Expense Management and Approval

Available from: v1.0.36

The Expense Management and Approval feature automates the end-to-end lifecycle of employee expenses — from receipt capture through to reimbursement — while enforcing your organisation's spending policies at every step.

Overview

Capability	Description
Automated Report Creation	Expense reports are generated automatically from submitted receipts and expense data
Receipt Processing	Receipts are parsed to extract vendor, amount, date, and category
Multi-Level Approval Workflows	Configurable approval chains route reports to the right approvers
Policy Compliance Checking	Expenses are validated against spending policies at submission time
Automated Reimbursement	Approved expenses are processed for reimbursement without manual intervention

How It Works

1. Submitting an Expense

Employees submit expenses by uploading receipts or entering expense details directly. The system automatically:

Parses receipt data (vendor name, amount, date, expense category)
Creates or appends to an expense report
Checks each line item against the active spending policy for the submitting employee's department and role

Out-of-policy items are flagged immediately at submission, giving employees the opportunity to add justification or correct the entry before routing it for approval.

2. Multi-Level Approval Workflows

Once an expense report is submitted, it is routed through your configured approval workflow. Approval chains can be structured based on:

Amount thresholds — higher-value reports escalate to senior approvers automatically
Department or cost centre — reports are sent to the relevant budget owner
Custom rules — additional routing logic can be defined per your organisational policy

Approvers receive notifications and can approve, reject, or request changes from within the platform.

3. Policy Compliance Checking

Every expense is evaluated against your organisation's spending policies before and during the approval process. The compliance engine checks:

Per-diem and per-category spending limits
Allowed vendor or expense types
Required supporting documentation (e.g. receipts above a defined threshold)

Non-compliant items are highlighted for approvers so decisions are always made with full policy context.

4. Automated Reimbursement Processing

Once a report reaches full approval, reimbursement is triggered automatically. The system integrates with the platform's financial management and payroll modules to:

Queue the reimbursement for the next available payment run
Post the expense to the appropriate cost centre and general ledger accounts
Notify the employee when payment has been processed

Integration Points

Payroll Module — Approved reimbursements are included in payroll or off-cycle payment runs
Financial Planning & Spend Management — Expense data flows into spend dashboards and budget tracking in real time
AI Agents — Routine compliance checks and report creation steps are automated by the platform's intelligent agent layer

Getting Started

Configure your spending policy — Define per-category limits, documentation requirements, and any restricted expense types in Settings → Expense Policies.
Set up approval workflows — Define approval chains in Settings → Approval Workflows, specifying approvers, thresholds, and escalation rules.
Enable reimbursement processing — Connect your payroll or payment provider in Settings → Integrations to allow automated disbursement.
Invite employees — Ensure employees have the Expense Submitter role assigned so they can submit reports.

Roles and Permissions

Role	Capabilities
Expense Submitter	Create and submit expense reports, upload receipts
Expense Approver	Review, approve, reject, or request changes on assigned reports
Finance Admin	Configure policies, view all reports, manage reimbursement runs
Platform Admin	Full access including workflow and integration configuration

Notes

Policy rules and approval chains are applied per tenant and can be configured independently for each organisation.
All expense and receipt data is stored in accordance with the platform's data retention and privacy policies.
Historical expense reports and audit trails are accessible to Finance Admins from the Expense Reports section.