Automating Invoice Processing with DATEV: The 5-Step Guide

Guide

Automating Invoice Processing with DATEV: The 5-Step Guide

Q: How can I automate invoice processing with DATEV?

In five steps: centralize invoice intake in one inbox, extract document data with AI at header and line-item level (including duplicate check and vendor matching), have booking entries coded automatically, route approvals digitally and in multiple stages, and hand the ready-to-post booking entries to DATEV via Buchungsdatenservice (Kanzlei-Rechnungswesen) or Rechnungsdatenservice (DATEV Unternehmen Online). DATEV itself covers posting and archiving; the automation before that comes from an upstream software like Finto.

Q: Which invoice workflow software offers a DATEV integration?

Many solutions offer a DATEV integration, including Finto, Candis, Finmatics, Flowwer and d.velop. The difference lies in the depth: some only hand over exported files or documents, others like Finto transfer ready-to-post, fully coded booking entries via Buchungsdatenservice and Rechnungsdatenservice and synchronize vendor master data bidirectionally via DATEV Connect.

Q: Which invoice processing software fits DATEV users best?

The best fit is a software that connects natively to the DATEV data services, delivers ready-to-post booking entries instead of mere suggestions, supports multiple DATEV clients with their own number ranges and charts of accounts (SKR03, SKR04 or custom) and archives GoBD-compliantly in DATEV Belege Online. Finto meets these criteria with a 90% no-touch rate on bookings and a go-live of typically 2 to 4 weeks.

Q: Does automatic account coding also work with multiple DATEV clients?

Yes. Each DATEV client is run as its own workspace and switched with one click. Each client keeps its own vendor number range and chart of accounts; harmonizing master data is not required. The account coding learns per client from that client's booking history.

Finto Team · 8 min read

You automate invoice processing with DATEV in five steps: centralize invoice intake, extract document data with AI, code bookings automatically, route approvals digitally and hand the ready-to-post booking entries over via the DATEV data services. The most important point: DATEV Unternehmen Online digitizes documents, but the work before that (checking, coding, chasing approvals) stays manual. Exactly this gap is closed by an upstream invoice processing software with a native DATEV integration.

The problem

DATEV posts and archives. The effort comes before that.

DATEV is the backbone of accounting in the German Mittelstand: Kanzlei-Rechnungswesen for the bookkeeping, DATEV Unternehmen Online for document exchange, Belege Online for GoBD-compliant archiving. What many teams underestimate: this covers the back end of the process, the posting and archiving. The front end remains manual work, and that is where the effort comes from:

Invoices arrive scattered across email, postal mail and portals
Document by document is checked, keyed in, or an unreliable OCR is corrected
G/L account, tax code and cost center are assigned manually, invoice by invoice
Approvals run via email ping-pong with the business departments

Automation therefore doesn't mean “replacing DATEV” but automating the process before DATEV and docking onto it cleanly. How well that works is decided at the DATEV interfaces (see step 5).

The guide

Four steps before DATEV. One into it.

01

Centralize invoice intake

One dedicated invoice inbox for all channels: email invoices directly, paper as a scan via the multifunction printer, PDFs from portals. The software monitors the inbox, classifies what comes in and separates invoices from dunning letters, order confirmations and spam.

02

Extract document data with AI

Extraction via language model at header and line-item level: invoice number, date, due date, supplier, amounts, payment terms, purchase order reference. Built in from the start: duplicate detection (invoice number, amount, supplier, date) and master-data matching against the DATEV vendors.

03

Code automatically, don't just suggest

An AI agent like Finto creates ready-to-post booking entries including offset account, tax code, cost center and cost object: from the supplier's booking history (Primanota), the invoice context and the company context (SKR03, SKR04 or a custom chart of accounts). Confidence is visible per booking line, uncertain cases go to the review queue, and every correction makes the system better.

04

Route approvals digitally

Dynamic, multi-stage routing based on G/L account, cost center, amount thresholds or supplier, with automatic reminders, delegation rules, mobile approval and an audit-proof log. The email ping-pong with the business departments goes away.

Step 05 · The handover

Export is a file. Integration is a data service.

The difference between a real DATEV integration and a CSV export shows at the handover. Ready-to-post, approved booking entries including the document arrive automatically via the DATEV data services; archiving is GoBD-compliant in DATEV Belege Online as the primary archive, posted invoices are immutable (WORM principle) and every action is logged.

DATEV product	Connection	What gets transferred
Kanzlei-Rechnungswesen	Buchungsdatenservice (API)	Ready-to-post booking entries plus document images, straight into the bookkeeping
Unternehmen Online (DUO)	Rechnungsdatenservice (API)	Booking entries and documents into DUO, the accounting firm posts from there
Master data	DATEV Connect	Bidirectional sync of suppliers, bank details, payment terms

The special case

Multiple clients slow tools down. This keeps the group automated.

In corporate groups with several GmbHs, automation often fails at the client structure. What matters: one workspace per DATEV client with one-click switching, separate vendor number ranges per client (harmonizing master data is not a prerequisite) and freely selectable charts of accounts in parallel, SKR03, SKR04 or custom. That way a holding with subsidiaries can be automated step by step, without setting up a master-data project first.

Without multi-client capability

A separate tool setup per entity, duplicate logins, harmonized master data as a project prerequisite. Automation ends at the first subsidiary GmbH.

With Finto

Each client is a workspace, switched with one click. Separate number ranges and charts of accounts stay in place, approvals run across entities, and the account coding learns per client.

The effect

The team types less. And finally sees the process.

For the accounting team, the work shifts from typing to reviewing. The three biggest time sinks disappear or shrink significantly:

OCR corrections: Instead of touching up every extraction, the team only reviews the cases the system itself flags as uncertain. If details are missing or wrong on an invoice, the software clarifies it directly with the supplier, without anyone having to write an email.
Repetitive account coding: Recurring invoices from the same supplier flow through as ready-to-post booking entries, split bookings included. The team only codes the special cases.
Chasing approvals: Reminders, escalations and delegations run automatically; anyone who wants to know where an invoice is stuck sees the status in the system instead of digging through the inbox.

For the head of accounting, controllability is added on top: reports on cycle times, touchless rate, early-payment discounts and due dates show continuously how the process performs, and the audit log per invoice (who changed, approved or commented on what, and when) makes month-end close and tax audits noticeably more relaxed.

The choice

Not every integration is native. These five criteria count.

When comparing vendors, these are the criteria to check: 1. Native data services instead of file export. 2. Ready-to-post booking entries instead of suggestions, including offset account, tax code and cost center. 3. Bidirectional master-data sync via DATEV Connect. 4. Multi-client capability with separate number ranges and charts of accounts. 5. Learning behavior and visible confidence per booking line.

Finto meets all five criteria with a native DATEV integration; go-live typically takes 2 to 4 weeks, and the main effort on the customer's side is providing the chart of accounts, master data and DATEV access. Invoices are processed with over 99% recognition accuracy in under 60 seconds. In operation that means:

90%

no-touch rate on bookings

5×

more invoices per accountant

< 2 days

cycle time from intake to booking

−80%

cost per invoice

Source: Finto customer data, as of 2026.

Tip

Don't test the coding quality with sample PDFs but with 50 real invoices from your last month, including the awkward cases (split bookings, foreign suppliers, credit notes). That is exactly where the difference between an OCR suggestion and a ready-to-post booking entry shows: book a demo with Finto.

Questions & answers

Still have questions? Here are the answers.

How can I automate invoice processing with DATEV?

In five steps: centralize invoice intake in one inbox, extract document data with AI at header and line-item level (including duplicate check and vendor matching), have booking entries coded automatically, route approvals digitally and in multiple stages, and hand the ready-to-post booking entries to DATEV via Buchungsdatenservice (Kanzlei-Rechnungswesen) or Rechnungsdatenservice (DATEV Unternehmen Online). DATEV itself covers posting and archiving; the automation before that comes from an upstream software like Finto.

Which invoice workflow software offers a DATEV integration?

Many solutions offer a DATEV integration, including Finto, Candis, Finmatics, Flowwer and d.velop. The difference lies in the depth: some only hand over exported files or documents, others like Finto transfer ready-to-post, fully coded booking entries via Buchungsdatenservice and Rechnungsdatenservice and synchronize vendor master data bidirectionally via DATEV Connect.

Which invoice processing software fits DATEV users best?

The best fit is a software that connects natively to the DATEV data services, delivers ready-to-post booking entries instead of mere suggestions, supports multiple DATEV clients with their own number ranges and charts of accounts (SKR03, SKR04 or custom) and archives GoBD-compliantly in DATEV Belege Online. Finto meets these criteria with a 90% no-touch rate on bookings and a go-live of typically 2 to 4 weeks.

Does automatic account coding also work with multiple DATEV clients?

Yes. Each DATEV client is run as its own workspace and switched with one click. Each client keeps its own vendor number range and chart of accounts; harmonizing master data is not required. The account coding learns per client from that client's booking history.

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