# Syncing your bills Get answers to all of your questions regarding Brex **URL Source:** https://www.brex.com/support/syncing-bill-pay --- ## Overview If you use NetSuite, Quickbooks Online, Sage Intacct, or Xero as your integrated ERP, you can set up your bills to sync to your accounting platform. Brex syncs the various fields depending on the ERP, either once the bill is approved in Brex or at bill creation, including bills that are marked as paid externally. See the section for your respective ERP below for a complete list. We do not retroactively sync past bills – any bills that were submitted for payment prior to the integration being enabled or fully set up will not be synced. If a bill is canceled and sent back to the draft state, any changes to the bill will not be synced until the bill is resubmitted. ## How it works Syncing a bill is different from syncing a card expense or reimbursement in that other expenses always populate in the accounting journal. In _Accounting, _you must prepare, review, and export them manually to your ERP or as a CSV file. Bills, however, are automatically synced to ERP directly without any intermediary steps. You can enable automatic bill synchronization in either the bill pay settings or the integration settings. When enabling this, you must specify at which point in your workflow bills should be synchronized. The available options are: - _Submitted:_ Bills will be synced as soon as they are submitted by a user. Any updates to the bill information prior to the scheduled payment date will be updated in real time. - _Approved:_ Bills will be synced as soon as they are approved and queued for payment. Any updates to the bill information prior to the scheduled payment date will be updated in real time. Vendors and bills are initially synced one-way from Brex to your ERP as soon as the bill is fully approved. If we do not find a vendor whose name matches the vendor name in Brex, we will create a new vendor in your ERP. The name is case-sensitive, and we search for an exact name match. Changes made to bills are continuously synced as long as the accounting period is still open in your ERP. The following are the editable fields that trigger a re-sync: - Invoice attachment - Invoice number - Spend limit - Memo - Due date - ERP posting date - GL accounts - Accounting fields ### Defining Accounts Payable (AP) Account To successfully sync a bill to your ERP, an Accounts Payable account must be defined for every bill created in Brex. The steps to define them will be different according to your ERP. Refer to your ERP below for the exact behavior: ### Dynamics 365 Business Central Business Central automatically links your bills to the Accounts Payable account of the chosen vendor. There's no need to set this account in Brex, as Business Central will use the vendor's associated Accounts Payable account when a bill is processed in Brex. ### NetSuite For all bills synced to NetSuite, an Accounts Payable account must be defined in Brex. You can view the AP account in the bill pay form. To ensure automatic population when a vendor is selected, you can set a default AP account at the vendor level. Please verify that all AP accounts used are designated as _Accounts Payable_. ### QuickBooks Online or Sage Intacct Brex syncs bills to a general Accounts Payable account in QuickBooks Online and Sage Intacct, which also allows for custom Accounts Payable accounts. To sync Brex-generated bills to the general Accounts Payable account, leave the AP Account field in Brex empty. To customize the Accounts Payable account for Brex-generated bills, follow the steps below: **Step 1:** Create a new _Accounts Payable_ account in QuickBooks/Sage Intacct. Make sure this account is set to an Accounts Payable type. The sync will fail if it’s not an Accounts Payable type. **Step 2:** Refresh your integration in Brex by going to I_ntegration Settings > Refresh._ **Step 3:** Go to the Fields Library by going to _Bills > Manage Bill Pay Settings > Accounting Fields._ **Step 4**: Find the GL Account field and click _Configure_. On the _Visibility settings_, ensure the Bill icon is toggled on. **Step 5:** Your bill pay form now has a field called AP Account. This field allows you to input your preferred AP Account for the bill. ### Xero Since all bills in Xero must be under the general Accounts Payable, Brex will automatically sync your bills to this account. You do not need to configure this setting in Brex. ## Syncing Bill Payments Brex supports syncing payments made in Brex back to your ERP. The payment syncs automatically and closes open bills that were created from Brex. If you enable automatic syncing, this feature is turned on by default. To successfully sync bill payments, you will need to set payment mappings to your [funding account](https://www.brex.com/accounting-automation). You can do this by going to your _Accounting > Integration Settings > Payment Account mappings._ If you are paying your bills through a one-time virtual card or outside of Brex, you will need to set the _Accounts Payable_ and _Manual Payments GL Accounts_ under Integration _Settings > Entity Settings_. The _Accounts Payable_ account in this setting represents your credit card liability; it records transactions from your Brex card in your ERP. This is different from the Bill Pay Accounts Payable. It is recommended that you set a mapping to all the funding accounts you use for bill payments. The mapping determines the General Ledger that will be used for the payment information. ### NetSuite The NetSuite integration with bill pay is a one-directional sync from Brex to NetSuite. This means that bills created in Brex will sync over to NetSuite. We sync both a bill and payment entity to their system and automatically link the two. If a bill is in the payment processed state, we’ll create an associated vendor payment for that bill. After the bill has synced successfully, you can open the bill’s details pane and go to _Accounting_. Here, you can click _View bill in NetSuite_ or_ View payment in NetSuite_ to view the corresponding bill/payment in NetSuite. We won’t sync edits made in NetSuite back to bills in Brex. When you edit in Brex and sync them over to NetSuite, it will overwrite the corresponding bill data in NetSuite. Please make sure you set the _Standard Vendor Bill_ and_ Standard Bill Payment _forms in NetSuite’s _Custom Transaction Forms _setting as preferred to avoid potential sync errors. **Note:** If a bill is marked as approved and paid in Brex but still shows as pending in NetSuite, check whether the bill's entity assignment in Brex matches the entity in NetSuite. Admins cannot change a bill's entity after it has been approved. The bill must be rejected and resubmitted with the correct entity. ### Fields synced - Vendor - If vendor name matching doesn’t detect an entry in NetSuite, we’ll create a new vendor with that name. - Bill - Invoice attachment - Invoice number - ERP posted date - Auto-populated from invoice date and synced as posting date of the bill - Due date - A/P account - Memo - Payment account - Line items: - Amount - Description - GL account - Location - Department - Class - Payment - Entity - Amount - Currency ### Setup instructions **Step 1:** In your dashboard, click_ Bills > Manage Bill pay settings._ **Step 2: **If you haven’t set up NetSuite yet, click _Connect accounting software _and follow the prompts. See [this article](https://www.brex.com/netsuite-integration) to get set up. **Step 3:** If you’ve already connected to NetSuite, click _Manage NetSuite_. **Step 4: **Toggle on _Sync bills_ and select the timing for syncing your bills: - Sync bills on approval - Sync bills on submission **Note:** Once enabled, when adding a new vendor, suggestions will populate from your ERP. More details can be found [here](https://www.brex.com/managing-vendors). ### QuickBooks Online We sync bills to QuickBooks Online, as their bank feed integrations pull transactions from your connected Brex accounts and match them against the bill. After the bill has synced successfully, a customer can open the bill's details pane and go to the _Accounting_ section. Here, they can click _View bill in QuickBooks Online_ to view the corresponding bill in QuickBooks Online. We won’t sync edits made in QuickBooks Online back to bills in Brex. When you edit in Brex and sync it over to QuickBooks Online, it will overwrite the corresponding bill data in QuickBooks Online. **Note**: Bills for child entities in QuickBooks Online don’t automatically sync to QuickBooks Online if assigned to be paid by the child entity. You must manually upload these bills to QuickBooks Online via CSV. Bills assigned to be paid by the parent entity will sync to the parent entity in QuickBooks Online. ### Fields synced - Vendor - If vendor name matching doesn’t detect an entry in QuickBooks Online, we’ll create a new vendor with that name. - Bill - Invoice attachment - Invoice number - ERP posted date - Auto-populated from invoice date and synced as the date of the bill - Due date - Location - Memo - Line items: - Amount - Description - GL account - Class ### Setup instructions **Note**: Bills sync is available only to users of the QuickBooks Online Essentials plan or higher (Plus/Advanced). **Step 1: **In your dashboard, click _Bills > Manage Bill pay settings._ **Step 2:** If you haven’t set up QuickBooks yet, click Connect accounting software and follow the prompts. See [this article ](https://www.brex.com/quickbooks-online-integration)to get set up. **Step 3:** If you’ve already connected QuickBooks, click _Manage QuickBooks_. **Step 4:** Toggle on _Sync bills _and select the timing for syncing your bills: - Sync bills on approval - Sync bills on submission **Step 5**: Open_ QuickBooks settings, _under _Sync payments _you can select: - All bill payments - None **Note:** Once you've enabled bill sync when adding a new vendor, suggestions will populate from your ERP. More details can be found [here](https://www.brex.com/managing-vendors). ### Sage Intacct The Sage Intacct integration with bill pay is a one-directional sync from Brex to Sage Intacct, where bills created in Brex will sync over to Sage Intacct. We sync both a bill and payment entity to their system, then automatically link the two. We’ll create an associated payment record for bills in the payment processed state. You can open the details window of a successfully synced bill and go to _Accounting >_ _View bill in Sage Intacct_ or_ View payment in Sage Intacct_ to view the corresponding bill/payment in Sage Intacct. We won’t sync edits made in Sage Intacct back to bills in Brex. When you edit in Brex and sync them over to Sage Intacct, it will overwrite the corresponding bill data in Sage Intacct. ### Fields synced - Vendor - If vendor name matching doesn’t detect an entry in Sage Intacct, we’ll create a new vendor with that name. - Bill - Invoice attachment - Invoice number - ERP posted date - Auto-populated from invoice date and synced as posting date of the bill - Due date - Memo - Payment account - Line items: - Amount - Description - GL account - Location - Department - Class - Payment - Entity - Amount - Currency ### Setup instructions **Step 1: **In your dashboard, click _Bills > Manage Bill pay settings._ **Step 2:** If you haven’t set up Sage Intacct yet, click _Connect accounting software _and follow the prompts. See [this article](https://www.brex.com/sage-intacct-integration) to get set up. **Step 3:** If you’ve already connected to Sage Intacct, click Manage Sage Intacct. **Step 4: **Toggle on Sync bills and select the timing for syncing your bills: - Sync bills on approval - Sync bills on submission **Step 5:** Click _Refresh integration_ to sync your latest account categories. **Note:** Once enabled, whenever you add a new vendor, suggestions will populate from your ERP. More details can be found [here](https://www.brex.com/managing-vendors). ### Xero The Xero integration with bill pay is a one-directional sync from Brex to Xero where bills created in Brex will sync over to Xero. We sync both a bill and payment to Xero and automatically sync the two. We’ll create an associated payment record for the bill. After the bill has synced successfully, a customer can open the bill's details pane and go to the Accounting section. Here, they can click _View bill in Xero_ to view the corresponding bill in Xero. We won’t sync edits made in Xero back to bills in Brex. When you edit in Brex and sync them over to Xero, it will overwrite the corresponding bill data in Xero. ### Fields synced - Vendor - If vendor name matching doesn’t detect an entry in Xero, we’ll create a new vendor with that name. - Bill - Invoice number - ERP posted date - Auto-populated from invoice date and synced as date of the bill - Due date - Memo - Line items: - Amount - GL account - Location - Department - Tracking categories ### Setup instructions **Step 1: **In your dashboard, click _Bills > Manage Bill pay settings._ **Step 2: **If you haven’t set up Xero yet, click _Connect accounting software_ and follow the prompts. Bill sync will be enabled automatically after connecting Xero. You can switch this off later on the Xero settings page. **Step 3: **If you’ve already connected Xero, click _Manage Xero_. **Step 4: **Toggle on _Sync bills _and select the timing for syncing your bills: - Sync bills on approval - Sync bills on submission **Note: **Bills sync is only available for five bills per month with the Xero Starter Plan. ### Unsupported ERPs If your ERP isn't listed above, you can create custom fields that are visible for bills, enter those fields while submitting the bill, and export them into a CSV file that you can import into your ERP. Bill sync isn't available for QuickBooks Desktop, Workday, Oracle Fusion, or Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations. ### Partner integrations Some accounting platforms connect to Brex through a partner integration rather than a direct ERP connection. Bill sync availability depends on the partner: - **Campfire** and **DualEntry**: bills sync to your platform, and bill payments sync back. - **Rillet**: bills sync to your platform. Bill payments don't sync — reconcile payments in Rillet. - **Hanover Park**: bill sync isn't available. Use the CSV export described in _the "Unsupported ERPs" section_. ## Locally funded bill payments When a bill is paid using local rails (Airwallex), Brex creates an additional journal entry (JE) to reflect the funding “pay-in” that moves money from your bank account into the Airwallex (local rails) balance used to fund the payment. This JE is separate from the bill and the bill payment and is used to keep your general ledger in balance. **Accounting flow when a bill is paid in local currency:** - **Bill (BILL_EXPENSE):** _Debit_ expense GL; _Credit_ A/P. - **Bill payment (BILL_EXPENSE_PAYMENT):** _Debit_ A/P; _Credit_ Airwallex/local-rails account. - **Pay-in money movement (BILL_MONEY_MOVEMENT_PAYIN):** _Debit_ Airwallex/local-rails account; _Credit_ Bank account. **Notes** - The pay-in JE is only created for locally funded bill payments. It does not appear for card-funded or externally marked-paid scenarios. - Visibility and exact entity types vary by ERP (see below). ### Accounting software behavior for locally funded bill payments ### NetSuite For bills created in Brex and paid via local rails: - Brex syncs a Vendor Bill and a linked Vendor Payment. - Brex also syncs a separate Journal Entry for the pay-in. This JE is not linked to the bill but will reference the batch/payment context in its memo for traceability. **Note:** In _Bills > [select bill] > Accounting_, use View bill in NetSuite / View payment in NetSuite to navigate to the bill/payment records. The pay-in JE will appear as a standard JE on the date the funds moved. ### QuickBooks Online - Brex syncs the Bill. Payments are typically matched via your bank feed; if Sync payments is enabled in Brex > _QuickBooks settings_, Brex will also sync bill payments. - No separate pay-in JE is created for locally funded bill payments in QuickBooks Online (single-entity behavior). Continue to match the bank feed transaction to the bill/bill payment. ### Sage Intacct - Brex syncs a Bill and linked Payment. - Brex also syncs a Journal Entry for the pay-in (BILL_MONEY_MOVEMENT_PAYIN) in addition to the bill and payment. ### Xero - Brex syncs a Bill and Payment. - No separate pay-in JE is synced for locally funded bill payments in Xero; only the bill and payment appear. ## Import purchase orders When you agree to purchase something, you might choose to issue a purchase order to the vendor. This is a legal document that outlines the purchase’s details. It’s normally issued upon purchase initiation but can be used to trace the entire lifecycle of the purchase, all the way up to payment and delivery. If you use NetSuite or QuickBooks Online, you can import approved purchase orders from your ERP into your Brex account. Upon import, these purchase orders will be matched to incoming bills. If there are any billing discrepancies, we’ll automatically inform you. Should you or an admin make any changes to the purchase order’s information, these changes will be reflected in your ERP. To enable this feature, follow the steps below. **Step 1: **Go to _Accounting_ > _ERP Settings_ > _Bill pay configuration_. **Step 2: **Next to _Import purchase orders, click Enable._ ![HC - Bill Pay & Expense Policies](https://brand.brex.com/m/296fbc7714f0ffab/webimage-HC-Bill-Pay-Expense-Policies.png) Purchase orders can now be matched to new bills. ## Troubleshooting ### Accounting Tab None of your bill pay activity will appear in the accounting tab. All bill pay-related transactions are synced through the bill pay product, including virtual card payments. The virtual card payment will appear under your Card statement for the period. ### Bank Feeds If you have a bank feed connection enabled in QuickBooks Online or Xero, you will see a list of all the transactions coming from your Brex accounts in QuickBooks Online or Xero. If you have bill pay sync enabled, you should match the payment transaction against the bill or bill payment that was synced from Brex bill pay. The bill sync from Brex will contain more granular data for record-keeping. The bank feed is not a replacement for the bill pay sync functionality. ### Bill Payment Sync Issues If you’re having trouble syncing a bill payment, please note the following: - We do not retroactively sync completed bills created before the integration is set up. - This is a one-way sync, meaning we only sync data from Brex into your external accounting platform. - Marking a bill as paid externally in Brex will sync the payment back to the ERP If a bill sync outright fails, you’ll see a banner at the top of the _Bills_ page with some information as to why it failed, and often a suggestion for how to fix the issue. You will also see a _resync bill _button once the issue blocking the sync has been fixed. You can dismiss this sync error by using the _Ignore_ button in the sync error banner. This action, which cannot be reversed, will change the ERP sync status to_ Out of sync_. ### Canceled bills When you cancel a bill on Brex, we move the Bill to Complete in a Canceled Status. You should make sure to delete the bill in the ERP, as Brex does not automatically delete bills in the ERP. ### Sync issues If one of your bills has an error, a banner containing the error message will appear in _Bills > Sync errors_. Follow the provided steps to resolve the issue and resync the bill.