Integrate with Sage Intacct

Watch a video demonstration of these setup steps here. 

Step 1: Connect to Gusto from Sage Intacct

Start connecting your accounts by following these steps in Sage Intacct. 

First, enable web services in Sage Intacct

In order to connect your Gusto and Sage Intacct accounts, first you’ll enable web services in Sage. 

1. Sign in to Sage Intacct.
2. Go to Applications.  
3. Select the Company tab.
4. Choose the Setup tab.
5. Under “Configuration,” click Company.
6. Click the Security tab.
7. In the top right corner, click Edit.
8. Scroll to “Web Services authorizations” and click Add. 
9. In the “Sender ID” field, type “Gusto.”
10. Click Save. 

Now that web services are enabled, stay signed in to Sage Intacct and follow the next steps to create a custom role and a web services user. 

Step 2: Create a web services user in Sage Intacct

A web services user is a custom role you’ll set up. It keeps track of which journal entries in Sage Intacct were created by the integration. There’s no additional license fee to set up this role or user. 

First, set up the custom role:

1. Click Applications.
2. Choose Company.
3. Go to the Admin tab.
4. Under “Users, roles & groups," click Roles.
5. In the top right corner, click Add.
6. In the “Name” field, type “Gusto Integration.” 
7. Click Save.
8. "Gusto Integration" is added to the list on the "Roles" page. To the left of "Gusto Integration," click View.
9. Click View Subscriptions.
10. To the right of "Company," click Permissions. 
    • In the top right corner of the window that opens, click All.
    • Click Save.
11. To the right of General Ledger, click Permissions.
    • In the top right corner of the window that opens, click All.
    • Click Save.
12. Click Save.

Next, set up the web services user: 

1. Click Applications.
2. Select the Company tab.
3. Click the Admin tab.
4. Under “Users, roles & groups," click Web Services users.
5. In the top right corner, click Add.
6. Fill out these fields as follows: 
   • User ID: Type “Gusto Integration.”
   • Last name: Type “Integration.”
   • First name: Type “Gusto.”
   • Email: Enter the email you access Sage with. You’ll receive an email with login credentials that you’ll need later.
   • Admin privileges: Select Full.
7. Click Save.
8. Go to the Roles information tab.
9. Under “Role Name,” click the plus sign (+) in line 1.
10. In the dropdown that appears in line 2, type and select Gusto Integration.
11. Click Save.

Step 3: Connect to Sage from Gusto 

Now that your Sage Intacct account is set up to integrate with Gusto, follow these steps to connect your company’s accounts. 

1. Sign in to your Gusto admin account.
2. Go to the App directory. 
3. Under “Categories,” choose Accounting. 
4. Click Sage Intacct.
5. Click Connect.
6. Enter the credentials for the Gusto API web services user you created in Step 1:
   • Sage Intacct Company ID: Enter the company ID you use to sign in to Sage every time.
   • Sage Intacct User ID: This will default to “Gusto Integration.” 
   • Sage Intacct Password: check your email. Sage Intacct sent login credentials to the email you provided in step 6 above.
7. Click Sign In. 

Your company’s Gusto and Sage Intacct accounts are now connected. Go to the Settings tab and follow the steps below to finish setting up the integration.  

Step 4: Map your chart of accounts

In the Detailed tab, map your chart of accounts.

• For more help with mapping, check out the “Map your chart of accounts” section of this article.
• Important: All Gusto categories must be mapped in order for your sync to work.

Step 5: Automate your mappings (Recommended)

Automating your mappings is optional but recommended to avoid sync errors. This lets you pre-select which Sage Intacct accounts should be used by default for new payroll categories. This means that when a new item is created in Gusto, you will not need to manually map it—Gusto will automatically apply your default mapping.

You’ll manage automated mappings in the Default tab. Click here for more details and next steps. 

Step 6: Set your location

When transactions are sent to Sage Intacct from Gusto, they’re associated with one of your company’s Sage location entities. Follow these steps in Gusto to change the location that synced journal entries are associated with.

Note: Locations are related to the company’s location entities. These are not location dimensions.   

1. In Gusto, go to your App directory and choose Sage Intacct.
2. Go to the Settings tab.
3. Next to “Location,” click edit.
4. Choose the location from the menu.
5. Click Submit.

Step 6: Choose the Sage Intacct ledger that journal entries sync to

By default, Gusto exports your journal entries to the General Journal (symbol: GJ) in Sage Intacct. If you want synced journal entries to be associated with a different journal/ledger in Sage Intacct, follow these steps.

1. Under Settings, go to the Manage tab.
2. Next to “Journal Symbol,” click edit.
3. Type in the Journal Symbol you want entries to sync to.
   • If you need to figure out what journal symbol to enter, follow these steps in Sage Intacct: Click Applications, select General Ledger, then click Journal entries. Look in the “Symbol” column for the list of journal titles and their symbols.  
4. Click Submit Journal Symbol.

Step 7: Choose additional sync settings

In the Settings section of the integration, stay on the Manage tab to set up any additional sync preferences—such as whether the sync runs automatically or manually, or whether certain taxes should be consolidated.

Head to the section below for a description of each setting and how to set them up.

Below is each setting you can customize and how to do so.

Here’s how to get to any of these settings:

1. Sign in to your Gusto admin account.
2. Go to the App directory.
3. Search for Sage Intacct and select it.
4. Under “Settings,” go to the Manage tab.
5. Find the setting you’d like to review. See below to learn more about each setting.

Contractor payment sync

If you pay contractors through Gusto, decide how those payments should sync:

• Batch payments into a single entry (recommended for 30+ contractor payments): All contractor payments for a pay date will sync as one entry. Syncs (including auto-syncs) occur at 5pm PT on the payment processing date.
• Sync each contractor payment as a separate entry: Each contractor payment will appear as its own journal entry.

Employer tax consolidation

Choose how you want employer taxes to appear in Sage:

• Consolidate: Group all employer taxes into a single lump sum (e.g., "Payroll Taxes").
• Don’t Consolidate: List out individual tax amounts (e.g., Federal Unemployment, Social Security, Medicare, State Unemployment, etc.).

Journal entry consolidation

By default, Gusto consolidates entries of the same type into a single journal entry. You can also choose to group entries:

• By employee
• By department
• By job
• By project (if using Gusto Project Tracking)

Click here to learn more about group mappings.

Entry date options

Select when the journal entry should appear in Sage:

• Check date: This is the date your employees received their payments.
• Debit date: This is the date Gusto initiated the debit for taxes and net pay from your company’s bank account.
• End of pay period: This is the recorded end of the pay period.

Here’s why mapping your chart of accounts matters:

• For payroll data to sync correctly, each payroll item must be mapped to an account in Sage Intacct.
• The more accounts you map to, the more detail your invoice will have.
• More detailed invoices give you more granular reports in Sage Intacct.

Map your chart of accounts

1. In your Gusto admin account, head to the App directory.
2. Choose Sage Intacct.
   • This can be found under the Connected Integrations tab. 
3. Go to the Detailed tab.
4. Click any section (Wages & Salaries, Employer Taxes, etc.) to expand the view.
5. For each Gusto category, click the search box and choose the corresponding Sage Intacct account.
   • By default, Gusto only shows common account types for each category.
   • If you do not see the account you want, start typing the account name to find it.
   • If you’re still not seeing an account you’d like to use, create the account in Sage Intacct then click Refresh chart of accounts in Gusto.
   • Click here to learn more about types of accounts and commonly used pairings.
6. Repeat until you've selected an account for each Gusto category. Your progress is automatically saved as you go.
   • Unmapped categories will move to the top of the list.

Time-saving tips for the Mapping tab:

• If you’d like to map multiple items at once:
  • Check the box next to each item you want to map.
  • Click Actions at the top.
  • Choose Edit account type.
  • Type the account name and select it.
  • Click Submit.
• To show unmapped items only:
  • Next to "Actions," click the filter icon.
  • Select Display unmapped accounts only.
  • Click Apply.

This integration now includes an AI-powered feature that helps you choose the right accounts when setting up mappings for your chart of accounts. This is especially helpful if you’re not sure which account to pick for a payroll category.

Example: Say you’re setting up default accounts and don’t know what to choose. Gusto might suggest using Payroll Wages for Wages & Salaries, or Payroll Deductions Payable for Deductions.

How suggestions are generated

Gusto’s AI provides recommendations based on:

• Industry standard accounting guidance from US-based CPA firms
• Common account structures used by thousands of small and mid-sized businesses
• Aggregated, anonymous patterns from other Gusto customers who use platforms like QuickBooks Online, Xero, and FreshBooks.

The AI model never stores or accesses your personal financial information. All suggestions are based on general patterns, not individual data.

Why default mappings matter

Over time, you may make changes to your Gusto account such as adding a custom deduction, creating a new earnings type, or setting up a new benefit. When this happens, new payroll line items are created in Gusto that need to be mapped to an account in Sage Intacct. If these items are not mapped, they can cause sync issues. Setting up default mappings can help you with this.

What default mappings do

Default mappings let you pre-select the Sage Intacct accounts that should be used for new payroll categories. This means that when you create a new line item, you will not have to manually map it to a Sage Intacct account—Gusto will automatically apply your default mapping to it.

• Example: If a new earnings type is created in Gusto, it will appear under "Wages & Salaries." If you’ve already chosen a default mapping for “Wages & Salaries,” the new line item will automatically map to the default Sage Intacct account without interrupting the sync.

Setting up default mappings is optional. If you prefer to manually map new Gusto categories, simply leave the default mapping blank.

Set up default mappings

Follow these steps to set up or change default mappings:

1. In your Gusto admin account, head to the App directory.
2. Go to the Connected Integrations tab.
3. Choose Sage Intacct.
4. Select the Default tab.
5. For each section (Wages & Salaries, Employer Taxes, etc.) you’d like to map, select the Sage Intacct account you want new categories to map to.
   • If you prefer to manually map new categories as they’re created, simply leave the default mapping blank.
6. Repeat for all sections.
   • Your selections are saved automatically.

Edit default mappings

You can change default mappings at any time in the Default tab. Changes will only apply to new mappings going forward. 

Edit detailed mappings

If a new category has been given a default mapping you’d like to change, you can change it in the Detailed tab. Here's how:

1. In your Gusto admin account, go to the App directory. 
2. Go to the Connected Integrations tab.
3. Choose Sage Intacct.
4. Select the Detailed tab.
5. Find the category you’d like to change and select the Sage Intacct account it should map to going forward. 
   • If you also want to change the default mapping for line items in that category going forward, go to the Default tab.

If past payrolls have already been synced to Sage Intacct with an incorrect mapping, you’ll need to manually re-sync those payrolls.

To provide more granularity, you have the option to map your chart of accounts by employee, jobs, departments, or Gusto Projects (if you use Gusto Project Tracking). This means you can group your journal entries at the employee, job, department, or project level. If your company uses or requires Sage Department Dimensions, you can assign a Department Dimension to each employee, department, job, or project. 

This is optional.

Set up consolidated journal entries

Step 1: Choose your journal entry consolidation method

1. Sign in to your Gusto admin account.
2. Go to the App directory and select Sage Intacct.
   • You can also find this under the Connected Integrations tab.
3. Under Settings, go to the Manage tab.
4. Next to "Journal entry consolidation," click Edit.
5. Choose how you want to consolidate entries:
   • If your company uses or requires Sage Department Dimensions, you can assign a Department Dimension to each employee, department, job, or project. 
   • By employee: 
     • This can offer more detailed reporting.
     • Ex: You can track each employee’s wages in separate accounts instead of one "Salaries and Wages" account.
   • By department:
     • This can help you track wages, taxes, and benefits separately. 
     • Ex: You can send Design wages to one account and Marketing wages to another, instead of combining everything into "Salaries and Wages."
     • Click here to see how you can enable departments.
   • By job:
     • This can split wages, taxes, and benefits by role. 
     • Ex: You can track cashier wages and cook wages in separate accounts instead of sending all wages to "Salaries and Wages." 
     • Click here to see how you can enable multiple job titles for employees.
   • By project:
     • Gusto Project Tracking must be enabled.
     • You can track wages, taxes, and benefits by project. 
     • Ex: Instead of all wages going to “Salaries and Wages,” you can split wages into separate accounts for each Gusto Project. 
6. Click Submit.

Step 2: Set up mapping overrides and Sage Department Dimensions (optional)

Once you select a consolidation method, a new tab appears on the left. Ex: If you choose to consolidate by employee, the tab will be called Employee. If you choose to consolidate by department, the tab will be called Department.

You can override default mappings for individual employees, departments, jobs, or projects. Overriding a default mapping means assigning different accounts to payroll items at these levels. 

This is optional—if no overrides are applied, journal entries will still be categorized accordingly.

Here's how to set up an override:

1. Find the new tab that corresponds to the consolidation method you chose.
   • Ex: If you chose to consolidate by employee, go to the Employee tab.
2. Click Override.
3. If your company uses Department Dimensions, you can set those at the top of the page.
4. Just as you did on the Detailed tab, match each Gusto category to an account in Sage Intacct.

Contractor payments

Consolidating journal entries by employee and department is compatible with contractors.

Consolidating by job and project is not compatible with contractors. This is because job titles and Gusto Projects are not currently supported for contractor profiles. If your company pays contractors and uses job or project consolidation, contractor payments will be synced based on the default company mappings.

Set up automatic payroll data syncing

By default, Gusto will automatically export your transactions whenever you run payroll or pay your contractors.  If you've disabled Autosync, follow these steps to enable it:

1. Sign in to your Gusto admin account.
2. Go to the App directory. 
3. Choose Sage Intacct.
4. Go to the Settings tab.
5. Next to “Auto Sync,” click edit. 
6. Select Auto sync. 
7. Click Submit. 

The next time you run a payroll or contractor payment, the transaction will automatically sync to Sage Intacct. 

Manually sync payroll data

Once you’ve mapped your accounts, you can send payrolls and contractor payments to Sage Intacct anytime from the Payroll history tab in Gusto by following these steps: 

1. Sign in to your Gusto admin account.
2. Go to the Pay section and select Pay history. 
3. Find the payroll or contractor payment you’d like to sync and click View details.
4. Under the name of the payroll or payment, click Sync now.

Once the sync is complete, the sync’s timestamp is listed under the payroll or payment’s name.

Here’s how to find the entry in Sage Intacct:

1. Go to the Applications tab.
2. Select General Ledger.
3. Choose Journal Entries.
4. Click General Journal (or the ledger you specified).

Each line item is tagged with the account that you mapped it to in Gusto. 

Because Gusto does not take any money for benefits or deductions, we include a mapping for a benefit or deduction expense and a benefit or deduction liability. This will create accounts within your accounting software that accrue an amount owed for the benefit or deduction over time.

When the benefit or deduction is then paid to the requesting party, you can offset your liability account and zero out the accrued amount owed.

Benefits always have two line items on the journal entry: 

• Employer Benefit Expense: This tracks the cost of employer contributions to benefits.
• Benefit Liabilities: This tracks the amount owed to the benefit provider. It's the total of employee deductions + employer contributions.

Important: When money is pulled for an FSA or commuter benefit, before it is deducted through payroll make sure you don't create an expense but rather establish a receivable. It will be expensed in payroll when the amount is deducted. At that point with the deduction, then reduce the receivable.

Choose a section below for frequently asked questions about this integration.

Contact us from the Help section of your Gusto account.