a supplier in online banking means someone must then go into Xero, find the bill, record the payment, and match it to the bank feed transaction. For a business paying 40 suppliers per month, that is 40 manual reconciliation steps per month — or roughly 2–3 hours of bookkeeping time that Plooto eliminates entirely.

Payment Methods Plooto Supports for Canadian Businesses

Payment Method	Best For	Processing Time	Notes
Canadian EFT	Any Canadian supplier with a bank account	1–3 business days	Most cost-effective; supplier receives directly to their bank account
Physical cheque	Suppliers who do not accept EFT; landlords; government agencies	5–7 business days (mailed)	Plooto prints and mails the cheque — no cheque book needed
USD payment	US-based suppliers billed in USD	1–3 business days	Competitive exchange rates; no need to access US banking separately
International wire	Suppliers in 40+ countries billed in foreign currency	2–5 business days	Single platform for all international supplier payments

Key Features of Plooto for Canadian Small Businesses

Simplify Payment Workflows

Plooto replaces your existing payment process with a single workflow. Bills approved in Xero appear in Plooto ready to pay. One click schedules the payment. Everything else — processing, confirmation, reconciliation — is automatic.

Customize Approval Tiers

Set approval rules that match your controls — bookkeeper processes small payments independently; larger payments require owner sign-off before any funds are released. A clear separation of initiation and authorization reduces fraud risk significantly.

Real-Time Payment Tracking

Every payment has a live status — scheduled, processing, in transit, or cleared. See exactly where every payment stands at any moment from any device. No more calling your bank or emailing your bookkeeper to confirm whether a supplier was paid.

Automatic Reconciliation

Every payment processed by Plooto is automatically matched to the Xero bill and reconciled against your bank feed — without any manual step. Your books stay current in real time and your bookkeeper never manually matches bank payments to supplier bills again.

Plooto vs. Manual Supplier Payments — The Time Difference

Task	Without Plooto	With Plooto
Paying a Canadian supplier	Log into online banking; find supplier; enter amount and reference; initiate EFT; record in Xero; match to bank feed	Approve bill in Xero; Plooto schedules and pays; auto-reconciles in Xero
Paying by cheque	Write or print cheque; mail; wait for confirmation; record in Xero; reconcile when it clears	Schedule in Plooto; cheque is printed and mailed automatically; auto-reconciles when cleared
Paying a US supplier in USD	Access USD bank account (or bank wire); convert currency; pay; record FX transaction in Xero	Schedule USD payment in Plooto; FX conversion handled; auto-reconciles in Xero
Approving large payments	Email or call owner for verbal approval; owner logs into banking; risk of unauthorized payments	Plooto sends approval request; owner approves with one click; full audit trail maintained
Month-end reconciliation	Match each bank payment to the corresponding bill in Xero — 30–120 minutes depending on volume	Already done automatically by Plooto — 0 minutes

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Plooto and how does it work?

Plooto is a Canadian-built payment automation platform that allows businesses to send and receive payments — by EFT, cheque, USD, or international wire — directly from their accounting software. It integrates with Xero and QuickBooks Online: bills approved in Xero are pushed to Plooto for payment, and once paid, the payment is automatically reconciled back in Xero. No manual bank transfers, no paper cheques to print and mail, no manual reconciliation of outgoing payments.

How does Plooto integrate with Xero for Canadian businesses?

Once connected, Plooto pulls approved bills from Xero automatically. You schedule the payment in Plooto, set the payment date, and Plooto processes it. After the payment clears, Plooto marks the bill as paid in Xero and reconciles the transaction against your bank feed. The entire accounts payable cycle — from bill approval to payment to reconciliation — happens without any manual bank access or bookkeeping entry.

What payment methods does Plooto support for Canadian businesses?

Plooto supports Canadian EFT (1–3 business days to any Canadian bank account), physical cheques (Plooto prints and mails on your behalf), USD payments to US suppliers, and international wire transfers to 40+ countries. This means you can pay virtually any Canadian or international supplier through one platform, with all payments synced to Xero automatically.

How does Plooto’s approval workflow work?

Plooto allows you to set customizable payment approval rules — for example, payments under $500 can be processed by your bookkeeper without approval, while payments above $500 require sign-off from a business owner before funds are released. This creates a meaningful internal control that prevents unauthorized payments and separates the duties of payment initiation and payment approval. Every approval and payment is logged with a complete audit trail.

Can Plooto collect payments from customers as well as pay suppliers?

Yes. Plooto handles both accounts payable (paying your suppliers) and accounts receivable (collecting from your customers via EFT or credit card). For businesses that want fully automated recurring collection, Rotessa — another Bronte Bay partner — is specifically designed for pre-authorized debits and integrates more deeply with Xero for recurring invoice collection.

Stop Paying Suppliers Manually — Automate It with Plooto

Plooto setup and Xero integration are included in Bronte Bay’s monthly bookkeeping engagements for clients with significant accounts payable volume. We configure the approval workflows, connect your supplier banking details, and walk you through the payment process in your onboarding session. Book a consultation to see the full workflow and what it costs.

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