A big part of the magic of MarginEdge is how easy it is to get your sales and expenses into your accounting system! We integrate with a variety of accounting systems, and they generally fall into two categories: either a live (API) integration or a flat file integration, and you'll see references to both groups in this article.
Quick tips to help make this go smoothly:
- Try to avoid manually entering data into your accounting system; instead, upload all of your expenses to [me]
- Set up your Payment Accounts and ensure they are mapped
- Check that Weekly Accounting Email to be notified of any outstanding issues or errors (should arrive each Monday!)
- Sales and end-of-period Inventory Adjustments can be exported too!
- When first starting with [me], we recommend setting it to the "manual" export mode, and then once you are comfortable with how the data looks, switch to "automatic" (this applies to live/API integrations only)
Configuration Settings
If you have a live (API) integration, the first thing to consider when exporting invoices, sales entries or an inventory adjustment from MarginEdge is how your accounting system integration is configured. To find these settings, go to Setup > Integrations and select "Edit Configuration".
Note: You will NOT see these options if you have a flat file integration.
Here you will see drop-downs that specify how MarginEdge syncs with your accounting system. These settings can be set individually for Orders (invoices), Sales Entries (daily sales journals) and Inventory Entries (inventory adjustments).
To adjust your settings, click on the dropdown menu and select your preferred sync option. Once we we finish processing an invoice, have received a balanced sales entry or you have posted an inventory adjustment to accounting, you can choose:
- Automatically – As soon as the data is ready, we will automatically attempt to sync with your accounting system and export the data.
- Only Manually Selected – Here, these transactions will appear on your export page where you can manually select and export them to your accounting system when you are ready. All data will immediately populate in your MarginEdge reports, and invoices can be paid with Bill Pay; however, nothing will flow into your accounting system until you manually choose to send the data.
- Pause Temporarily – This option will prevent any data from exporting to your accounting system until you select a different option. Note that this option does not prevent the data from still displaying on your export page.
Export Screen Statuses
Ready
Ready to export to your accounting system
Pending
Anything in pending status has been sent to your accounting system but may not have been received yet. Usually, refreshing your browser window will change this status to Sent.
Sent
Successfully exported to your accounting system
Needs Attention
This invoice is missing a mapping. It could mean the vendor, category, sales line, payment account or inventory account needs to be mapped or adjusted before this invoice can be exported to your accounting system. You can click on the error message and a box will pop up to tell you what is missing.
Error
Export to your accounting system has failed. Click the Error text in red and a pop-up will appear that shows the error message. If you are unsure how to resolve the error, email help@marginedge.com and we will help you fix it. Daily sales journals that are not balanced will automatically be in error status. If you click the error status, you will see the message, “total debits do not equal total credits.”
Note: this status only applies to live/api integrations. We won't be alerted to any errors in a flat file integration.
Skipped
Transactions will not be exported to your accounting system. By default, anything in skipped status will not appear on your export screen; however, you can view skipped invoices by changing your filter settings.
Your View
By default, your export screen will show all invoices, sales entries or inventory adjustments in in Ready, Pending, Needs Attention or Error status. To adjust what is included or excluded click the filter button.
Exporting When in Manual Mode
By default, all restaurant units in MarginEdge are set to manual, and all "flat file" integrations essentially operate in the manual mode. To export to your accounting system, go to Accounting > Export. Here you will see everything that is ready to export.
By default, this list will display only items dated within your current accounting period. However, by changing the date range selector you can choose any date range you desire.
If there are invoices that have not finished reconciling (because MarginEdge is still processing them) or they are in error status outside your selected date range, you will see a notification on the top of the page (see example below).
How to Export in Manual Mode
To export to your accounting system, click the checkbox on the left side of the screen (this can be done one line at a time, or you can select everything you want to export at once) and press the blue "Send" button.
Example:
To export to your accounting system, select any invoices or journal entries you would like to export:
Click the blue Send button. Or if you have a flat file integration, yours will show the option to "Export".
The status will change to Sent in MarginEdge.
Your data will appear in your accounting system (example below from QuickBooks Online):
How to Export in Automatic Mode
If you have a live (API) integration, then you have the option to switch to automatic mode. In this mode, invoices, payments, sales entries, and inventory adjustment will export to your accounting system as soon as they are closed and ready without any manual import selection. The accounting export screen will still store all the invoices and journal entries exported to your accounting system and show any invoices that have failed to import because they need mapping or are in error status.
When applicable, if you select "Automatic" for Sales Entries, you have the option to delay sending those Sales Journal Entries by any number of days you choose. This can help ensure you get accurate data if there are times your closing sales aren't quite finalized until a day or two later.
Skip Sending to Accounting
To skip sending data to your accounting system, select any invoices or journal entries and click Other Actions > Skip. This will keep the information in MarginEdge but clear the selected item(s) from your export screen.
More information
- For details on Quickbooks Desktop: How to Export to Accounting with QuickBooks Desktop
- For information on troubleshooting your export errors: