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- Expense Reporting System
- Features
- Expense policies
Expense policies
Expense policies explain which spending is eligible, what evidence is required and how an exception is handled. Expense policies provide the organizational scope, effective dates, high-value threshold and reimbursement channel. Policy rules define individual conditions by category and severity. Finance teams can keep the published rule set close to the expense work, so employees understand what needs attention while they prepare a report. A policy warning remains distinct from a human approval decision.
OverviewReports Awaiting Finance×
Expense Reporting System · Expense policies
New
Reports Awaiting Finance
Expense review waits for the finance reviewer
| Report number | Submitter | Report title | Total amount | Approved amount | OOP amount | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ER-43681 | Sofia Mendes | Denver client workshop travel | 35,011.81 | 12,625.87 | 12,279.74 | |
| ER-61623 | Hana Kim | May regional sales visits | 35,050.12 | 6,438.29 | 30,453.16 | |
| ER-47607 | Olivia Shah | Quarterly planning offsite | 33,685.65 | 19,438.71 | 41,208.84 | |
| ER-73681 | Hana Kim | Field service trip to Reno | 14,277.10 | 27,637.87 | 43,882.37 | |
| ER-31656 | Nico Weber | Supplier audit in Spokane | 27,297.16 | 46,630.30 | 22,577.49 |
6 of 6 records
Denver client workshop travelExpense reports · ER-43681
SubmitterSofia Mendes
Total amount35,011.81
Approved amount12,625.87
OOP amount12,279.74
Card amount27,093.57
What you can do
Apply the policy that governs the expense
A report’s governing policy depends on the organization, department or role and the relevant effective date. Configure precedence so overlapping rules do not produce arbitrary results. Expense categories supply default coding and documentary requirements, while targeted rules handle category limits, business justification and blocked spending. A policy update governs the intended population and period; it must not silently reprice or reclassify a previously approved claim. Retain the reviewed rule basis with the report revision so an employee and reviewer can understand why a finding appeared.
Explain warnings and blocked submissions
Policy violations connect each finding to its expense line and rule. Soft findings warn the team. Hard findings require the prescribed explanation before submission, while Block prevents submission until the underlying issue is resolved through the permitted process. A justification records an explanation, not a waiver by the submitter. Finance Reviewer can handle permitted Soft and Hard decisions; stronger exceptions remain with the authorized policy owner. Preserve the original finding and the actor’s response instead of deleting the evidence after a report passes review.
Review patterns without assuming misconduct
Duplicate-receipt, split-purchase and unusual-mileage checks identify work that needs investigation. Their output is a lead for review and does not establish fraud by itself. Finance compares the original receipt, issuer transaction, business purpose and report history before deciding the outcome. Keep an employee’s explanation with the finding and route material exceptions to the Controller when required. Review recurring patterns by category, severity and period to improve the policy and employee guidance. A reporting trend should not broaden an individual manager’s access to another team’s receipts.
What your team sees
- Top Policy Violations This Month. Open the related work within your assigned scope.
- Reports Held for Aging. Open the related work within your assigned scope.
What it keeps track of
Data model- Expense policies
- Policy header. Scope: Org / Department / Role. One default Org policy plus targeted overrides. Active policies are evaluated by
policy-violation-flagon every line submission. - Policy rules
- The declarative rules. One row per per-diem cap, alcohol limit, weekend trigger, single-meal ceiling, receipt-required override, or M&E attendee-list requirement. Each rule has a Severity that governs whether it warns, requires justification, or blocks submission.
- Expense categories
- The category catalog. Drives default GL coding, receipt-required threshold per category, M&E classification flag, and per-category policy hooks. Active categories appear in the line-entry picker.
- Policy violations
- One row per breached policy rules row per expense line. The
policy-violation-flagandfraud-pattern-detectionworkflows write these. Violation count on the parent report rolls up. Severity governs the submission gate — Block prevents the submitter from advancing the report. - Expense reports
- The submitter’s report header. One report aggregates many expense lines for a single trip, project, or pay period. Lifecycle: Draft → Submitted → approved by mgr → approved by finance → Reimbursed; with branches Held and Rejected. Reimbursed is set when the downstream Payroll or AP cycle confirms payment.
- Expense lines
- The line grain. One row per receipt / per per-diem day / per mileage trip. Carries the GL coding, project costing, approved amount (set by the approver — may differ from Amount when a partial disallowance applies), and payment method (out of pocket vs corporate card) that drives the reimbursement branch.
Who uses it
Permissions- Admin
- Configures the published rules.
- Controller / CFO
- Owns policy decisions and material exceptions.
- Finance Reviewer
- Investigates findings.
- Employee
- Sees the rules governing their own submission.
Set up Expense Reporting System your way.
Start free, then use Proto to change fields, steps and approvals before your team goes live.