Purpose: A clear, step-by-step guide for SiFi customers to connect their Zoho Books Accounting system to SiFi and start syncing transactions.

Getting Started

Before you begin:

• Create a dedicated Web Services User for this integration: This will help you clearly identify transactions synced from SiFi, as they will show as synced by this user. Make sure to assign the role Admin during the creation of this user.
• You can also use your own Zoho Books admin account if preferred (ensure you have Admin access)
• Confirm your Zoho Books Chart of Accounts is up to date.

Integration Overview

The integration process happens in two main steps:

1. Sync configuration data from Zoho Books to SiFi (such as accounts, vendors, currencies). This step can only be performed by users with the Admin or Finance Manager role in SiFi.
2. Sync transactions from SiFi to Zoho Books. This step can be done by users with the Accountant role in addition to Admin and Finance Manager.

Integration Steps

Step 1 — Log in to Zoho Books

• Go to Zoho Books and sign in with your admin account (or the dedicated integration user you created).

Step 2 — Start the Integration in SiFi

• In your SiFi account, go to Configuration → Accounting.
• Select Zoho Books from the available integrations.
• Click Connect
  
  

Step 3 — Authorize Access

• You will be redirected to an authorization process
• We request only the permissions necessary for the integration:
  • Read access: Organization details, Accounts, Vendors, Currencies, Taxes, Locations, Projects, and Custom fields.
  • Write access: Journal entries, Documents, Expenses, and Bills.
• Review the permissions and click Accept.
• You will be redirected to select your organization in case of multiple organizations attached to your account
  
  

• After authorization, you’ll see a loading screen while we verify that the connection to Zoho Books is established.
  
  

• Once the connection is confirmed, go back to your SiFi tab to continue.

• Once selected, click Continue. This step may take a moment while the system syncs, the time needed will depend on the size of your Chart of Accounts.
  
  

Step 5 — Review Your Configuration

• After the sync completes, you will be taken to your Integration Configuration page.
• Here, you’ll see the synced attributes from Zoho Books displayed.
• An Auto Sync option is available and set by default; this will automatically refresh your data daily without any manual action, keeping SiFi up to date with your latest Zoho Books information.
  
  

• Set your Source Account: This is the account in Zoho Books that is linked to your SiFi wallet.
• Now your configuration is complete. Head to the Accounting menu to start syncing your transactions to Zoho Books

Step 6 — Explore the Accounting Menu

• Go to the Accounting menu in the sidebar.
• This tab is available to users with Admin, Finance Manager, and Accountant roles.
  
  

• In this section, you will see:
  • Expenses: This contains your card expenses.
  • Transfers: Includes transfers and reimbursements.
  • Others: Covers cash-in and cash-out transactions.
  • Filters: Use the standard filter options to focus on the transactions you want
    
    

Step 7 — Verify Transactions

• To verify transactions, you need to assign at least an account to each transaction.

• The account you assign will correspond to the transaction direction:

  • For debit transactions, you assign the debit account.
  • For credit transactions, you assign the credit account.
  • The opposite side is automatically set to your Source Account configured in Step 5.
    
    

• SiFi provides a bulk action option to assign accounts to multiple transactions at once

• For example, you can filter transactions by a budget, such as Budget = "Marketing Campaign 2025", and bulk assign all these transactions to the Zoho account Marketing Expenses.

• This bulk assignment saves time and ensures consistent accounting.

• Always review assigned accounts before completing verification.

• All verified transactions will be moved to the Verified tab for easy tracking.

Step 8 — Sync Transactions

• Once you finish verifying your transactions for the week (by employee, budget, or whatever logic works for you), you can sync all at once.
  
  

• You can choose to sync transactions either as journal entries or expenses.
• Each transaction will create one corresponding entry in Zoho Books.
• And voilà, all transaction details and supporting documents will be added to Zoho Books automatically.
• Please note that transactions are synced in ‘Draft’ status to allow a final review before posting.

Upcoming features

• Support for Bills module.

Note

1. Zoho Books currently does not support creating draft expenses. If you would like to sync as draft, please choose to sync as Journal entries instead.