Setting up an Intacct Integration

Abacus integrates directly with Intacct, which automatically pushes expense data into your accounting software for both reimbursable expenses (Bills and Bill Payments) and corporate card transactions (Cash Management charge card transactions). 

Connect to Intacct

Integration Requirements

Everyone's Intacct configuration is slightly different, so the screenshots in this article might not align exactly with what you see in your Intacct account.

You must enable the Web Services subscription via Company > Subscriptions (or Company > Admin > Subscriptions in Intacct). 

The integration requires creating a new user in Intacct. This user's sole purpose is to authenticate the integration during the initial integration setup. You can preface the user ID name with "XML_Gateway" to indicate that this is a web services user only. (This will also allow you to avoid paying for an additional user license in Intacct.) 

If you plan on syncing corporate card transactions to Intacct, you must have the Charge Card module enabled in your account.To create a new Charge Card account, select Charge Card Accounts in the Cash Management Section. You will be given a list of accounts already set up, along with the option to set up a new Charge Card Account.

If you have more than one entity set up in your Intacct, you will need to specify the User/Role to that entity.

Determine Whether Your Intacct Permissions Are User-Based or Role-Based

Intacct has two permissions settings: user-based permissions and role-based permissions. If you are not sure which type you have, you can check by navigating to Company > Company info.

Scroll down to Global Settings, and you'll see which oermission type your account has.

Depending on which one applies to you, follow the instructions below for User-Based Permissions Account Setup or Role-Based Permissions Account Setup.

User-Based Permissions Account Setup

1. Create a new user. This is the user who will authorize the connection between Abacus and Intacct. 

Navigate to the Company tab, then Admin, and select Web Services Users.

2. Click Add User.

• User ID: This should be "Abacus" to identify the user role that will facilitate the integration and must be unique.
• First and Last Name: This can be "Abacus" again and must be unique.
• Email address: Use an email address to which you have access. The email address cannot match any other email address tied to a previous user in Intacct. If your email is hosted by Gmail, you may add a unique identifier to the address by adding a plus sign (i.e.. yourname+intacct@company.com)

3. Give the user Full Admin privileges and click Save.

4. You will see a confirmation pop-up that indicates additional charges may apply. Please check with your Intacct rep about whether you will incur additional charges.

5.  Next, enter your Intacct password.

6. Make sure each of these permissions is checked, and click Save.

• Administration
• Company
• Cash Management
• General Ledger
• Accounts Payable
• Platform Services
• Projects

7. Click into the permissions for each application and module to make sure all of the above are checked. 

8. Check your email. You should have received an email with details about your credentials: 

• Password
• Intacct Company ID
• User ID

9. Navigate back to Abacus and click Connect to Intacct. 

10. You will be prompted to enter the information found in the email you just received from Intacct.

Abacus and Intacct are now connected. See Customize Your Intacct Integration, below, for next steps.

Role-Based Permissions Account Setup

Create the Abacus Role

1. To add a role, hover over Company and click the + button next to Roles. The Roles Information page appears.

2. In the Name field, add a name for the role (this can be "Abacus"). You will not be able to change this name after you save the role.

3. Optionally, you may enter a description of the role.

4. Click Save. The Roles Subscriptions page appears. On this page, make sure the following subscriptions are checked.

• Company
• Cash Management
• General Ledger
• Accounts Payable
• Platform Services
• Projects
• Time & Expenses
• Inventory Control
• Order Entry
• Purchasing

5. For each subscription, click into the Permissions setting one at a time.

6. When you have finished assigning permissions to the role, click Save.

The Modules that Abacus needs all permissions for are: 

• Cash Management – Charge Card Transactions
• Accounts Payable – Bills and Manual Payment 

The Modules that Abacus needs List and View permissions for are: 

• Department
• Location
• Class
• Projects
• General Leger
• Charge Card Accounts
• Checking accounts
• Savings accounts
• etc.

Create the Abacus User

This is the user who will authorize the connection between Abacus and Intacct. 

1. Navigate to the Company tab, and select Users.

2. Click Add User.

• User ID: This should be "Abacus" to identify the user role that will facilitate the integration and must be unique.
• First and Last Name: This can be "Abacus" again and must be unique.
• Email address: Use an email address to which you have access. The email address cannot match any other email address tied to a previous user in Intacct. If your email is hosted by Gmail, you may add a unique identifier to the address by adding a plus sign (i.e.. yourname+intacct@company.com)

3. You will see a confirmation pop-up that indicates additional charges may apply. Please check with your Intacct rep about whether you will incur additional charges.

4. Next, enter your Intacct password.

Assign the User to the Abacus Role 

Go to the user's record (Company > Users > Edit) to assign a role to a user.

1. On the User Information screen, click the Roles Information tab.

2. In the Role Name text box, click the down arrow to see a list of roles from which to choose. Then click to select a role for the new user. Optionally, you can create a new role for the user.

3. When you finish entering information, click Save to save your changes and display the list of users.

Set the Sender ID for a Web Services User

1. Go to the top-level entity in Intacct.

2. Navigate to Company > Setup > Company Info > Security Tab.

3. Edit the Company Information and scroll to Web Services Authorizations. Click Add and enter "AbacusLabs" as the SenderID, then click Save.

Customize Your Intacct Integration

Once Abacus is connected to Intacct, the next step is customizing the integration.

Step 1: Select a Default Expense Account

On the Accounting Sync settings page in Abacus, select a default expense account. This default expense account will be applied for any expenses that are missing a category. This should be something like "miscellaneous" or "other expense" in your chart of accounts. Keep in mind that if any items in your GL change in Intacct, they will also need to be updated in Abacus.

Step 2: Choose Your Sync Option for Corporate Card Transactions 

Toggle Accounting Sync Settings off if you want corporate card transactions to sync automatically to Intacct once they are in a "completed" state.

• In this mode, corporate card transactions will sync automatically to Intacct after an admin approves the transaction and it is marked as complete. 

Toggle Accounting Sync Settings on if you prefer a manual, pre-reviewed sync. 

• This setting requires an additional review of corporate card transactions prior to syncing them to Intacct. Approved corporate card transactions will appear on the Accounting page in the Admin menu bar. Admins can view and edit transaction details before syncing them to Intacct. Learn more about the manual accounting sync feature here. 

Step 3: Select a Source Bank Account

Select the bank account from Intacct that will be used to reimburse your company expenses. 

Step 4: Set Your Close Date (Corporate Card Only)

This setting allows you to sync corporate card expenses into Intacct even if they are dated in a closed month. By setting a close date, these transactions will be synced to the first day of the closest open month. 

If you officially close your books in Intacct, you'll want to come to your Accounting Sync History page in Abacus each month and enter in your close date. 

Under Company Settings, click the Accounting Sync tab, then click the Accounting Sync History button in the upper right corner.

Enter the desired date in the Close Date field.

Step 5: Corporate Card Mapping

If you are managing corporate cards in Abacus, you will need to select the accounts that you want the corporate card transactions to sync to. You have the option to sync to a single card feed or, if you are managing multiple card programs in Abacus and have separate feeds per card, multiple card feeds. 

If you don't see a card account to map to, you will need to create Credit Card accounts in Intacct. This feature is specifically for corporate card management in Intacct.

To set up an account, go to Cash Management, and then click Open Setup in the bottom right. 

Then select Charge Card Accounts and fill out the details of your corporate cards. 

More Information About Vendor Syncing in Intacct

• The Payee and the Description fields will include the vendor information.
• A new vendor will not be created in your main vendor list for corporate card transactions. However, you will still be able to search by Payee field in Intacct.

• Be aware of a setting in your General Ledger setup that enables the vendor field to autopopulate. This will need to be disabled, since the vendor field is not populated in the Dimension.
• Each GL setting will need to have "vendor required" disabled.

Step 6: Select Default Items for Custom Fields

Abacus pulls in the following data from Intacct: Class, Location, Department, Customer, Item, and Project. You have the option to create custom fields in Abacus and map them to these fields in Intacct. 

You can optionally add default mappings for these fields in your Accounting Sync settings page. Each expense that is missing this field will be associated with the default item you select here.

When you are done, click Save.

Step 7: Map Your Categories 

The final step is to map Abacus categories to your Intacct categories.

Click on the Categories tab. You will see a new column called Intacct Chart of Accounts. You can add and remove categories in the Category column on the left (this is what everyone on your team will see in Abacus) and then map them to the corresponding category/account in Intacct on the right. 

Map Custom Fields in Abacus to Intacct

You can create an unlimited amount of custom Team and Expense fields in Abacus to add additional information to each expense. These fields can map to Class, Department, Location, Customer, Item, and Project in Intacct. Click the links below to learn how to create each field type.

• Team Fields are customizable fields that you can add to a member's profile, like Department or Team. This data will be attached to employees expenses automatically. 
• Expense Fields are customizable fields that you can add to the expense submission form. You can create a custom drop-down menu on the expense form for your employees to fill out while submitting their expenses.