Karbon integration
Connect Karbon client work and billing to your firm's own books.
Karbon supplies client groups, work items, time, contacts, invoices and payments. Imprest uses them to track the firm's engagements and record its billing in the firm's own books, not in each client's books.
Karbon
ImprestHow it works
Four common scenarios, step by step.
Client invoice, payment and deposit
Keeps the firm's revenue, the customer's settlement and the bank deposit distinct.
Example: a $2,000 service invoice sent in Karbon, a $2,000 payment received and the full amount later deposited into Checking. WIP accrual is off, and the example includes no tax or fee.
Client and work context synced
Identifies the customer being billed
Sent invoice imported
Posted during sync
Customer payment imported
The payment settles the invoice and is held in Undeposited Funds
Bank deposit recorded and matched
The received payment is deposited to Checking
When the invoice and payment import and the full payment is deposited, the firm records $2,000 of revenue and $2,000 in Checking. The invoice's receivable and its Undeposited Funds amount both clear to zero.
Reduction to an imported invoice
A detected reduction in an invoice total can become a separate credit memo.
Example: an unpaid $1,000 Karbon service invoice already posted in Imprest. Karbon later reports a reduced invoice total of $800. The example includes no tax.
Original invoice recorded
The original sale's audit trail is preserved
Lower total reported
The next invoice sync detects the reduction
Credit memo created and applied
The reduction is offset separately
Invoice and credit reviewed
The client still owes $800
$800.00 Amount still owed
When the $200 credit posts and is applied, the original $1,000 invoice remains in the audit trail, net revenue is $800 and the client owes $800. No cash moves in this example.
Unbilled work accrued, then invoiced
Optional WIP accounting recognizes work before it is invoiced and retires the accrual when the invoice identifies that work.
Example: WIP is enabled, and a mapped unbilled time entry carries a $600 cost reported by Karbon. A later $900 service invoice bills that work. Its work-item link resolves, and the time entry is marked billed before the invoice is imported.
WIP enabled
A separate accounting choice, off by default
Unbilled entry accrued
At the value Karbon reports
WIP retired with the invoice
The reversal is dated on the invoice date
Billed work confirmed out of WIP
Both the asset and the invoice are reviewed
When the linked conversion succeeds, no WIP asset remains for this work and the receivable is $900. Net revenue across both periods is $900, and the earlier $600 accrual is not added to the full invoice.
Payment recorded in Imprest and sent to Karbon
Outbound payment sync records in Karbon that a client paid, without collecting the money.
Example: a $750 Karbon-linked invoice already posted in the firm's books. The client pays $750, and the firm records the completed payment in Imprest before depositing it into Checking.
Payments push enabled
Separate from inbound sync
Received payment recorded
Applied to one linked invoice
Manual payment sent to Karbon
Karbon receives the payment information
Push verified and deposit recorded
Karbon status and bank cash are checked separately
When the payment, push and deposit all succeed, the firm's receivable falls by $750, Checking rises by $750 and Karbon records the payment. A failed push can leave the Imprest accounting correct while Karbon still requires an update.
Scope
Synchronized data and your controls.
Data synchronized
Client groups, work items, time, contacts, invoices and payments. Automatic sync follows the connection's cadence, supported webhooks can prompt earlier updates, and Sync now requests the latest data. Work-item mappings sync before time and billing, contacts before invoices, and invoices before payments. One phase or record can need attention after others succeed, so check sync errors as well as the last sync time.
Your controls
Supported non-draft invoices and incoming payments can post during sync. WIP accrual is optional and off by default. Contacts and Payments under Push to Karbon are separate settings, off by default, and record eligible changes in Karbon without moving money. Bank deposits remain a separate accounting step.
Set up
Setting up Karbon.
Requirements
- An accounting or bookkeeping firm working in the Imprest firm workspace.
- Permission to manage settings in the firm workspace.
- A Karbon admin who can open API Authentication in Karbon's settings. Imprest connects with two keys copied from there, not a sign-in.
Connect Karbon
- In the firm workspace, choose Integrations in the sidebar, then Karbon.
- In Karbon, go to Settings, then Business Settings, then API Authentication, and copy the Application ID and the Access Key.
- Under Connect Karbon, paste them into Application ID and Access Key, then choose Connect.
- On the Client mapping tab, choose Confirm on each Suggested pair, use Pick entity for each Unmapped Karbon entity, and choose Skip for any Imprest client not in Karbon.
Karbon is a trademark of its owner, used here only to name the service Imprest connects to.