Karbon
Connect your Karbon tenant to Punchcard so audit engagements, clients, and team assignments are created automatically when work is deployed in Karbon.
The Karbon integration brings your clients and engagements into Punchcard automatically. When someone deploys an audit work item in Karbon, Punchcard creates the matching engagement with the correct client, audit period, and team — no re-keying required. Karbon stays your system of record for clients and work; Punchcard is where the audit executes.
What you'll do
- Get an access key from your Karbon settings.
- Connect your Karbon tenant to Punchcard.
- Choose which work types should create engagements.
- Preview what will be brought across before saving.
Before you begin
You need firm-admin access in Punchcard to set up integrations. If you don't see Integrations in the Admin section of your sidebar, contact Punchcard support at support@punchcard.com to have it enabled for your account.
Get your access key from Karbon
Before you connect, you need an access key from your Karbon tenant. This key lets Punchcard read your clients, work items, and team assignments.
Open Karbon Settings
In Karbon, navigate to Settings → Connected Apps.
Create an access key
Follow Karbon's instructions to generate a new access key. Copy the full key — you will paste it into Punchcard in the next step.
The access key is stored securely and never shown again after you paste it — not in Punchcard, not anywhere. Keep a copy in a safe place if your firm's policy requires it.
Connect Karbon to Punchcard
Open the Integrations page
In the left-hand sidebar, expand the Admin section and click Integrations. You will see a card for each available integration. Click the Karbon card.
Paste your access key
On the Karbon detail page, paste the access key you copied from Karbon into the Karbon access key field. The help text below the field reminds you where to find the key in Karbon if you need it.
Click Connect
Punchcard checks the key with Karbon before saving it. If the key is accepted, a confirmation toast appears and the connection status changes to Live.
Checkpoint
The connection card at the top of the page should show a green Live status. If it shows Key rejected or Couldn't reach Karbon, double-check that you copied the full key from Karbon and try again.
Choose which work types sync
Once connected, Punchcard shows a table of every work type defined in your Karbon tenant. You choose which ones should create engagements — everything else is ignored.
Review the work type table
Each row shows a Karbon work type and the number of work items currently filed under it. Use the Filter by name search to narrow the list if your firm has many work types.
Select the audit work types
Check the box next to each work type that represents audit work you want to manage in Punchcard (for example, Year-End Audit (NPO) or Financial Statement Audit). Non-audit work types like tax or bookkeeping should stay unchecked.
Preview changes (optional)
Click Preview changes to see a dry run of what Punchcard will create. The preview shows which engagements and clients are new and which already exist. Nothing is created until you save.
Save choices
Click Save choices to confirm your selection. Punchcard begins bringing matching work items across. A progress bar appears below the work type table showing how many engagements have been created.
You can come back and change your work type selection at any time. Adding a work type brings its existing work items across; removing one stops future syncing but never deletes anything already in Punchcard.
What happens next
Once connected and synced, the integration runs in the background:
- New work items deployed in Karbon under a selected work type automatically appear as engagements in Punchcard, complete with the client and team.
- Team changes in Karbon flow through to the engagement in Punchcard. Team members you add manually in Punchcard are never removed by the sync.
- Your edits are protected. If you correct a synced field like the audit period in Punchcard, the sync won't overwrite your change.
- Nothing is ever deleted. If a work item is removed in Karbon, the Punchcard engagement stays put — your audit evidence is always preserved.
Troubleshooting
Need help?
If you run into issues not covered here, reach out to Punchcard support:
- Email: support@punchcard.com
- In-app: use the help menu in the bottom-left corner of Punchcard.
Continue your journey
← Integrations overview
See all available integrations and how to get firm-admin access.
Clients & Engagements →
How clients, engagements, and your firm fit together once the integration is running.
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