Expenses
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.
Expenses list, employee and operational expenses awaiting reimbursement or posting.
How to create an Expense
- Go to Expenses > Expenses.
- Click + Data Entry and select New.
- Select the Vendor (optional — leave blank for miscellaneous or ad hoc payments).
- Select the Financial Institution the expense is paid from.
- Set the Posting Date and optionally a Due Date.
- Add a Reference Number (e.g., a receipt number or reimbursement claim reference).
- Add expense lines:
- Select the GL Account to charge (e.g., Office Supplies, Travel Expense).
- Enter the Amount for each line.
- Post the expense.
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
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Editable; no financial impact yet |
| Pending | Submitted for approval; not yet posted |
| Posted | Bank balance reduced; expense accounts debited |
| Archived | Closed and read-only |
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
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