Karbon integration: client work beside the books.

Before you start

Karbon is for accounting and bookkeeping firms. It lives in the firm workspace; a company's own books don't see it. You need permission to manage settings in the firm workspace.

On the Karbon side, you need a Karbon admin who can open API Authentication in Karbon's settings. Imprest connects with two keys you copy from there, not a sign-in.

The invoices and payments Karbon sends belong to your firm's books. They don't post your fees into each client's company.

Connect Karbon

1. In your firm workspace, choose Integrations in the sidebar, then Karbon.
2. In Karbon, go to Settings, then Business Settings, then API Authentication. Copy the Application ID and the Access Key.
3. Back in Imprest, under Connect Karbon, paste them into Application ID and Access Key, then choose Connect.
4. Open the Client mapping tab. Choose Confirm on each Suggested pair, use Pick entity to pair each Unmapped Karbon entity with its Imprest client, and choose Skip for any Imprest client that isn't in Karbon.

What comes in, and how it lands

• Clients and work items. Karbon's client groups and work items appear as engagements. Once Karbon is connected, Engagements shows in the firm sidebar, and each client's page shows its Karbon work.
• Invoices. Sent invoices post to the firm's books as money the client owes and service revenue. Tax on an invoice goes to sales tax payable, not revenue.
• Payments. A payment settles its invoice and sits in Undeposited Funds until you record the bank deposit. Match the deposit to it rather than adding the bank line as new income.
• Time, and work in progress if you want it. Under WIP accrual, turn on Accrue WIP from Karbon time entries to post unbilled time to Unbilled Service Revenue. When the time is billed, the accrual reverses on the invoice date and the invoice posts as usual. It's off until you turn it on.

Imprest can also write two things back to Karbon, each behind its own switch under Push to Karbon, both off until you turn them on: Contacts (new or updated contacts in the firm's books) and Payments (payments applied to Karbon-linked invoices). Neither moves money.

Day to day

• With Automatic sync on, Imprest checks Karbon every 30 minutes, and Karbon's updates can arrive sooner in between.
• Choose Sync now on the Connection tab for the latest right away.
• Check Last sync and the Sync errors tab. One record can need attention even when the rest synced.
• New clients in Karbon show up on Client mapping to pair.

Common problems

• "Karbon needs to be reconnected." Karbon rejected the keys. Copy fresh ones from Karbon and choose Reconnect with new keys.
• An invoice is held in Sync errors. Its client isn't mapped. Pair the client on Client mapping, then check the retry. A payment can't apply until its invoice is in.
• Karbon says an invoice is paid, but Imprest doesn't. Invoices and payments sync separately. Look for the payment and for anything in Sync errors.
• A reversed payment. Payment reversals from Karbon aren't brought in yet. Correct those in Imprest yourself.
• Karbon lowered an invoice's total. The next sync adds a credit memo against the original invoice instead of changing it, so the history stays.

Disconnect

1. Open Integrations, then Karbon, and the Connection tab.
2. Under Lifecycle, choose Disconnect, then Disconnect Karbon to confirm.

Imprest stops syncing from Karbon. What it already brought in stays visible in your firm workspace, and invoices and payments already posted stay in the firm's books. Paste keys again to reconnect.