What is Microsoft Business Central Spend?
Microsoft Business Central Spend pairs with Airwallex’s Bank Feed to bring your card expenses, reimbursements, and bills into Business Central, so your books are ready for month-end close.
The Microsoft Business Central Spend connection is an add-on to the Bank Feed integration. It enables you to:
- Import your Business Central G/L accounts, vendors, dimensions, tax codes, inventory items and deferral templates into Airwallex; and
- Sync card expenses, reimbursement reports and bills to Business Central as purchase invoices, with a vendor payment applied to each one when it’s paid. Receipts, invoices and accounting allocations sync alongside each spend item.
Syncing purchase orders to Business Central is not supported at this time. Credit notes are also not currently synced to Business Central.
Before you start
Make sure the following is in place in Business Central:
- You’re using Business Central online. On-premises Business Central is not supported.
- The Airwallex for Business Central app is installed from Microsoft AppSource in each environment you want to connect.
- The user who connects Airwallex has the AWX INTEGRATION permission set in each Business Central company you want to map.
- Multicurrency is set up for every currency you spend in. If a card expense is billed in a different currency to the transaction currency, the Business Central currency needs Realized Gains Acc. and Realized Losses Acc. set so Airwallex can post the exchange difference.
- Vendors have a Gen. Bus. Posting Group and Vendor Posting Group. See Resolve the “Vendor Posting Group must have a value” sync error.
- If you use approval workflows for purchase invoices in Business Central, exempt invoices created by Airwallex from them. Otherwise, Airwallex can’t post these invoices and they’ll fail to sync. See Exempt Airwallex-created purchase invoices from approval workflows.
How do I set up Microsoft Business Central Spend?
- Log in to Airwallex.
- Go to Settings > Connections > Microsoft Business Central > Spend.
- If you have not yet connected to the Microsoft Business Central Bank Feed, the Microsoft Business Central Spend connection flow will begin by requiring you to set it up. You can find a detailed step-by-step for this process here.
- Map each Airwallex entity to the corresponding Business Central company. Each Business Central company can only be mapped to one Airwallex entity.
- Map each Airwallex currency (Cash and Credit) to a Business Central bank account. Vendor payments for each currency post against this bank account, so they match the lines Bank Feed sends to Business Central.
- Import Microsoft Business Central accounting data to Airwallex: this includes importing your accounts, vendors, dimensions, and tax codes. We’ll email you once your data is ready to configure.
- G/L accounts are imported as Expense Categories. Only posting accounts that aren’t blocked, in the Expense, Cost of Goods Sold, Assets or Liabilities categories, are imported.
- Dimensions are imported as Airwallex tracking categories, and dimension values as their options.
- Tax codes are imported as tax rates. For companies that use VAT, these are your VAT Product Posting Groups. For companies that use US sales tax, these are your Tax Groups.
- Inventory items are imported so you can add them to bill lines. Only items with the type Inventory that aren’t blocked or blocked for purchasing are imported.
- Deferral templates are imported as amortisation schedules, which you can add to bill lines. When the bill syncs, Business Central creates the deferral schedule from the template’s Deferral Code.
- By default, all card expenses sync to a generic “Airwallex Expenses” vendor. If you would like card expenses to sync to the actual merchant you’ve attributed them to, you must navigate to Spend > Accounting > Settings and change ‘Display Microsoft Business Central vendors to employees’ to ‘Enabled’
- Please note that tax codes do not currently display their associated rate value in Airwallex. The correct rate will still be applied when synced back to Business Central.
- Configure accounting data as desired: you may select (enable), deselect (disable / hide), or rename each individual value. To pick up changes made in Business Central, use Refresh accounting data on the connection page.
- Review your sync settings in Spend > Accounting > Settings (see below). Settings are configured separately for each entity.
- An Expense Category (G/L account) is required on every expense, reimbursement and bill line before it can sync to Business Central – items without one will not sync.
What sync settings can I configure?
Go to Spend > Accounting > Settings and select the entity you want to configure.
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Purchase invoice and payment posting in Business Central | Post purchase invoices and payments (default); Post purchase invoices, keep payments unposted; or Don’t post purchase invoices or payments (the invoice is left open as a draft and the payment journal line is created but not posted). Applies to card expenses and reimbursements. Bills are always posted. |
| Automatically sync card expenses upon approval | On approval (default) or Manual sync only. |
| Sync card expenses using | Transaction date (default) or Settlement date. |
| Sync reimbursement reports using | Submission date (default), Earliest transaction date or Latest transaction date. |
| Vendor syncing preference (reimbursements) | Individual vendor – one Business Central vendor per employee, matched by email address and created if needed; or Default vendor – all reports sync to the ‘Airwallex Expenses’ vendor. |
| Locked period preference | Change to next open period – the posting date moves to the first open date allowed in Business Central; or Failed to sync. |
| Display Microsoft Business Central vendors to employees | When enabled, employees can choose a Business Central vendor as the merchant on their expense. |
How do card expenses sync to Business Central?
Each card expense syncs to Business Central as a purchase invoice, with a vendor payment applied to it. Whether the invoice and payment are posted depends on your posting setting.
When do card expenses sync?
- Automatically, after final approval: sync is triggered in real time.
- Individually or in bulk by any admin: admins may use the Accounting hub to bulk sync transactions, or use the individual “Sync” button on an expense.
For card expenses, transactions that are still pending when approved will only begin syncing once the transaction settles.
How do card expense fields sync to Business Central?
| Airwallex | Business Central purchase invoice |
|---|---|
| Entity / Organisation | Business Central company, resolved from the entity mapping. |
| Merchant | Vendor. If no Business Central vendor is selected, Airwallex uses the ‘Airwallex Expenses’ vendor and creates it if it doesn’t exist. |
| Invoice number | Vendor Invoice No. If none is entered, Airwallex generates a reference starting with AWX-EXP-. |
| Transaction date | Document Date and Posting Date (uses the transaction date by default, or the settlement date if “Settlement date” is selected in Spend > Accounting > Settings). |
| Transaction currency | Invoice currency. Left blank when it’s the company’s local currency. |
| Billed currency | Vendor payment currency, posted against the Business Central bank account mapped for that currency. If this differs from the transaction currency, the exchange difference is posted to the currency’s realised gains or losses account. |
| Expense Category (Account) | G/L Account line. This is always required to initiate a sync. |
| Line item Tax rate | Tax code on the invoice line. This overrides the G/L account’s default. |
| Line item Tracking Categories | Dimensions on the invoice line. |
| Line item Description | Invoice line description (if unpopulated in Airwallex it falls back to the expense description, then “Airwallex Expenses”). Limited to 100 characters. |
| Line item Amount | Invoice line amount, in the transaction currency. If the expense has no line items, the transaction amount is used. |
| Receipts | Purchase invoice attachments. |
| Description and notes | Purchase invoice comments. |
How are vendor payments recorded?
Airwallex creates a payment journal batch for each currency and wallet, named Airwallex Spend (CCY – CASH) or Airwallex Spend (CCY – CREDIT). The batch’s balancing account is the Business Central bank account you mapped for that currency. Each payment line is applied to its purchase invoice and carries the invoice’s dimensions.
How do reimbursements sync to Business Central?
Each reimbursement report syncs to Business Central as a single purchase invoice, with one line for each reimbursement line item. When the reimbursement is paid from Airwallex, a vendor payment is applied to the invoice. For more detail, see How reimbursements sync to Microsoft Business Central.
| Airwallex | Business Central purchase invoice |
|---|---|
| Entity / Organisation | Business Central company, resolved from the entity mapping. |
| Submitter | Vendor. Depending on your vendor syncing preference, Airwallex uses the shared ‘Airwallex Expenses’ vendor, or finds or creates a Business Central vendor for the submitter, matched by email address. |
| Report date | Document Date and Posting Date, based on your reimbursement date setting (submission, earliest or latest transaction date). |
| Report currency | Invoice currency. |
| Line item Chart of Account | G/L Account line. This is required; a reimbursement report cannot sync without an Expense Category on every line. |
| Line item Tax rate | Tax code on the invoice line. |
| Line item Tracking Categories | Dimensions on the invoice line. |
| Line item Description | Invoice line description. |
| Line item Amount | Invoice line amount. Mileage lines sync the distance as the quantity where the rate allows it. |
| Receipts | Purchase invoice attachments. |
| Notes | Purchase invoice comments. |
| Reimbursement payment | Vendor payment, posted against the bank account mapped for the Cash wallet in that currency. If the transfer fails, the payment is removed. |
How do bills sync to Business Central?
Bills sync to Business Central as posted purchase invoices.
| Airwallex | Business Central purchase invoice |
|---|---|
| Entity / Organisation | Business Central company, resolved from the entity mapping. |
| Vendor | Vendor. If the vendor was created in Airwallex, it’s created in Business Central on sync, or linked to an existing vendor with the same name. |
| Invoice number | Vendor Invoice No. |
| Bill date | Document Date. |
| Accounting date | Posting Date. |
| Due date | Due Date. |
| Bill currency | Invoice currency. |
| Line item Chart of Account or Item | G/L Account line, or Item line for inventory items. Every line needs one. |
| Line item Quantity × Unit Amount | Line quantity and direct unit cost. |
| Line item Tax rate | Tax code on the invoice line. |
| Line item Tracking Categories | Dimensions on the invoice line. |
| Line item Amortisation schedule | Deferral Code on the invoice line. Business Central creates the deferral schedule when the invoice posts. |
| Attachments | Purchase invoice attachments. |
| Notes | Purchase invoice comments. |
When an Airwallex bill is paid, the payment syncs to Business Central as a posted vendor payment, applied to the corresponding purchase invoice.
Open purchase invoices created directly in Business Central can also be imported into Airwallex Bills, so you can pay them from Airwallex.
What if a sync fails?
Failed items show a Sync failed status with the reason. Fix the issue in Airwallex or Business Central, then sync the item again. If a sync fails partway, Airwallex removes the draft invoice or cancels the posted one, so you won’t get duplicates when you retry.
| Message in Airwallex | What to check in Business Central |
|---|---|
| Field value(s) have been archived in Business Central | The G/L account, dimension, dimension value or vendor is blocked. Unblock it, or choose a different value in Airwallex. |
| Invalid field value | The G/L account, tax code, dimension or vendor no longer exists, or the G/L account has Direct Posting turned off or no Gen. Prod. Posting Group. Refresh your accounting data and check the account setup. |
| Missing one or more mandatory field values | A dimension is set to Code Mandatory on the G/L account or vendor. Add a value for that tracking category in Airwallex. |
| Transaction date is outside the lock date | The posting date is outside Allow Posting From / To in General Ledger Setup or User Setup. Open the period, or set your locked period preference to “Change to next open period”. |
| Vendor is missing posting group(s) | The vendor needs a Gen. Bus. Posting Group and Vendor Posting Group, and a matching VAT Posting Setup must exist. |
| Currency is not connected | The currency isn’t mapped to a Business Central bank account. Map it on the connection page. |
| Business Central connection issue | Reconnect Business Central from the connection page, and check the Airwallex app is still installed and the AWX INTEGRATION permission set is assigned. |