QuickBooks Online integration

Overview

Integrating your Brex account with QuickBooks Online reduces manual errors and data entry. It also offers:

• Simplified accounting control: Tag expenses as billable and assign customer codes before exporting.
• Accurate data transfers: Send expenses, receipts, and memos directly from Brex to QuickBooks Online.
• Reduced manual work: Create rules and mappings to categorize transactions automatically.
• Aligned vendor data: Link Brex merchants to QuickBooks Online vendors for consistency.

Connect Brex with QuickBooks Online

Brex offers two integration methods with QuickBooks Online:

1. Brex integration (recommended): Use Brex’s Accounting tab to automate categorization, add memos/receipts, and audit exported transactions.
2. Bank feed: Brex transactions appear in QuickBooks Online for easy categorization, without Brex’s custom mappings.

Both options can be active at the same time. Exported Brex expenses will match with Bank Feed entries in QuickBooks Online for seamless reconciliation. Each Brex account can only be linked to a single QuickBooks Online account. If you have multiple entities (e.g., U.S. and French entities with separate QuickBooks Online accounts), you’ll need to either:

• Export transaction data from Brex to a CSV file and import it manually to the additional QuickBooks Online account(s), or
• Set up a separate Brex account for each entity that requires a unique QuickBooks Online integration.

Setup bank feed on QuickBooks Online

Account admins, card admins, and bookkeepers can add a Brex business account or Brex card to the bank feed of QuickBooks Online by following the steps below. Note: This process is not supported on QuickBooks Desktop. Please sign in via the Intuit QuickBooks Online website to link your Brex account. Step 1: Sign in to QuickBooks Online and go to Transactions > Bank Transactions. Step 2: Click Link account or Connect account and search for Brex (platform.brexapis.com) or (Brex.com). Step 3: Select Brex and click on an account or multiple accounts you want to add. Step 4: Select a QuickBooks account that you'd like Brex transactions to sync to (you can create a new account if needed). Step 5: Select a sync-from date (transactions older than 90 days will not sync) and click Connect.

Brex transactions will start automatically syncing right away and begin appearing in your bank feed, where you'll be able to manually categorize them. If you encounter any issues, please reach out to the QuickBooks support team. You can also read more about adding bank and credit card accounts to your QuickBooks Online.

Setup the Brex integration in your dashboard

Now that you have completed the initial setup in QuickBooks Online, an admin can finish the process from their Brex dashboard. Step 1: In your dashboard, go to Accounting and click Get started.

Step 2: Select QuickBooks Online and click Continue.

Step 3: Sign in to QuickBooks Online with your credentials. Select your company and click Next.

Step 4: Back in your Brex dashboard, the ERP data will load and you’ll see a message indicating that the data import was successful. Now Brex and QuickBooks Online are integrated. Brex will start importing your QuickBooks Online fields and values, so you can categorize transactions appropriately in the Accounting tab. A banner will indicate when all of your fields have been imported successfully.

Step 5: Click Quickbooks settings and map your GL accounts to indicate how we’ll export your transactions to Quickbooks Online. Map each category on Brex to the appropriate QuickBooks Online account type:

• Accounts Payable: Credit Card
• Card collection and employee repayment bank account: Bank Account
• Rewards Credit: Other Income
• Reimbursement bank account: Bank Account
• Reimbursement liability: Employee Liability
• Reimbursement payout account: Bank Account

Choosing between bank feed and Brex integration

Some finance teams use only the Bank Feed for QuickBooks Online categorization. However, combining both methods can offer a more comprehensive view and improved workflow. If you export transactions from Brex, they’ll match Bank Feed records, allowing quick reconciliation.

Additional features

Mark as billable

Brex bookkeepers, account admins, or card admins of accounts that use the QuickBooks Online integration can tag expenses as billable prior to exporting them to QuickBooks Online. Users with other role types can also set these fields on their own expenses. You can only mark an expense as billable once you tag a customer for an expense. A billable expense needs to have a customer code before being exported to QuickBooks Online and expenses marked as billable need to be associated with a GL account which allows billable expenses. The following GL account types may be used for billable expenses: expense, other expenses, other current liabilities, other current assets, other assets, fixed assets, or COGS. When you export your expenses to QuickBooks Online, the billable field will be populated based on your selections within Brex.

Automatically tag expenses

You can automatically tag expenses with customers or as billable expenses by creating custom rules. The Customer field and Billable field can automatically be coded based on the custom rule created.

Map to vendors

Vendor mapping lets you map merchants in Brex to the list of vendors found in QuickBooks. Once mapped, the vendor name will appear on each expense that is exported. Brex admins and bookkeepers can create these rules by following the steps below.

Customer code

Brex bookkeepers, account admins, and card admins can also tag transactions with a customer code prior to exporting them to QuickBooks Online. Users with other role types can also tag a customer code on their own expenses. To do so, select a transaction in your Brex dashboard and set the field labeled QuickBooks customer with a customer. Customers are automatically pulled in from QuickBooks Online. When you export your expenses to QuickBooks Online, the Customer field will populate based on your selections within Brex.

Adding new customers to Brex

After adding new customers in QuickBooks Online, account admins, card admins, and bookkeepers can update Brex with the latest QuickBooks Online data by going to Accounting > QuickBooks settings and scrolling down to the Integration management section. Look for the Refresh integration row and click Refresh.

Map transactions in bulk

You can apply custom rules to map transactions in bulk in the Brex dashboard. However, custom rules will only apply to future transactions once set. For transactions already processed, you’ll need to update them manually.

Historical transactions

Exporting transactions to Quickbooks

For a step by step tutorial on how to prepare, review, and export your transactions to QuickBooks, read this help article. As long as you haven't yet closed your books on QuickBooks, QuickBooks will automatically match any transactions in the bank feed to data exported from Brex (receipts, memos, and categorization). You'll then have the option to confirm whether these matches are accurate by clicking Match to the right of each transaction on the bank feed. You shouldn't see any duplicates. Note: Choosing CSV won’t automatically send the expense data to QuickBooks — they'll need to be added to QuickBooks manually. We’ll mark these transactions as exported to avoid duplicates the next time you export.

Disconnect QuickBooks Online

You can disconnect Brex from your Quickbooks Online account if you no longer want to directly export expense data from Brex. Note that it won’t affect the bank feed from QuickBooks’ end. Step 1: In your dashboard, click your name in the upper right and go to Integrations. Step 2: Click the three dots next to the QuickBooks Online tile. Step 3: Click Disconnect. Note: If you reconnect to the same account, disconnecting your integration will not impact your mappings.

Remove bank feed

Step 1: In QuickBooks Online, go to Transactions > Bank transactions. Step 2: Click the tile for the bank account > the pencil icon > Edit account info. Step 3: Checkmark Disconnect this account on save. Note: You won’t have this option if QuickBooks Online is downloading new transactions. Wait a few minutes for the update to finish and try again. Step 5: Click Save > Close. If you’re going to set up the bank feed connection again, use the date of the last expense they categorized from the bank feed as the new sync date.

Troubleshoot

The following are some issues you may encounter when using your QuickBooks Online integration. If you still have trouble, or don’t see your problem listed here, please reach out to Brex Support via your dashboard or file a ticket with the QuickBooks support team.

Duplicate payments on Quickbooks Online account

You may see duplicate payments to Brex on your QuickBooks Online account if you've added your bank to the QuickBooks Online bank feed. This happens because the payments to Brex pulled from the bank feed will typically have the date that the payment left your bank account, whereas the payment to Brex pushed from the Brex dashboard will have the date that it reached Brex's bank account. Because of this date discrepancy, the payments will not auto-match. To rectify this, please follow these steps: Step 1: In QuickBooks Online, go to Transactions > Banking and find the payment to Brex. Step 2: Click on the payment, and click Find Match. QuickBooks will suggest the payment to Brex that is a duplicate for the same amount. Each line will prompt you to match the transaction in your bank feed to the expense data, combining the two to reconcile.

Can’t select the Brex department/location in QuickBooks Online

Departments need to be created in Team before they can be mapped in Accounting > Fields & Rules. Once created, refresh the page, and the new department should appear as a selectable option in your accounting settings.

“Invalid account type” error when exporting transactions

The "Invalid account type" error usually indicates that the accounts payable account is mapped incorrectly. QuickBooks Online expects a credit card account type for accounts payable in this setup. Update your accounts payable mapping to a credit card account in both Brex and QuickBooks Online to resolve this.

Migrating to Intuit Enterprise Suite

If you're migrating to the Intuit Enterprise Suite, your QuickBooks integration in Brex will continue to work as expected—no action is required, as long as the email used for your original QuickBooks Online account remains the admin on the new Intuit account.

The Intuit Enterprise Suite is built on the QuickBooks Online API, so Brex treats it the same way. However, certain new features introduced in the Intuit Enterprise Suite may not be supported in Brex until Intuit updates the API.

After the migration, your use of Brex should not be disrupted. For more details, we recommend checking Intuit’s official FAQ.

Transactions show “missing GL account” after mapping

If transactions are showing a "missing GL account" error after mapping, it may be due to one of the following:

• A recent addition of GL accounts that hasn’t updated correctly.
• A red exclamation mark next to any field mappings under Accounting > Fields & Rules in Brex, indicating broken mappings.

Try refreshing the integration and re-mapping any flagged fields before attempting to export again.

Error exporting a large batch of transactions to QuickBooks Online

If you’re seeing an error message like "RATE_LIMIT_ERROR" or "INTERNAL_ERROR" when exporting a large batch of transactions, it may be due to high demand on the server.

Setting Up mapping rules (if using bank feed only)

If you’ve only used the Bank Feed portion of your QuickBooks Online integration, set up mapping rules in Accounting > Get Started. You won’t need to disconnect the bank feed; our system will recognize the setup. Click Next twice to complete the connection. If Next is grayed out, follow the on-screen error message. Refresh the feed tiles, or if there’s an authentication error, QuickBooks Online will prompt you to update your credentials. If issues persist, fully remove and re-add the bank feed in QuickBooks Online.

Setup page unresponsive

If the setup page seems unresponsive, and you can't select any options or see your credit cards in QuickBooks Online, try the following:

• Clear your browser cache and cookies, disable any VPNs, and try using an incognito browser window.
• Check if there is an active connection between Brex and QuickBooks Online in your Brex dashboard under Integrations.

If these steps don't resolve the issue, disconnect and reconnect the integration in your Brex dashboard. If the system believes a connection already exists, there may be a conflict.

Transactions won’t export to QuickBooks Online

To help troubleshoot, please refer to the relevant section(s) below, depending on whether you have expenses data enabled.