Expensify + NetSuite Integration

Expensify Does the Easy Part

Expensify is good at what it does. Employees snap photos of receipts. The app extracts merchant, amount, category. Managers approve. Finance has a nice clean expense report.

Then what?

Someone on your team exports that data and keys it into NetSuite. Line by line. Checking account codes. Fixing the inevitable categorization mistakes. Matching to employees. Posting the journal entry or vendor bill.

The last mile is killing you.

How We Fix This

Our Expensify-NetSuite integration picks up approved expense reports and posts them to NetSuite automatically. You review instead of create.

The Flow

1. Employee submits expense report in Expensify
2. Manager approves through normal Expensify workflow
3. Final approval triggers the integration
4. Integration creates JE or Vendor Bill in NetSuite
5. Receipts attach to the transaction
6. Your team reviews the posted entries

The turnaround? Usually under an hour from final approval to posted entry.

Posting Options

Different companies handle expense reimbursement differently. We support:

Journal Entries: Debit expense accounts, credit a clearing account or due-to-employee. Reimbursement happens outside NetSuite (Expensify's ACH or your own process).

Vendor Bills: Each employee is a vendor. Approved expenses create a bill. Pay through normal AP process. Better if you want all cash out flowing through NetSuite AP.

Employee Advances: If you use NetSuite's expense report and advance features, we can tie into that system instead.

Most clients prefer journal entries for simplicity, but we build what matches your accounting workflow.

Account Coding

Expensify categories don't match your NetSuite chart of accounts one-to-one. "Meals" in Expensify might be three different accounts in NetSuite depending on context.

We build a mapping layer:

• Expensify category → GL account
• Default department/class from employee record
• Override rules for specific expense types
• Project/job coding when relevant

Your finance team can adjust the mapping without developer involvement. Add a new Expensify category? Update the spreadsheet, re-import, done.

Receipt Attachments

Those scanned receipts live in Expensify. The integration pulls them and attaches to the NetSuite transaction. When auditors ask for documentation, it's there. No hunting through email or separate systems.

Employee Matching

The integration needs to match Expensify users to NetSuite employees or vendors. Usually this is email address matching. For more complex setups with multiple entities, we add additional logic.

New employees added to Expensify? We can auto-create the NetSuite record or flag for manual setup depending on your preference.

Why Not Use Expensify's Native Integration?

Expensify does have a NetSuite integration. It works for basic scenarios. But it has limitations:

Rigid mapping: The native integration makes assumptions about your account structure that may not match your COA.

Limited customization: Complex allocation rules, multi-subsidiary logic, or non-standard posting requirements don't fit.

Error handling: When things break, the error messages are often cryptic. Troubleshooting requires Expensify support intervention.

No receipts: Last we checked, the native integration doesn't transfer receipt images. You lose the audit trail.

If your setup is straightforward and the native integration works, use it. But most clients calling us have already tried it and hit walls.

What We've Solved

"We need to split expenses across multiple departments"

Allocation rules can distribute a single expense across cost centers based on fixed percentages or dynamic calculations.

"Different subsidiaries have different charts of accounts"

Multi-subsidiary mapping handles this. Employee's subsidiary determines which account mapping applies.

"We have project-based billing and need expenses tied to jobs"

Project/job coding passes through from Expensify (if employees enter it) or derives from rules you define.

"Some expenses need additional approval before posting"

We can create entries in pending status for finance review, or trigger approval workflows in NetSuite before finalization.

"International employees expense in different currencies"

Multi-currency posting with exchange rate handling. Currency converts at either Expensify's rate or NetSuite's rate—your choice.

Implementation

Timeline: 2-4 weeks for most implementations

Week 1: Requirements, mapping design, environment setup Week 2: Build integration, configure mapping Week 3: Testing with real expense reports Week 4: Go-live, monitoring, adjustment

Simpler setups go faster. Multi-subsidiary with complex allocation adds time.

Cost: $12,000-$30,000 depending on complexity

Standard single-entity implementation runs $12,000-$18,000. Multi-subsidiary, complex allocation, or unusual requirements push toward $25,000-$30,000.

Ongoing: $300-$800/month for support and maintenance

Making the Decision

This integration makes sense if:

• You have 30+ employees regularly submitting expenses
• Month-end expense posting takes more than 2 hours
• You're seeing coding errors that require correction after the fact
• Your accountant is frustrated with the current process
• You need receipt attachments in NetSuite for audits

It's probably overkill if you have a handful of employees with minimal travel. Just enter those manually.

What We Need from You

To scope an Expensify integration, we'll ask:

1. How many expense reports per month?
2. How many Expensify categories do you use?
3. How many GL accounts do expenses hit?
4. Multi-subsidiary? How many?
5. Any project/job coding requirements?
6. JE or vendor bill for reimbursement?

Bring answers to a call and we'll tell you exactly what it takes to connect these systems.

Talk to us about Expensify integration