How to automate expense management in Manager.io

Key takeaways

• Manager.io imports bank statements into suspense and uses payment and receipt rules to categorise them.
• Its Expense Claims tab records spend by employees and other payers, with account, tax code and division per line.
• Attachments are uploaded by hand; no receipt reading is described.
• Vergo proposes coding by inference and records payments and expense claims through the Manager.io API.

Where should you go next?

• Vergo's Manager.io integration
• What expense management software integrates with Manager.io?
• Get started with Vergo

How do you automate expense management in Manager.io, step by step?

1. Connect your business. Vergo connects to your Manager.io business through its documented API.
2. Connect the cards you use today. Connecting your existing cards involves no card applications, no re-issuing and no banking change.
3. Receipts by text. Employees handle everything by text message — no app to download, no portal login — and Vergo chases missing receipts itself instead of waiting for a report.
4. Confirm the coding. Vergo proposes account, division, project and tax code for each line.
5. Record it. Card spend is recorded as payments; out-of-pocket spend as expense claims for the person who paid.

What does Manager.io need on each purchase?

• Account from your chart of accounts.
• Division, for businesses reporting by branch or segment.
• Project, where it applies to the account.
• Tax code for sales tax, GST or VAT.

Where does Manager.io stop and automation start?

Statement import and rules are efficient for recurring payees. They do not read receipts or split a purchase across divisions, and anything unmatched sits in suspense until someone deals with it. Vergo reads the receipt itself, line by line, and predicts the coding from what was actually bought, then proposes account, division and project together.

A practical example

A two-branch equipment hire business on Manager.io gives branch managers cards. One manager buys spare parts for hire stock and cleaning supplies for the depot on one receipt. Vergo texts for it, proposes the repairs account with that branch's division for the parts and consumables for the supplies, and shows earlier matching purchases. The owner confirms, and the payment is recorded in Manager.io already coded.

How Vergo handles this

Vergo proposes the coding by inference from your own accounting structure and history — no rule library to build, no keyword lists to maintain, and new vendors are coded on first sight. In Manager.io, the division and tax code are proposed with the account, so branch reports and tax returns stay correct. Approval workflows are optional and fit how you already control spend: route by GL account, by amount, or by project — or skip approval flows entirely and let policy flags catch only what breaks a rule. Card spend, employee reimbursements and AP invoices run through one coding model — same coding, same review, one reconciliation — and payment stays on the rails you already use.