Getting started with Expenses
Expenses handles money employees spend on the company's behalf — either paid back afterwards as a claim, or given up front as an advance and accounted for later. This page is the map.
Where: Expenses You need: expense rights — see Expense user rights
Claims and advances are different journeys
| Money moves | Employee is | |
|---|---|---|
| Claim | After the spend | Reimbursed for what they already paid |
| Advance | Before the spend | Given money, then accounts for how it was used |
A claim is straightforward: spend, submit a receipt, get approved, get reimbursed.
An advance carries an extra obligation. Once money has been disbursed, the employee owes an account of it — that step is liquidation, and an advance is not finished until it has been liquidated.
💡 The distinction that matters operationally: an unliquidated advance is company money sitting with an employee, unaccounted for. Claims cannot go wrong that way. If you offer advances, tracking liquidation is the job.
How a claim moves
requested → pending → approved → paidwith declined available at the approval step.
How an advance moves
pending → approved → disbursed → to be liquidated → liquidatedwith declined, cancelled, and two disbursement states — disbursement in progress and disbursement failed — for when the payment itself does not complete.
How employees are reimbursed
| Method | Suits |
|---|---|
| Payroll | Routine reimbursement, paid with salary |
| Bank transfer | Larger or more urgent amounts |
| Cash | Small amounts, petty cash |
| Cheque | Where your finance process requires it |
Reimbursing through payroll is the tidiest option for regular claims — it needs no separate payment run and it appears on the payslip, so the employee can see it. See Reimbursement and payment.
Where the policy actually lives
Almost every question about whether something can be claimed is answered by the expense type: its limits, its receipt requirements, who may use it, and whether the employee bears part of the cost through an excess or co-pay. Read Expense types before configuring anything else.
Where to go next
For employees
Managing
Setting up
What Happens Next
- Approved claims are reimbursed by the method configured, including through payroll.
- Advances create an obligation to liquidate that stays open until settled.
- Expense classifications and cost centres carry through to your accounts.
Tips
- Decide your expense types before launching. People will claim against whatever exists, and retrofitting a policy onto claims already made is not possible.
- Publish the excess and co-pay rules if you use them. They are the single largest source of expense complaints, and always because nobody was told.
- Track unliquidated advances weekly. They are the only part of this module where company money is outstanding.
- Reimburse routine claims through payroll. Fewer payment runs, and the employee can see it on their payslip.