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This section describes how to implement exports from Pleo into an Accounting System. After reviewing Platform & Capabilities, integrators should now understand:
  • What exports represent in Pleo
  • Supported bookkeeping methods
  • Accounting and data mapping concepts
  • Platform export capabilities
This section moves from concepts to implementation design.

Design Guarantees

Pleo provides the following guarantees for the exports workflow. Integrations must implement processing logic to fully realise these guarantees.
  • Sequential Consistency: Export Jobs are queued in order by Pleo, and integrations should process them one at a time to prevent race conditions or accounting conflicts.
  • Deterministic Export Outcomes: Each Export Item ends in a successful or failed state as indicated by the integration, ensuring predictable integration behaviour.
  • Failure Isolation: Failures in individual Export Items do not block other items in the same Export Job.
  • Transparent Reporting: All outcomes, including errors and processing status from the integration, are surfaced to Pleo Web App users (bookkeepers) where applicable.
  • Platform Alignment: The workflow aligns with Pleo’s bookkeeping support, including journal entries, accounts payable, and double-entry principles.

Purpose of the Exports Integration

The export integration transfers validated (approved) expenses from Pleo into an Accounting System in a predictable, auditable, and reliable manner. Exports are processed using a controlled workflow designed to:
  • prevent race conditions
  • ensure accounting consistency
  • provide clear failure reporting
  • support retry-safe processing

Export Processing Model

Exports are processed as stateful jobs.

Export Job

An Export Job represents a batch of expenses selected for export. It defines:
  • processing scope
  • execution order
  • overall export status

Export Item

An Export Item represents a single expense within an Export Job. Each item is processed independently and receives its own success or failure result.

Export Lifecycle

Export processing follows a deterministic pipeline:

Responsibility Model

Export processing is a shared responsibility between Pleo and the integration.
Pleo ResponsibilitiesIntegration Responsibilities
Prepare export dataValidate Accounting System availability
Queue Export JobsRetrieve Export Jobs and Items
Provide expense data with attachmentsProcess & record entries in the Accounting System
Handle attachments and posting logic
Surface integration results to Pleo Web App userReport success and failure outcomes to Pleo and AS/ERP

Processing Principles

All export integrations must follow these principles:

Sequential Processing

Export Jobs must be processed one at a time to avoid accounting inconsistencies.

Deterministic Outcomes

Each Export Item must end with a final status:
  • successful
  • failed

Failure Isolation

A failed Export Item must not stop processing of other items in the same Export Job.

Idempotent Design

Integrations should safely retry operations without creating duplicate accounting entries.

Expected Outcome

After implementing this workflow, the integration will:
  • reliably export expenses into the Accounting System
  • provide clear visibility into export outcomes
  • support auditing and reconciliation workflows
  • align with Pleo’s export processing guarantees

What Comes Next?