Create and manage expenses

[This article is prerelease documentation and is subject to change.]

If you use Expense Agent when you incur a business expense, you record it in Business Central as an individual expense. Each expense captures the amount, date, category, and supporting details like receipts or merchant information. After you record expenses, you can add them to an expense report for submission.

However, the agent does almost all of that for you. The expense user uploads a receipt file in the web app, and viola, the agent handles the rest. Learn more at Upload receipts and create expenses in Expense Agent.

Important

• This is a production-ready preview feature.
• Production-ready previews are subject to supplemental terms of use.

This article describes how to enter an expense using Business Central only.

Note

You can create and modify individual expenses directly in Business Central only if the Expense Agent is enabled. Otherwise, you must create an Expense Report and add each expense as a separate line.

Create an expense

1. Select Search (Alt+Q) in the upper-right corner, enter Expenses, and then choose the related link.
2. Choose New to open a blank Expense card.
3. In the Expense User No. field, select the expense user who incurred the expense.
4. In the Expense Category field, choose the category that matches the type of expense.
5. In the Expense Date field, enter the date the expense occurred.
6. In the Description field, enter a brief description.
7. In the Amount field, enter the total amount in the expense currency.
8. In the Merchant Name field, enter the name of the vendor or merchant.
9. Optionally, fill in the Receipt No. field with the receipt or external document reference number.
10. In the Currency Code field, choose the currency if it differs from the local currency.

Tip

If your organization uses expense rules, any violations appear in the Rule Violations FactBox on the right side of the page. Review and address violations before submitting the expense in a report.

Attach a receipt

You can attach receipt images or PDF files to an expense for documentation purposes.

1. On the Expense card, the Attachments pane in the FactBox shows attached files.
2. Choose Attachments pane, choose Documents, and then choose Upload Files.

If you attach a PDF, a Preview FactBox displays the document directly on the expense card.

Add itemizations

For expenses that require itemization (based on the category), you can break down the total amount into line items.

1. On the Expense card, choose the Itemizations action.
2. Add line items with the relevant details and amounts.

Important

The Total Amount of all lines in the Expense Itemizations page must exactly match the Expense Amount.

Add participants

For expense categories that require participants, such as business meals, you can list the attendees.

1. On the Expense card, choose the Participants action.
2. Add each participant with their name and type.

Record a mileage expense

When the expense category requires mileage details, more fields appear in the Travel section.

1. Create an expense and select a mileage category.
2. In the Starting Point field, enter where the trip began.
3. In the Ending Point field, enter the destination.
4. In the Mileage field, enter the one-way distance.
5. If the trip was a round trip, turn on Round Trip. The Total Mileage field doubles the distance automatically.

The amount is calculated based on the mileage rate configured on the Expense Agent Setup page.

Record a per diem expense

When the expense category requires per diem details, the Travel section shows date and time fields.

1. Create an expense and select a per diem category.
2. In the Expense Location field, choose the travel destination.
3. In the Starting Date and Time field, enter when the travel period began.
4. In the Ending Date and Time field, enter when it ended.
5. Choose the Per Diem action to view or edit the calculated per diem entries.

Business Central calculates the per diem amount based on the rates and rules configured on the Expense Agent Setup and Expense Management Rules pages. So, before start, be sure you have properly configured whole setup.

Billing and reimbursement fields

The Billing FastTab on the Expense Card page lets you specify more details.

Fields	Description
Refundable	Indicates whether the expense complies with company policy and is eligible for processing. Nonrefundable expenses aren't posted to the general ledger. The expense category sets the default.
Reimbursement Type	Specifies how to process the reimbursement based on the payment method. Expenses paid by the employee (cash) are reimbursable. Expenses paid by company card or bank account are expensed but not reimbursed.
Non-Refundable Amount	Specifies the reduction to the reimbursable amount. Available when Refundable is on and the category does not require itemization.
Reimbursable Amount	The amount eligible for reimbursement. This amount is zero for expenses paid by company credit card, because the company already covered the cost.
Payment Method Code	The payment method used for this expense, such as Cash, Credit Card, or Company Paid. Changing the method recalculates the reimbursable amount.
Billable	Turn on this toggle to bill a customer for the expense. When you post the expense report, Business Central creates a sales invoice for the customer.
Billable to Customer	Specify which customer to bill.

Understand refundable versus reimbursable

The terms refundable and reimbursable describe different aspects of an expense:

• Refundable means the expense complies with company policy and is accepted as a valid business expense. The default value comes from the expense category, but you can change it on individual expenses if you have permission. Nonrefundable expenses aren't posted to the general ledger, but they must still be tracked in the system. For example, if an employee uses a company card for a nonbusiness purchase, the amount needs to be recorded and potentially recovered from the employee.
• Reimbursable means the employee paid out of pocket and is eligible to receive money back. An expense paid with a company credit card or bank account is refundable but not reimbursable, because the company already covered the cost.

When itemization is required, individual subcategory lines can have different refundable settings. For example, a hotel receipt might have the room charge as refundable while a minibar charge is marked as nonrefundable. The employee is reimbursed only for the refundable portion.

Connect an expense to a project

You can link an expense to a project for tracking and billing purposes.

1. On the Expense card, in the Billing section, fill in the Project No. field.
2. In the Project Task No. field, select the relevant project task.

When you post the expense report, Business Central creates a project ledger entry and the standard expense and employee ledger entries.

Expense dimensions

You can assign global dimensions to an Expense using the Dimensions FastTab, and add additional dimensions by selecting the Dimensions action.

Note

The Expense automatically inherits default dimensions from the Expense User (based on the linked Employee) or from the selected Project No.

Release an expense

Before an expense can be added to an expense report, it must be released.

1. On the Expense card, choose the Release action, or press Ctrl+F9.

To make changes to a released expense, choose Reopen first.

Create an expense report from an expense

You can quickly create a new expense report directly from an expense.

1. On the Expense card, choose Create Expense Report.

Next steps

Create and submit expense reports

Related information

Set up expense categories and rules
Manage employee expenses

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