Bookkeeping

Expenses

Money the company already spent by bank, card, or cash: receipts, card charges, and direct debits.

Record an expense

Scope: expenses:write. paid_from_account_id is the bank, credit card, or cash account the money came out of. Each line names an expense account and an amount. The vendor (merchant) is optional and is matched by name or created.

With "post": true the expense is recorded right away (status recorded): each line's account is debited and the paid-from account is credited. Without it the expense is saved as a draft.

POST

curl -X POST "https://api.helloledger.ai/v1/companies/{company_id}/expenses" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HL_API_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: exp_9910" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "vendor": {
    "name": "Uber"
  },
  "date": "2026-10-02",
  "payment_source": "card",
  "paid_from_account_id": "66f1a2b3c4d5e6f708091d04",
  "reference": "rcpt-20261002-1",
  "memo": "Client visit",
  "external_id": "exp_9910",
  "post": true,
  "lines": [
    {
      "account_id": "66f1a2b3c4d5e6f708091d01",
      "description": "Ride to client",
      "amount": "45.50"
    }
  ]
}'

Response (201)

{
  "expense_id": "66f1a2b3c4d5e6f708094c01",
  "external_id": "exp_9910",
  "vendor_id": "66f1a2b3c4d5e6f708092a02",
  "vendor_name": "Uber",
  "vendor_created": true,
  "reference": "rcpt-20261002-1",
  "date": "2026-10-02",
  "status": "recorded",
  "posted": true,
  "payment_source": "card",
  "paid_from_account_id": "66f1a2b3c4d5e6f708091d04",
  "total_amount": "45.50",
  "currency": "USD",
  "memo": "Client visit",
  "lines": [{ "account_id": "66f1a2b3c4d5e6f708091d01", "account_name": "Office Supplies", "description": "Ride to client", "amount": "45.50" }],
  "result": "posted"
}

Fields

Field	Notes
date	Date of the expense (YYYY-MM-DD). Required on create.
paid_from_account_id	Required on create. A bank, credit card, or cash account; other account types return 422 invalid_paid_from_account.
payment_source	bank (default), card, or cash.
lines	1–100 lines of account_id and amount, with an optional description.
vendor_id or vendor	Optional, one or the other.
reference, memo	Receipt number and a note.
external_id	Your ID for the expense, stored for reference.
post	true records it now. Default false saves a draft.

List and read expenses

Scope: expenses:read or expenses:write. Filter by status (draft, recorded, voided), vendor_id, external_id, and a from/to date range.

GET

curl "https://api.helloledger.ai/v1/companies/{company_id}/expenses?from=2026-10-01&to=2026-10-31" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HL_API_KEY"

One expense · GET

curl "https://api.helloledger.ai/v1/companies/{company_id}/expenses/66f1a2b3c4d5e6f708094c01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HL_API_KEY"

Edit, post, void, or delete

PATCH changes a draft or a recorded expense; a recorded one is re-posted with the new amounts. Voiding reverses the ledger. DELETE removes drafts only.

An expense matched to a bank transaction returns 409 expense_matched on edit or void. Unmatch it in HelloLedger first.

PATCH

curl -X PATCH "https://api.helloledger.ai/v1/companies/{company_id}/expenses/66f1a2b3c4d5e6f708094c01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HL_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "payment_source": "bank",
  "paid_from_account_id": "66f1a2b3c4d5e6f708091d03"
}'

Post a draft · POST

curl -X POST "https://api.helloledger.ai/v1/companies/{company_id}/expenses/66f1a2b3c4d5e6f708094c01/post" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HL_API_KEY"

POST

curl -X POST "https://api.helloledger.ai/v1/companies/{company_id}/expenses/66f1a2b3c4d5e6f708094c01/void" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HL_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "reason": "Personal charge"
}'

Delete a draft · DELETE

curl -X DELETE "https://api.helloledger.ai/v1/companies/{company_id}/expenses/66f1a2b3c4d5e6f708094c01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HL_API_KEY"

Employee reimbursements

Expenses employees paid personally and claim back go through approval in HelloLedger. The API doesn't create or change them; trying returns 409 unsupported_expense_type. They still show in GET /expenses.