[Due for payment 2026-05-20] [$250] Add category button inconsistency in Categories settings & category list when connection fails

[mitarachim]

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Version Number: 9.3.69-4
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: N/A - new feature, doesn't exist in prod
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #89743
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): sdosidjnniosjdoisjdo@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Mac 26.2 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

Precondition:

• Enable Accounting in workspace settings.

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to workspace settings > Accounting.
3. Connect to Sage Intacct with wrong credentials.
4. Go to workspace settings > Categories.
   → Add category button is hidden when connection fails.
5. Go to workspace chat.
6. Create an expense.
7. Open the expense.
8. Click Category field.

Expected Result:

Add category button in category list should be hidden when connection fails (similar to Categories settings in Step 4).

Actual Result:

Add category button in category list is still shown when connection fails.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

• Android: App
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: App
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• iOS: mWeb Chrome
• Windows: Chrome
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7150606_1778499670266.20.mp4

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Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @ahmedGaber93

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022053854026582192176
• Upwork Job ID: 2053854026582192176
• Last Price Increase: 2026-05-11

[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #89743

[melvin-bot]

💬 A slack conversation has been started in #expensify-open-source

[github-actions]

👋 Friendly reminder that deploy blockers are time-sensitive ⏱ issues! Check out the open `StagingDeployCash` deploy checklist to see the list of PRs included in this release, then work quickly to do one of the following:

1. Identify the pull request that introduced this issue and revert it.
2. Find someone who can quickly fix the issue.
3. Fix the issue yourself.

[MelvinBot]

Proposal

What is the root cause of that problem?

The settings page and the expense category picker use different functions to check for accounting connections:

• Settings page (WorkspaceCategoriesPage.tsx:439) uses hasAccountingConnections(policy), which returns true whenever any connection object exists on the policy — regardless of sync status. This correctly hides the button.

• Expense category picker (IOURequestStepCategory.tsx:95) uses getValidConnectedIntegration(policy), which filters out "unverified" connections (those that never synced successfully). A failed Sage Intacct connection has no successful sync, so getValidConnectedIntegration returns undefined, and canCreateCategoryInSitu evaluates to true — incorrectly showing the button.

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

In IOURequestStepCategory.tsx:95, replace !getValidConnectedIntegration(policy) with !hasAccountingConnections(policy) to match the settings page behavior:

// Before
const canCreateCategoryInSitu = isPolicyAdmin(policy) && !getValidConnectedIntegration(policy) && !!policy?.areCategoriesEnabled;

// After
const canCreateCategoryInSitu = isPolicyAdmin(policy) && !hasAccountingConnections(policy) && !!policy?.areCategoriesEnabled;

This ensures the "Add category" button is hidden whenever any accounting connection exists, even if it hasn't synced successfully.

Investigation details

hasAccountingConnections (PolicyUtils.ts:1056-1058) calls getCurrentConnectionName(policy) which checks for any connection key in policy.connections. A failed Sage Intacct connection still creates an entry here.

getValidConnectedIntegration (PolicyUtils.ts:1823-1824) additionally calls isConnectionUnverified() which checks lastSync — a connection with wrong credentials that never synced has an empty lastSync, so it's filtered out.

The inconsistency was introduced in PR #89743 which added the in-situ category creation feature but used getValidConnectedIntegration instead of the hasAccountingConnections check that the settings page already uses.

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Next Steps for Contributor+ team: Reply with @MelvinBot implement this to create a draft PR, @MelvinBot <your feedback> to refine this analysis, or explain why you are rejecting Melvin's proposal.