What is the Exact Online Spend connection?
The Exact Online Spend connection pairs with Airwallex's Exact Online Bank Feed to bring your card expense, reimbursement, and bill management into Exact Online.
The Exact Online Spend connection is an add-on to the Bank Feed integration. It enables you to:
- Import your accounting data (chart of accounts, cost centres, cost units, VAT codes and suppliers) from Exact Online into Airwallex; and
- Sync card expenses, reimbursements, and bills back to Exact Online as Purchase Entries for reconciliation (receipts and invoices are synced alongside the relevant item).
How do I set up Exact Online Spend?
- Log in to Airwallex
- Navigate to Settings > Connections > Exact Online > Spend.
- If you have not yet connected to the Exact Online Bank Feed, the Spend connection flow will begin by requiring you to set this up first. You can find a detailed step-by-step for this process in the Exact Online Bank Feed article.
- Import your Exact Online accounting data into Airwallex: this includes your chart of accounts, cost centres, cost units, VAT codes and suppliers.
- Exact Online organises tracking into two dimensions - Cost Centre and Cost Unit - which map to Airwallex tracking categories.
- One Airwallex entity connects to one Exact Online division.
- Configure your accounting data as desired: you may select (enable), deselect (disable / hide), or rename each individual value.
- An Expense Category (chart of account) is required on every expense, bill and reimbursement line before it can sync to Exact Online - items without one will not sync.
How do card expenses sync to Exact Online?
Card expenses sync to Exact Online as Purchase Entries.
When do card expenses sync?
- Automatically, upon 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 Exact Online?
| Airwallex | Exact Online Purchase Entry |
|---|---|
| Entity / Organisation | Exact Online Division (resolved automatically from the connected entity) |
| Merchant | Supplier. If the linked merchant resolves to an imported, active Exact Online supplier, that supplier is used. Otherwise, defaults to a shared supplier called "Airwallex Expenses". |
| Transaction Date | Entry Date (uses the transaction date by default, or the settlement date if "sync using settlement date" is enabled in Spend > Accounting > Settings) |
| Transaction Currency | Currency |
| Purchase Journal | Airwallex automatically creates and uses a dedicated purchase journal per currency (e.g. "Airwallex Spend - EUR"), posting against a dedicated "Airwallex Expenses Payable" GL account, the first time an expense syncs in that currency. |
| Expense Category (Account) | Purchase Entry Line GL Account. This is required - expenses cannot sync without a mapped chart of account on every line. |
| Tax Code | Purchase Entry Line VAT Code (optional) |
| Line item Tracking Categories | Purchase Entry Line Cost Centre / Cost Unit (falls back to expense-level values if unset on a line item) |
| Line item Description | Purchase Entry Line Description (falls back to expense description, then merchant name, then "Airwallex Expenses") |
| Line item Amount | Purchase Entry Line Amount, in the transaction currency. If the expense has no line items, the transaction amount is used. |
| Receipts | Purchase Entry document attachments |
| Notes | Not currently synced to Exact Online |
How do reimbursements sync to Exact Online?
Reimbursement reports sync to Exact Online as a single Purchase Entry per report, with one line per reimbursement line item.
| Airwallex | Exact Online Purchase Entry |
|---|---|
| Entity / Organisation | Exact Online Division (resolved automatically from the connected entity) |
| Submitter | Supplier - depends on your reimbursement settings: either a shared default supplier ("Airwallex Expenses"), or a dedicated supplier created and reused for that submitter (named after them, matched by email so repeat reports reuse the same supplier). |
| Report Date | Entry Date - uses the submission date, or the earliest/latest transaction date across the report's line items, depending on your reimbursement sync settings. |
| Description | "Airwallex Reimbursements", plus the submitter's name where available |
| Line item Chart of Account | Purchase Entry Line GL Account. This is required and must be an active account, or the report will fail to sync. |
| Line item Tax Rate | Purchase Entry Line VAT Code and VAT Amount. Please note: unlike card expenses, a tax rate is required on every reimbursement line - reports without one will fail to sync. |
| Line item Tracking Categories | Purchase Entry Line Cost Centre / Cost Unit. Must be active values, or the report will fail to sync. |
| Receipts | Purchase Entry document attachments |
| Notes | Not currently synced to Exact Online |
How do bills sync to Exact Online?
Bills sync to Exact Online as Purchase Entries, using the same journal set up for card expenses in that currency.
| Airwallex | Exact Online Purchase Entry |
|---|---|
| Entity / Organisation | Exact Online Division (resolved automatically from the connected entity) |
| Vendor | Supplier. The vendor must already be synced to (or created in) Exact Online. |
| Bill Date | Entry Date (required) |
| Due Date | Due Date |
| Bill Currency | Currency |
| Description | Description |
| Invoice Number | Invoice Number and "Your Ref". Please note: Exact Online's Invoice Number field only accepts numeric values - if your invoice number contains letters or symbols, it's dropped from that field but preserved in "Your Ref". |
| Line item Chart of Account | Purchase Entry Line GL Account |
| Line item Quantity x Unit Amount | Purchase Entry Line Amount. Tax-exclusive bills have VAT added on top; tax-inclusive bills are sent as-is. |
| Line item Tax Rate | Purchase Entry Line VAT Code and VAT Amount |
| Line item Tracking Categories | Purchase Entry Line Cost Centre / Cost Unit |
| Attachments | Purchase Entry document attachments |