Scaling Expense Management Across 50+ Legal Entities with DATEV Integration
A centralized expense and invoice management platform built for European growth
Key Takeaways
- Standardized, automated expense management across more than 50 legal entities
- Reliable DATEV integration for accurate financial exports with minimal manual effort
- One centralized platform covering receipt capture, submission, approval and export
- Significant reduction in manual workload for finance and accounting teams
- Faster approval and reimbursement cycles for employees across every entity
- Stronger policy compliance through configurable, automated approval workflows
- A future-proof platform built to support terralayr’s continued expansion across Europe
The Challenge
terralayr’s rapid growth resulted in an increasingly complex organizational structure, with more than 50 legal entities requiring standardized expense and invoice management processes.
- Expense handling relied on multiple manual steps and decentralized processes that varied by entity
- Limited transparency made it difficult to ensure consistent policy compliance
- Finance teams lacked timely visibility into company-wide spending
- A seamless DATEV integration was essential for accurate financial exports with minimal manual intervention
- The solution needed to scale and standardize across entities while supporting continued growth
Introduction
terralayr AG is a Swiss-based renewable energy company specializing in battery energy storage systems (BESS) and energy flexibility services. Headquartered in Zug and Berlin, the company develops, owns and operates a growing portfolio of grid-scale battery assets, giving utilities, energy traders, grid operators and large power consumers access to storage capacity without owning the physical asset themselves.
As terralayr’s project pipeline expanded, including its full acquisition of German battery developer Big Battery Deutschland in February 2026, its legal entity structure grew just as quickly. The organization now spans more than 50 entities. Maintaining consistent financial controls and efficient expense management across that structure became an increasing priority.
The Solution
terralayr implemented Perk’s Expense Management and Invoice Processing modules, establishing a centralized, highly automated platform for managing employee expenses across the entire organization.
Key capabilities introduced:
- Mobile receipt capture and expense submission for employees in every entity
- Configurable approval workflows aligned to internal policies and organizational structures
- Automated synchronization of key master data across legal entities
- Direct DATEV integration, transferring approved expense data into the accounting environment for consistent bookkeeping
- A standardized framework flexible enough to accommodate entity-specific requirements where needed
Lessons Learned
- Establishing a clear governance model early was one of the key success factors, given the number of legal entities involved
- Close collaboration between terralayr’s project team and Perk’s implementation team translated business requirements into scalable processes without unnecessary complexity
- Standardizing common processes wherever possible, even though individual entities often have unique requirements, significantly reduced implementation effort and simplified ongoing administration
- Regular workshops, transparent communication, and active involvement from finance, accounting and administration teams supported a smooth rollout and strong user adoption
The Impact
- Standardized expense processes now run across more than 50 legal entities
- Receipt capture and expense submission are automated through the Perk mobile app
- Manual workload for finance and accounting teams has dropped significantly
- Finance leadership has improved visibility and transparency into company-wide spending
- Approval and reimbursement cycles are faster across the organization
- DATEV integration runs reliably at scale with minimal manual intervention
- Policy compliance is stronger thanks to automated, consistent workflows
The Outcome
With Perk, terralayr transformed its expense management from a manual, decentralized process into a centralized, digital and scalable operation. Employees, approvers and finance teams now benefit from a seamless end-to-end workflow that reduces administrative effort while increasing transparency and control.
Backed by Perk’s automation capabilities and its DATEV integration, terralayr has built a modern expense management framework designed to support its growing organizational structure and continued expansion across Europe.
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