> This page is for Unified.

> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.merge.dev/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.merge.dev/_mcp/server.

# Vendor (AP) payment reconciliation

> How to reconcile accounts payable bills and vendor payments with accounting platforms using the Merge Accounting API.

---

#### Authorize integration

Ensure your user authorizes their integration with their specific accounting platform.

#### Retrieve your user's accounting configuration data

The following steps will cover the business logic you will need to configure in your backend to interact with Merge's Unified API.
"Settings" data refers to all information related to suppliers, accounts, and tracking categories. To do this, we will access three endpoints:
Retrieve all suppliers in the accounting platform using the [**GET** /Contacts](https://docs.merge.dev/accounting/contacts) endpoint. You can filter this by `is_supplier`.

Retrieve accounts in the accounting platform using the [**GET** /accounts](https://docs.merge.dev/accounting/accounts) endpoint. You may choose to only look at certain classifications.

If your user has tracking categories configured, you can retrieve them from the accounting platform with [**GET** /Tracking Categories](https://docs.merge.dev/accounting/tracking-categories).

#### Retrieve unpaid bills

Retrieve all bills for all suppliers that aren't yet paid.
Use the [**GET** /Invoices](https://docs.merge.dev/accounting/invoices) endpoint to access all invoices, and use the query param = `ACCOUNTS_PAYABLE` to filter to only bills.

Look at the `Balance` field to find invoices that have a non-zero value. Filter to only show invoices that haven't been paid.

#### Create payments against bills

Based on the status of the bills you pulled into the system, you'll programmatically create payments/expenses against bills. You should pull this information from your customer's banking platform.
If spend matches a synced bill, use the [**POST** /Payment](https://docs.merge.dev/accounting/payments) endpoint against the bill.

If spend does not have a synced bill, you'll want to use [**POST** /Invoices](https://docs.merge.dev/accounting/invoices) and [**POST** /Payment](https://docs.merge.dev/accounting/payments/) to create a record.

#### Reconcile payments

For Payments that do not match the bill amount, you will want to reconcile these payments by updating the Invoice information.
Currently, Merge does not support the PATCH /Invoice endpoint. Instead, this can be supported through our Authenticated Passthrough Requests.

> **Note**
>
> Reach out to schedule a demo to get access to our [Authenticated Passthrough](/merge-unified/supplemental-data/passthrough-request/overview) requests.

#### Keep your users' finances in check automatically

With financial and accounting data flowing properly, your app can help your users keep their financial statements in balance, matching their payments to bills and reconciling the differences.

#### Automate reconciliation with Merge

Integrate today or talk to our sales team to learn how Merge unlocks hundreds of integrations in days - not years.

\


Get a demo **

* [Authenticated Passthrough Request](/merge-unified/supplemental-data/passthrough-request/overview)

\
\