These cookies are required for the website to function properly. They ensure security, enable basic features like page navigation, and store user session data. You cannot disable these cookies.
- Expense Reporting System
- Features
- Reimbursements
Reimbursements
Reimbursements connect the approved employee claim to the selected payroll or accounts-payable payment route. It records the employee, report, amount, channel and external references so Finance can distinguish a prepared request from scheduled work and a confirmed payment. The amount comes from eligible approved out of pocket, Mileage and per diem lines. Company-card spending belongs to the issuer payable and is excluded from the employee’s reimbursement, even when both kinds of spending appear on one report.
OverviewPending Reimbursements×
Expense Reporting System · Reimbursements
New
Pending Reimbursements
Reimbursements
| Reimbursement number | Employee | Report | Amount | Reimbursement method | Scheduled for | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RMB-19808 | Hana Kim | Field service trip to Reno | 33,228.45 | Payroll add on | 24 Oct | |
| RMB-33536 | Fatima Ali | Quarterly planning offsite | 30,552.70 | Separate ACH | 15 Oct | |
| RMB-51940 | Ibrahim Diallo | Customer kickoff in Phoenix | 17,900.92 | Payroll add on | 15 Oct | |
| RMB-33995 | Arjun Rao | Supplier audit in Spokane | 3,077.92 | Separate ACH | 30 Oct | |
| RMB-71913 | Fatima Ali | Supplier audit in Spokane | 44,594.69 | Payroll add on | 20 Oct |
6 of 6 records
Field service trip to RenoReimbursements · RMB-19808
Payroll add onEmployeeHana Kim
Amount33,228.45
Scheduled for24 Oct
Paid at26 Oct
StatusPending
What you can do
Prepare the approved payable once
The handoff starts after approval complete confirms every required decision for the current report revision. Snapshot employee payable amount and the selected channel, and retain a stable source key. The accounting integration must agree which system recognizes the cost and payable: importing an AP bill must not debit a cost that the expense system already posted. A zero employee-payable amount needs no reimbursement request. Finance should be able to trace the accepted claim to its report, approval evidence and accounting outcome without interpreting a scheduled date as payment proof.
Follow the channel chosen for the claim
Payroll add on creates the configured one-time reimbursement request; separate ACH sends the approved obligation into the accounts-payable payment cycle. The connected system owns its execution and banking result. Reimbursements retain the appropriate reference and moves through Pending and Scheduled as those outcomes are acknowledged. A later policy edit must not switch an in-flight claim to another channel. Changing the route requires a controlled cancellation and reconciliation of the original attempt so the employee cannot be paid once through payroll and again through AP.
Reconcile payments, returns and retries
Only a confirmation identifying this reimbursement payment sets Paid and its payment reference. A closed payroll run, created AP record or accepted API request alone is insufficient. Repeated callbacks return the existing result rather than creating another payment or posting. A returned payment reopens the relevant financial follow-up and preserves the earlier attempt; a replacement is scheduled only after the old result is understood. The report reaches Reimbursed when all its employee-payable amounts are confirmed paid. Employees see their own status and Finance sees the authorized reconciliation population.
What your team sees
- Pending Reimbursements. Open the related work within your assigned scope.
- My Reimbursement Status. Open the related work within your assigned scope.
What it keeps track of
Data model- Reimbursements
- The paid-out record. One row per expense report per reimbursement channel. Reimbursement method selects whether the cash leg rides the next Payroll run as an
OneTimePaymentor the next AP cycle as a separate ACHPaymentsMadeagainst the Employee-as-Vendor record. Reimbursement method copies from expense policy reimbursement channel at creation but persists independently — policy changes after report submission do not retro-route an in-flight reimbursement. The dual-destination pattern (payroll one time payment ref vs payment run ref) means an in-flight reimbursement keeps its original routing path. - 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.
- Expense approval steps
- The audit trail of approver actions on the report. One row per step in the chain — Manager, Finance Reviewer, optionally Controller for high-value. Each step records who approved / rejected / held, when, and what they wrote in the comment.
- Employees
- A scoped employee identity directory synchronized from the organization identity or HR source. This reference supports ownership and approval attribution; it does not add payroll or HR administration. Role membership alone never grants access to every directory field. External auditors and portal users receive only the identities needed for their granted work.
Who uses it
Permissions- Finance Reviewer
- Prepares and reconciles reimbursement requests.
- Controller / CFO
- Oversees exceptions and accounting ownership.
- Employee
- Sees only their own payment status. Payroll and AP connectors confirm their execution results.
Set up Expense Reporting System your way.
Start free, then use Proto to change fields, steps and approvals before your team goes live.