Choosing the accounts Ascen syncs to your accounting software

Last updated: November 4, 2026

Applies to: Owners, admins and finance users at staffing Partners that have connected their accounting software to Ascen.

Summary: Go to Accounting > Configs to choose which account in your accounting software each kind of invoice line, payment and bill is recorded to. Any row you leave empty uses a default, so you only need to set the rows you care about.

How to choose your accounts

  1. Log in and go to Accounting > Configs in the left menu.

  2. If the page says to connect your accounting software on the Integrations page, do that first. Only Owners see Integrations in the menu.

  3. Pick an account for each row you want to set, then click Save changes.

Owners, admins and finance users can change these accounts. Managers can view them but not change them. Other roles don't see the Accounting menu.

What each section controls

  • Invoices: the income account for invoice lines. All Invoice Lines is the fallback for every line type. You can override it for Hours Worked, Time Off, Bonuses & Commissions, Expenses & Reimbursements, Screening, EOR Fees, Fees & Surcharges and Other.

  • Sales Tax: leave it empty to keep tax as the invoice's own tax amount. Choose an account to send the tax total as a separate Sales Tax line instead.

  • Payments: Invoice Payments is the account client payments are deposited to, and Distributions is the account bill payments are paid from. If you use Xero, client payments are not synced, so Invoice Payments can't be set, and the screen says so. Bill payments are still recorded from the Distributions account.

  • Bills: the expense accounts for Payroll, EOR Fees, Background Checks and Adjustments bill lines.

If you use QuickBooks, each invoice row also needs a product. You can choose an existing product or create a new one from the same screen.

What happens if you leave a row empty

  • An empty invoice line row uses All Invoice Lines. If that is empty too, Xero uses an account named Line Item, and other software records the line without a specific account.

  • An empty Distributions row uses an account named EOR Distributions, which is created in your books if it doesn't exist. An empty Invoice Payments row uses your Distributions account.

  • An empty Bills row uses an account with that row's name (for example Payroll), created in your books if it doesn't exist.

If you use Xero and no account has the default name, an existing account with Ascen's default account code for that row is used instead, even if its name is different. For example, an empty Adjustments row can post to the Payroll account. To control where a line posts, choose an account for that row.

Keeping the account list current

The list of accounts refreshes every week. To pull in an account you just created, click Refresh accounts, or check the list under Accounting > Accounts. If an account you chose is archived or deleted in your accounting software, the default is used until you pick another one, and your owners, admins and finance users get an email asking them to fix it.

If you connect a different company or accounting file, all of your account choices are cleared and you need to set them again.

Who to contact

For questions about invoices, payments or how a line was recorded, email support@ascen.com.