Before starting the connection flow in Spendesk, make sure the elements below are in place. You will need to make your DATEVConnect APIs accessible over the internet. This can be done either by installing the Riecken Cloud Gateway (if you are using DATEV SmartIT hosting) or installing a local agent that Spendesk generates during the connection process (for all other types of hosting). If you need assistance, your Customer Success Manager or Account Manager can help you coordinate with your IT team or DATEV administrator.
Prerequisites checklist
1. DATEV licences
Licence | Requirement |
DATEV Rechnungswesen licence | Mandatory. Owned either by your company or provided through your accountant / tax advisor. |
DATEVConnect licence | Mandatory. Enables API access. Usually already included in DATEV installations but must be activated. If missing, you can order it for free via the DATEV shop. |
DATEV Unternehmen Online (DUO) with Belegbilderservice | Only required if you want to send receipts (PDFs) to DATEV. Spendesk sends each receipt to the DATEV document image service (Belegbilderservice), which is part of DUO. If you answer Yes to sending receipts and the service isn't enabled for your DATEV client, the connection fails with an error that names the Belegbilderservice. |
How to confirm your licences:
In DATEV Arbeitsplatz, go to Licence Management (Lizenzverwaltung) to view installed licences.
Or request confirmation from your DATEV administrator, accountant (Steuerberater), or DATEV service partner.
2.1 Riecken Cloud Gateway installation (for SmartIT hosting environments)
Request installation of the Riecken Cloud Gateway in your DATEV environment via this DATEV portal.
Reach out to your customer success representative or customer care agent so that they can provide a self-onboarding link. You will need to provide your Mandatennummer and Beraternummer to them.
Click on the onboarding link and fill in the remaining information. You will get a client ID and secret which you will use instead of Windows user login and password.
2.2 Windows user account requirements (all other hosting environments)
During the connection flow, you will be asked for the Windows username and password of a Windows user account that is linked to a DATEV user with the following permissions:
✔ Access to the relevant mandate / company in DATEV Rechnungswesen
✔ Rights to use the DATEVConnect service
✔ Sufficient rights to read and write accounting data
DATEV requires that API authentication is performed using a Windows login mapped to a DATEV user account. This mapping is configured in DATEV Benutzerverwaltung (User Management). Have these credentials ready before starting the connection.
3. DATEV client data
Fiscal years (Wirtschaftsjahre): the DATEV client must have a fiscal year for every date you export. Card payments are dated on the day the bank settled them; a payment dated before the first fiscal year set up in DATEV is refused. Check that the earliest fiscal year covers your first export period.
Cost centres (Kostenstellen): Spendesk names each cost centre after its DATEV short name (Kurzbezeichnung). Give every cost centre you will use a short name, and make short names unique, before you connect.
4. Spendesk requirements
You must be an Account Owner or Controller in Spendesk.
Access to this integration must be granted by your Spendesk representative — please contact your Customer Success Manager or Account Manager to enable it.
Next steps
Once you have validated all the prerequisites, you can start the connection from Spendesk: