Expenses

When a business cost is paid directly from a bank account — no vendor invoice involved — that's an expense. Common examples include employee reimbursements, office supplies bought on a company card, utilities, and travel costs. Expenses let you record and categorize these payments so they land correctly on your Profit & Loss without going through accounts payable.

How to create an Expense

1. Go to Expenses > Expenses.
2. Click + Data Entry and select New.
3. Select the Vendor (optional — leave blank for miscellaneous or ad hoc payments).
4. Select the Financial Institution the expense is paid from.
5. Set the Posting Date and optionally a Due Date.
6. Add a Reference Number (e.g., a receipt number or reimbursement claim reference).
7. Add expense lines:
   • Select the GL Account to charge (e.g., Office Supplies, Travel Expense).
   • Enter the Amount for each line.
8. Post the expense.

Change the Financial Institution

You do not always know which bank account or credit card will pay an expense when you create it. While the expense is Draft or Pending, you can switch it:

1. Open the expense.
2. In the Details card, click Change next to Financial Institution.
3. Pick the new institution and click Save.

The list only shows institutions in the same currency as the expense that are enabled for expenses, so amounts never need converting. Once the expense is Posted, the institution is locked: posting already reduced that account's balance and charged any bank fee to it. To reverse a posted expense, use an Expense Refund.

Field reference

• Vendor — optional; linking to a vendor ties the expense to a supplier for reporting and gives you a history of all costs paid to that vendor.
• Financial Institution — the bank or credit card account the payment leaves from; your balance is reduced on posting.
• Expense Account (per line) — the GL expense account debited per line; this determines exactly how the cost appears on your P&L by category.
• Total — the sum of all expense lines; must match the actual payment amount.

Document lifecycle

What happens next

If a vendor refunds part or all of an expense, create an Expense Refund from the expense detail page to record the money coming back and reverse the relevant P&L entries.

Tips

• Use expenses for payments made directly from your bank or card. If a vendor sends you an invoice before you pay, use a Vendor Bill instead — it creates an accounts payable record so you can track what you owe before the cash leaves.
• A single expense can be split across multiple GL accounts. For example, a supplier visit might split between Travel (flights) and Meals & Entertainment (client dinner).
• If a payment closes off a previously entered Vendor Bill, link the expense to that bill to reconcile the payable correctly.

Related: Expense Refunds · Vendor Bills · Bank Transactions · Audit Trail · Account Priming · Control Accounts