Spendesk supports a native integration with DATEV Rechnungswesen, allowing you to seamlessly export your payables and synchronize your accounting data.
To access this integration, you need Spendesk to grant you access beforehand. Please contact your Customer Success Manager or Account Manager.
Prerequisites:
DATEV Rechnungswesen with an active DATEVConnect licence (on-premise or hosted version);
If you are using DATEV SmartIT hosting, Riecken Cloud Gateway installed on your DATEV server (request installation via this DATEV portal)
Otherwise, Windows credentials of a user account linked to DATEV — see Prerequisites;
Consultant Number (Beraternummer) and Client Number (Mandantennummer) for your DATEV instance;
You must be an Account Owner or Controller in Spendesk.
Connection steps
Step 1 — Select the integration on Spendesk
Before switching your Accounting Base, make sure you don't have any open invoices or expense claims in your ERP. If you pay them from Spendesk after switching your Accounting Base, Spendesk will not be able to export the payment and reconcile it with the open invoice.
Your new Accounting Base will be based on your ERP settings. All unexported payables will need to be prepared again.
Go to Settings > Accounting Setup and click Switch Integration.
Choose DATEV Kanzlei Rechnungswesen - SmartIT or DATEV Kanzlei Rechnungswesen from the dropdown (depending on your DATEV hosting type).
Read through the explanation and click Continue, then Switch Integration.
Click Build connection. You will be redirected to the Chift connection page.
Step 2 — Name your connection
Choose a name for your connection. If the connection name field is not visible, skip this step and continue.
Step 3 — Choose whether to send attachments
Select whether you want to send receipt attachments (PDFs, invoices, receipts) to DATEV Unternehmen Online (DUO).
If you select Yes, a valid DATEV Unternehmen Online licence is required (see Prerequisites).
If you do not plan to send attachments, select No — DUO is not required.
ℹ️ If you do not see this option, your settings have been preset by Spendesk.
Step 4 — Enter your Consultant Number and Client Number
Enter your Consultant Number (Beraternummer) and Client Number (Mandantennummer).
Where to find them:
Go to the DATEV Unternehmen Online sign-in page.
Click Show document overview.
The numbers are shown on the right, below Settings:
First number = Consultant Number (Beraternummer)
Second number = Client Number (Mandantennummer)
⚠️ Important: These numbers must match exactly. An incorrect Beraternummer is the most common cause of connection failure.
Step 5 — Enter your Windows credentials or Client ID and secret
Enter the Windows username and password of the user account linked to your DATEV account (as described in the Prerequisites) or the Client ID and secret of the Riecken Cloud Gateway. This is the account DATEV uses to authenticate API requests.
Step 6 — Authorise and download the Local Agent installer (only with the non-SmartIT version)
Click Authorise. A dialog will appear with two options to retrieve the Local Agent installer:
Download directly: If you have access to the DATEV server, click Download to download the installer directly.
Send by email: If DATEV is hosted on a separate server, you can send the installer by email — for example, to the IT team or hosting company responsible for the DATEV server.
ℹ️ The installer package (Setup.zip) contains everything needed to connect Spendesk to your DATEV instance. It must be run on the same machine where DATEV Rechnungswesen is installed.
Note that the the local agent package contains a unique connection number. For each connection initiated from Spendesk, there is one and only one version of the local agent that will work. This connection information is stored in settings.json file.
If you destroy the current connection in Spendesk, you need to uninstall the local agent from the DATEV server. A newly created connection will not be able connect to the old local agent. A new local agent will need to be installed for the newly created connection. Alternatively, you can replace the settings.json file with a new one and restart the LocalAPIService service.
Next steps
Once you have the installer, proceed to install the Chift Local Agent on your DATEV server to complete the connection.