Once your Spendesk account is connected to DATEV Rechnungswesen, Spendesk pulls your master data and lets you use it in Spendesk. Follow these steps to set up your journals, analytical dimensions, accounts, suppliers and employees.
Configuration steps
After you have successfully connected Spendesk to DATEV Rechnungswesen and installed the Local Agent, follow these steps to configure your accounting setup.
Step 1 — Journals
Navigate to Settings > Accounting Setup > Accounting integration.
Purchase journal (invoices): select BILL – Eingangsrechnung. Don't select a money account (Kasse, Bank, Geldtransit…) here: they are listed too, but they are not purchase journals.
Bank journal (payments): select the DATEV money account your Spendesk payments are booked against. It is required to export card payments.
The journals are not the same thing as the default supplier account (Step 3): a journal says where an entry is booked, the default supplier says which creditor is used instead of the real supplier.
Step 2 — Analytical fields mapping (KOST1 / KOST2)
Navigate to Settings > Accounting Setup > Mapping & sync. Your DATEV cost-centre systems (KOST-System 1 and KOST-System 2) are listed there.
For each KOST system you want to use, link it to a Spendesk analytical field, then refresh the accounting settings.
If you need to create new analytical fields in Spendesk, you can do so under Settings > Organisation > Analytical fields.
⚠️ How values are named: each Spendesk value is named after the DATEV short name (Kurzbezeichnung) of the cost centre; the DATEV code shows in the "Mapped value" column. Before the first refresh, make sure every cost centre you use has a short name, and that no two cost centres share one. Two cost centres with the same short name, or one without a short name, can't be used on payables.
ℹ️ A KOST system is missing? If one of the two KOST systems isn't offered, DATEV returns it as inactive for this client. Contact our support team with your DATEV client number so we can check it with our integration partner.
Step 3 — Chart of accounts settings
Navigate to Settings > Chart of accounts.
On the Bank accounts tab, select the accounts you will use in Spendesk.
On the Expense accounts tab, switch on the accounts you book to. After the first connection, all accounts are switched off, including balance-sheet and stock accounts, because DATEV doesn't tell which accounts are expense accounts. The accounts you switch on stay on after later refreshes. Nothing needs to change in DATEV.
On the VAT accounts tab, verify that your tax keys (Steuerschlüssel) have been pulled from DATEV Rechnungswesen, and deactivate the ones you don't use. DATEV can have an old and a new tax key with the same name (for example two "Vorsteuer 19%"): keep only the key you book to, so the VAT list on payables shows a single line.
On the Supplier accounts tab, choose to automatically assign a collective supplier account (Sammelkreditor) to card purchases and/or expense claims, per card type, or use the individual creditor accounts (Kreditorenkonten). Invoices always use the supplier's own creditor.
On the Employee accounts tab, assign a collective account for employee expense claims, or configure specific accounts per employee (see Step 4).
Step 4 — Suppliers and employees import
Spendesk imports your creditors from DATEV Rechnungswesen and matches them with your existing suppliers and members in Spendesk.
Suppliers: creditors that are companies are matched to your Spendesk suppliers. If there is no existing matching supplier, Spendesk creates one.
Employees: DATEV has no separate employee object, so Spendesk uses the creditors that are not companies. They are matched to Spendesk members by email first, otherwise by exact name, only if that name is unique on both sides. If there is no match, Spendesk doesn't create a member and the member's expense claims show "No employee mapped".
To make the match work, create one DATEV creditor per employee who submits expense claims, with their email address, and avoid two creditors with the same name.
Important notes:
Spendesk does not create or update supplier records in DATEV Rechnungswesen. The supplier data flow is one-directional: DATEV → Spendesk.
To refresh your accounting settings, see When you change something in DATEV Rechnungswesen below.
Requirements in DATEV Rechnungswesen
Rule in DATEV | What happens if it is not met | Fix |
Each supplier (Kreditor) is recorded as a company in DATEV | Creditors not recorded as companies are imported as employee accounts, so the matching suppliers show no account payable ("Undefined") and their payables cannot be exported. | Mark these creditors as companies in DATEV, then click Refresh accounting settings. |
Cost centres (KOST1/KOST2) exist in DATEV with the values you use, each with a unique short name | The payable fails with "Please make sure analytical value "…" exists in DATEV Rechnungswesen, then click 'Refresh settings' (this might take around 5 min)", or shows "Missing KOST1". | Create or rename the cost centre in DATEV (numeric code, up to 8 digits), click Refresh accounting settings, check the mapping in Settings > Accounting Setup > Mapping & sync, retry. |
The client has a fiscal year (Wirtschaftsjahr) for every date you export | Payments dated before the first fiscal year are refused. | Create the fiscal year in DATEV, then export the payments again. |
The Windows user linked to DATEV keeps its DATEV rights and its password | The connection stops; exports fail. |
When you change something in DATEV Rechnungswesen: refresh your accounting settings
Spendesk doesn't see a change in DATEV Rechnungswesen until you refresh your accounting settings. This includes a new supplier, a new account, a new or renamed analytical value, or an employee.
How to refresh
Go to Settings > Accounting Setup > Accounting integration.
Click Refresh accounting settings. The button changes to Settings will get refreshed shortly! and stays disabled for a few minutes.
Wait about 5 minutes, then check your settings or retry your export. The date of the last refresh shows as Refreshed at [date] at the top of the section.
You can also click Refresh settings directly in a failed export's message.
What a refresh updates
your accounts (expense, tax, bank and supplier accounts) and journals;
your suppliers and employees, and their links with DATEV Rechnungswesen;
your analytical fields and their values. Each value is named after the DATEV short name of the cost centre.
What a refresh does not change
Prepared or ready payables keep the values they already have. If a value was renamed or removed, send the payable back to Prepare and select the new value.
Exports already started or failed are not retried for you. Retry them after the refresh.
Expense accounts you switched on or off keep their setting.
If nothing changes after a refresh
Check that you are still connected in Settings > Accounting Setup > Accounting integration. If you are disconnected, the refresh does nothing and no message tells you. Then contact Spendesk support with the time of your refresh.
Next steps
When you have completed the setup, you are ready to export your expenses and payments to DATEV Rechnungswesen.