Expensify QuickFile Integration Guide [2026 Updated]

Manually entering expense report data into your accounting software is a time-consuming chore that's prone to human error. If you use Expensify for expense management and QuickFile for your books, there's a much better way to work. This guide will walk you through exactly how to connect Expensify and QuickFile, automating your workflow to save hours and improve accuracy. We'll cover the available integration methods, provide step-by-step instructions, and share best practices for a stable connection in 2026.

What is Expensify?

Expensify is a popular expense management platform designed to automate every step of the expense reporting process. Its core function is to make it easy for employees and business owners to capture receipts, track mileage, and submit expense reports. With features like SmartScan technology that extracts data directly from a photo of a receipt, automatic credit card reconciliation, and customizable approval workflows, it eliminates stacks of paper and messy spreadsheets.

The platform is widely used by everyone from solo freelancers to large finance teams at global companies. Its pricing model typically includes a limited free plan for individuals and paid plans for teams and businesses, which start around $5 per user per month. Expensify's greatest strength is its user-friendly mobile app and powerful automation for capturing expenses. However, a common challenge is its limited number of direct native integrations with UK-centric accounting software like QuickFile, often requiring a third-party tool to act as a bridge.

What is QuickFile?

QuickFile is a cloud-based accounting solution built specifically for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), freelancers, and contractors in the United Kingdom. It provides all the necessary accounting functions, including invoicing, expense tracking, bank feeds, and Making Tax Digital (MTD) compliant VAT returns. Its clean interface and straightforward features make it a great choice for business owners who may not have an accounting background.

QuickFile is known for its affordability, offering a free plan for small businesses with certain limitations and a paid plan starting at approximately £60 + VAT per year that unlocks more advanced features. Its main advantages are its simplicity and focus on UK regulations. The primary limitation, similar to Expensify's, is a smaller native integration marketplace compared to larger global accounting platforms, which is why understanding how to connect it with other tools manually is so valuable.

Why Integrate Expensify with QuickFile?

Connecting your expense management software to your accounting ledger is a fundamental step in building an efficient financial workflow. For most businesses, the expense cycle creates dozens or even hundreds of transactions each month that need to be recorded accurately in the general ledger. Integrating the two platforms solves several problems at once:

• Reduces Manual Data Entry: The single greatest benefit is eliminating the need to manually key in every single expense from an Expensify report into QuickFile. This automation saves dozens of hours each month and frees up your team for more strategic work.
• Improves Data Accuracy: Manual entry inevitably leads to typos, transposed numbers, or incorrect category assignments. An automated connection ensures that the data approved in Expensify is what appears in QuickFile, reducing costly errors that can take hours to find and fix.
• Accelerates Month-End Closing: With expenses flowing into QuickFile in near real-time, your books are constantly up-to-date. This means your month-end close process is faster because you aren't waiting for a pile of expense reports to be manually entered at the last minute.
• Provides Better Financial Oversight: When management can see expenses reflected in the company's accounts sooner, they get a more accurate and timely picture of cash flow and departmental spending. This allows for better budgeting and more informed business decisions.

Available Integration Methods in 2026

As of 2026, there isn't a direct, built-in integration between Expensify and QuickFile. However, you can connect them effectively using two primary methods that offer different levels of flexibility and technical requirements.

1. Third-Party Integration Platforms

This is the most common and recommended method for most users. Platforms often called "middleware" or "connectors" act as a bridge, allowing Expensify and QuickFile to communicate. These tools let you build automated workflows without writing any code.

• Zapier: A widely-used automation tool that connects thousands of apps. You can create a "Zap" where a trigger in one app (e.g., an approved report in Expensify) causes an action in another (e.g., creating a purchase invoice in QuickFile).
• Make (formerly Integromat): Another powerful automation platform known for its visual builder, which helps you see how data moves between applications. It offers a high degree of customization for more complex, multi-step workflows.

These platforms typically have free tiers for simple, low-volume tasks and paid plans for more complex or high-volume automations.

2. Custom API Integration

For businesses with developer resources, building a custom connection using the platforms' Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) is a powerful option. An API is a set of rules that allows different software applications to communicate with each other.

• Expensify API: Provides developer access to expense reports, receipts, and other data. You can find more details in the Expensify API documentation.
• QuickFile API: Allows for programmatic creation of invoices, clients, and expenses. The QuickFile API documentation provides the necessary information.

This method offers the most control and can be tailored to your exact business logic but requires significant technical expertise to build and maintain.

Setting Up the Integration (Using Zapier)

For this walkthrough, we'll use Zapier as our example since it is one of the most user-friendly options. The general steps are similar for other platforms like Make.

Prerequisites:

• An active Expensify account with policy admin permissions.
• An active QuickFile account with administrative access.
• An active Zapier account (a free plan is often sufficient to start).

Step 1: Create a New Zap and Choose a Trigger

1. Log in to your Zapier account and click "Create Zap".
2. Search for and select Expensify as the trigger app.
3. For the "Event," choose a trigger that fits your workflow. A common choice is "New Report State Change" or "Report Approved." For instance, you can set it to trigger only when a report is finally approved, ensuring only verified expenses are sent to QuickFile.
4. Connect your Expensify account to Zapier by following the authentication prompts.
5. Test the trigger to make sure Zapier can pull recent report data from Expensify.

Important Tip: We recommend triggering your automation when an Expensify report is marked as "Reimbursed" or reaches its final approval state. This prevents incomplete or unapproved expenses from syncing to your accounting software.

Step 2: Add an Action for QuickFile

1. Click the "+" button to add an action step.
2. Search for and select QuickFile as your action app.
3. For the "Event," choose the action you want to perform. The most common action is "Create Purchase Invoice (or Receipt)." This represents an expense in QuickFile's system.
4. Connect your QuickFile account. This will require your QuickFile API credentials, which you can generate within your 'Third-Party Integration' settings in your QuickFile account.

Step 3: Map the Data Fields

This is the most important step. You need to tell Zapier which information from Expensify should go into which field in QuickFile. Zapier will show you a list of available fields from the sample Expensify report pulled in the trigger step.

Key mappings include:

• QuickFile 'Supplier Name' -> Map to Expensify 'Merchant Name' from the expense.
• QuickFile 'Purchase Date' -> Map to Expensify 'Expense Created Date' or 'Date'.
• QuickFile 'Description' -> Map to Expensify 'Comment' or a combination of fields.
• QuickFile 'Net Amount' -> Map to Expensify 'Amount' or 'Amount wo/ VAT' if available.
• QuickFile 'Nominal Account Code' -> This might require using a lookup table or rules in Zapier to map Expensify categories (e.g., "Airfare") to the correct QuickFile chart of accounts code (e.g., "7501 - Travel").

Step 4: Test and Activate the Zap

1. Once your fields are mapped, click "Test & Continue." Zapier will attempt to send the sample data to QuickFile.
2. Log in to your QuickFile account to confirm a new dummy purchase invoice was created correctly. Check that all the data appears in the right places.
3. If everything looks good, click "Publish Zap" and turn it on.

Your automation is now live. Every time an expense report is approved in Expensify, a corresponding entry will be automatically created in QuickFile.

Troubleshooting Common Integration Issues

If your automation isn't working as expected, here are a few common issues and how to fix them:

• Connection Errors: The first thing to check is app authentication. Reconnect Expensify and QuickFile within Zapier to ensure the API permissions are still active. Sometimes, they need to be refreshed.
• Data Not Syncing: In Zapier, check your "Zap History" for any error messages on a specific run. The error will often tell you which field is causing a problem (e.g., a date format is incorrect, or a required field is empty).
• Incorrect Data Mapping: If amounts are showing up in the description field, you've likely mapped the wrong Expensify data to the QuickFile field. Go back and edit your Zap's "Action" step to correct the mapping.

Final Thoughts

By connecting Expensify and QuickFile using a third-party automation tool, you can build a more efficient financial workflow that saves time, reduces errors, and gives you a more accurate view of your business finances. While it requires an initial setup, the investment pays for itself quickly through the elimination of manual data entry.

Streamlining expense management is a great step, but accounting and finance professionals know it's one of many areas where efficiency matters. When unique tax questions arise—such as the deductibility of certain expenses or multi-state compliance issues—getting a reliable, citation-backed answer quickly is critical. This is where we built our own research tool; Feather AI provides tax professionals with instant, accurate answers from authoritative sources like the IRC and state tax codes, making complex tax research take seconds, not hours.