Expense Category to G/L Mapping
Mapping Certify expense categories to Business Central G/L accounts is one of the most important parts of the integration: it determines which account each expense posts to. This page explains how it works.
Opening the Category List
From the Certify Setup card, choose Expense Categories. This:
- Calls Certify and downloads the active expense categories.
- Stores them in Business Central.
- Opens the Expense Categories list.
You can re-run this action at any time to refresh the category list from Certify.
The Category List
The list shows the key fields you work with:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The category name from Certify (read-only). |
| Expense Type | The Certify expense type (Cash Expense, Mileage, Lodging, Meals, Rentals, Travel, Per-Diem, Hourly, Invoice). |
| G/L Account | The Business Central G/L account this category posts to. |
The list does not allow inserting new categories (they come from Certify) but does allow deleting entries locally.
Mapping a Category
- For each category, set the G/L Account field to the Business Central G/L account that the category's expenses should post to.
- Repeat for every active category you expect to receive.
For example:
| Certify Category | G/L Account |
|---|---|
| Meals | Travel Meals Expense |
| Hotel | Lodging Expense |
| Airfare | Air Travel Expense |
| Mileage | Mileage Reimbursement Expense |
| Software | Software Subscription Expense |
Write-Back to Certify
When you change a category's mapping, the app writes the G/L code back to Certify through the API. This keeps the G/L code visible in Certify alongside the category, so the accounting code travels with the data in both systems. The write-back includes the category ID, its expense type, and the G/L code.
How the Mapping Is Used at Posting Time
When a journal is generated, each expense line carries its category's G/L code from Certify (the ExpenseCategoryGLCode). The app:
- Looks up that G/L code as a Business Central G/L account.
- If it exists, posts the expense line to that account.
- If it does not exist (or is blank), posts the line to the Fallback G/L Account from setup instead.
The Fallback G/L Account
The Fallback G/L Account (on the Setup card) is a safety net. Any expense line whose category G/L code does not resolve to a valid Business Central account is posted there, so no line is ever silently dropped. Review the fallback account regularly and add the missing category mapping when entries land there.
Tips and Best Practices
- Map every active category before your first real posting run.
- Keep the fallback account as a catch-all, but treat anything posted to it as a mapping gap to fix.
- Re-run Expense Categories after adding new categories in Certify.