Set up your accounting codes
Add your bank, expense, and VAT accounting codes so Spendesk can match your payments to your chart of accounts. You need these codes to use the Prepare and Export features.
For: Account Owners and Controllers.
Table of Contents
Before you start
Role required: Account Owner or Controller.
Why you need this: You only need to add accounting codes if you use the Prepare or Export features. If you only use account statements or the purchase journal without accounting information, you can skip this setup.
Employee accounts: If your expense claims module is activated, set these up separately. See Employee accounts: Set up and Edit.
👥 Only Account Owners and Controllers can set up accounting codes.
Add your bank accounts
Navigate to Settings > Chart of accounts > Bank accounts.
Enter your Spendesk bank account code (this is your own chart of accounts code for the Spendesk bank account, for example account class 512 under the French PCG).
Enter your bank fees account code. This account records interchange fees and cash withdrawal service fees.
Enter your funding bank account code. This is usually your corporate bank account, the one you use to fund your Spendesk account.
Click Save.
💡 Account codes shown in Spendesk articles (for example 512 or 627) follow the French PCG chart of accounts. Your own codes may differ depending on your country or accounting software.
Add your expense accounts
You can add expense accounts manually or in bulk.
Add manually:
Navigate to Settings > Chart of accounts > Expense accounts.
Enter the account name.
Enter the accounting code.
Click Save.
Add in bulk:
Navigate to Settings > Chart of accounts > Expense accounts.
Click Download template.
Fill in the template with your account names and codes.
Import the completed file.
Add your VAT codes
Navigate to Settings > Chart of accounts > VAT accounts.
Review the default VAT rates for your country (already pre-filled).
Edit the account name in the first column if needed.
Edit the account code in the third column if needed.
Add any additional VAT rates at the bottom of the table if needed.
Click Save.
Once saved, VAT rates appear in Bookkeep > Prepare as the account code and account name combined, so you can search by either.
🔒 VAT accounts are not displayed on US company accounts, since the US does not use VAT.
Set up reverse charge accounts
Reverse charge applies when your company buys goods or services from another EU country and must self-declare VAT. Two tax accounts are debited and credited for each reverse charge transaction.
Navigate to Settings > Chart of accounts > VAT accounts.
Locate the reverse charge section.
Enter your debit and credit account codes for the reverse charge.
Click Save.
You can add more than one reverse charge account. VAT codes do not appear on bank fees lines in your export.
💡 Each reverse charge account uses the standard VAT rate defined for the country of the entity it belongs to. You can't create a reverse charge account with a custom or different rate.
⚠️ If you use a single-entry file-based export, you can only enter one account code for reverse charge, since single-entry exports don't have separate debit and credit columns. Double-entry exports let you enter both.
Troubleshooting
Symptom: I can't use Prepare or Export.
Cause: No accounting codes have been added yet.
Resolution: Add at least your bank accounts, following the steps in Add your bank accounts. Account statements and the purchase journal work without any accounting codes.
Symptom: I can't set a custom rate for my reverse charge account.
Cause: Reverse charge accounts always use the standard VAT rate defined for the entity's country. Custom or different rates aren't supported.
Resolution: Use the standard rate for your entity's country. If you operate multiple entities with different countries, set up a separate reverse charge account per entity.
Symptom: Currency or foreign exchange fees are missing from my export.
Cause: Currency fees only appear in the bank journal, and only on the last day of the month.
Resolution: Check the bank journal for the relevant month-end date rather than individual transaction dates.
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