An accounting integration transfers financial and transaction data between an operational system and accounting software using defined mappings and controls. It can automate invoice, customer, supplier, payment and reconciliation entries, but automation does not remove the need to validate source data and posting rules.
What data can be integrated?
- Customers, suppliers and chart-of-account mappings
- Invoices, credit notes and tax information
- Payments, fees, currency conversion and settlement
- Purchase orders, receipts and expense coding
- Journal entries and reconciliation references
How does the integration work?
- Define the source event and destination accounting treatment.
- Map entities, accounts, taxes, currencies and dimensions.
- Authenticate the systems and control permitted actions.
- Transmit records with unique identifiers and timestamps.
- Return success or error results and reconcile totals.
Integration vs. file import
An integration usually exchanges data through an API, connector or scheduled process. A file import moves a prepared batch. Both can be controlled, but an integration often requires stronger monitoring for duplicate events, failed retries and mapping changes.
What should be tested?
Test normal entries, taxes, partial payments, fees, refunds, credit notes, currency differences and duplicate prevention. Preserve an audit trail from the accounting entry back to the source transaction and integration response.
