Expenses (Quick Expense)
Small purchases without a full PO-Bill-Payment cycle.
An Expense is the quick-capture document for small, immediate costs that do not warrant a full procurement workflow. No vendor is required. No purchase order, no GRN, no separate payment step. You record the expense, choose whether it was paid or is still owed, and save it.
Expenses use category-based recording rather than item-based line items. The category is an expense-type item in your catalogue; its expense account receives the debit when the expense is saved.
Use Cases
| Use Case | Who | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Office supplies from a retail store | Admin | Small purchase — no vendor relationship, no vendor invoice to record |
| Taxi or ride-share fare | Employee / Admin | Transport cost paid immediately — record and close |
| Team lunch or refreshments | Admin | Small hospitality expense — category-based, no vendor |
| Parking fees, tolls, printing costs | Any | Petty cash items — quick capture, one record per event |
Creating an Expense
Navigate to: Procurement → Expenses → New
Header Fields
| Field | Required? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Yes | Date the expense was incurred — the accounting date for the journal. |
| Payment Status | Yes | Paid — pay from a bank/cash account. Unpaid — record as accounts payable. Determines the credit side of the journal. |
| Payment Account | Conditional | Shown and required when Payment Status is Paid. The bank or cash account used. Hidden when Unpaid. |
| Vendor | No | Optional pill. Add it when the expense should appear in a vendor's history — and always when Unpaid, so the payable sits against them. |
Expense Items {#expense-items}
Each expense is recorded as a card — not a table row. This keeps the interface clean for entering several unrelated costs in one document.
Each card shows an "Expense {number}" header and contains:
| Field | Required? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Yes | Searchable expense category. The selected category determines which expense account is debited. You can create a new category from the dropdown. |
| Amount | Yes | Currency input with symbol prefix. The total amount for this expense line. |
| Date | Yes | Date of this specific line — can differ from the header date for multi-day claims. |
| Description | Yes | What the expense is for. Be specific enough for audit purposes. |
An Item Total is displayed at the bottom of each card. Click Add Another Expense to add a card for a different category or date.
An Expense Summary at the bottom shows the line count and the total. The currency code in its header opens the currency selector.
There is no quantity, unit rate, discount, or line-level tax field on expense lines — this is intentional. Expenses are for quick cost capture, not for itemized procurement. If you need line-level tax or multiple units at a rate, use a Bill instead.
Optional Fields
Optional fields from the Fields menu: Subject, Vendor, Center, Project, Tags, Note, Attachments, Recurring.
Payment Status Toggle {#payment-status}
The Payment Status toggle is the key control on the expense form:
| Status | Meaning | Journal Credit Side |
|---|---|---|
| Paid | The expense was paid at the time of purchase — cash or card already used | CR the bank / cash account chosen in Payment Account |
| Unpaid | The expense is owed but not yet paid | CR Accounts Payable — add the Vendor so the liability is attributed to them |
Journal Entries
| Account | Debit | Credit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transport (expense account of the category) | 150.00 | — | Cost recognized in the category's expense account |
| Bank / Cash | — | 150.00 | Cash out — payment was made at time of purchase |
| Account | Debit | Credit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consulting (expense account of the category) | 500.00 | — | Cost recognized |
| Accounts Payable | — | 500.00 | Liability created — settle it with a payment voucher |
A saved expense has status Recorded. A category with no expense account of its own posts to the default Purchases account.
For recurring small costs like monthly subscriptions or utility bills, use a Bill rather than an Expense — Bills support due dates, payment tracking, and partial payment recording. Expenses are best for one-off, low-value items where the overhead of a full bill workflow is not warranted.
Related
- Choosing between an expense and a bill: Purchase cycles.
- The full document when a vendor invoices you: Creating a bill.
- Where the expense account comes from: Account mapping.
- Classifying spend that arrived on a bank feed: Bank-led payment.