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iDocuments Expenses User Guide

First published on: 09/08/2023/2:17 pm

Introduction

Overview

iDocuments Expenses is a cloud-based expense management solution that gives you an easy way to enter and submit expenses so managers can review and approve them.

The following video demonstrates the iDocuments Expense functionality shared in this guide.

Logging in

iDocuments is accessible via a standard internet browser where you can enter your username and password, then click Sign in.

Expenses Processing

Menu options

The dashboard below shows the typical functions available from the 'Expenses' menu. Your menu items will be determined by your profile setup.

Expense functions

You can implement these functions as detailed in the table below. Access to these forms is controlled by the user’s role, which is controlled by iDocuments configuration in System Admin > Page Rights as well as company settings to determine the expense types.

End User Forms/Functions	Description
Home	Home page showing user-specific tasks
Add Expense	Create and submit an expense
Approve Expense	Approve an expense
Credit and Debit Cards	Import and code
Mileage Claim Form	Capture and calculate mileage
Entertainment Claim	Capture entertainment details
Capture Receipts	Create a new expense from receipts
Expense List	View and filter expense claims
Mobile Expense Application	Upload, submit, and approve expense claims

Creating an expense claim

From the Expenses main menu, select Add Expense. If your organisation is set up for multiple companies, you may create an expense form in only one company (i.e., the company set as your default for expense payments).

Submitting an expense

Use the 'Expenses' form to enter and submit re-claimable expenses. You can create an expense form only in your default company.

Expense claims must be approved by the approvers in the workflow. After approval, the expense claim is automatically routed to posting for payment through the ERP.

Specific expense forms, such as business entertainment and mileage, capture the data required for tax purposes within the business rules.

Note: Expense users can see only their own documents.

Note: Line managers can see all team members' claimed expenses.

Expense header information

To add an expense, enter the expense description in the header field. Your default group is auto-populated.

Claim dates policy: The current expense period is defaulted but can be made editable. It's possible to restrict expenses entered to the document's date range and to restrict the age of expense claims to ensure they're made within a defined time period.

Expense lines

Each time users add a line, they'll complete a pop-up box to capture the line detail and analysis.

Users will select from the available G/L accounts or Non-Stock Items linked to the specific G/L accounts that have been set up as expenses in their group. Ticking the receipt box allows users to edit the tax codes. Receipts can be made mandatory required for all expenses.

Once the claim is complete, it is submitted for approval and assigned an expense reference number.

Note: 'Expense' groups may be different from 'Purchasing' groups, e.g. Project codes and dimensions may not be required for expense groups.

Mileage

Select the appropriate G/L accounts or Non-Stock Items assigned to the mileage account code (identified by a company setting) to claim for vehicle mileage.

On the mileage screen, you'll be prompted to select the Vehicle Rate, which will determine the mileage rate calculated and a C02 rate as well as the option to enter a line just for business/personal fuel card mileage. The total value is calculated automatically from the travel distance, user vehicle type, mileage rates, and allowance rules specified. In the example below, the user only claims for a fuel card, so the amount is calculated at zero. Note: zero value lines are not updated to the ERP.

Business entertainment

If you enter a business entertainment expense claim, you'll see the business entertainment form when you select the business entertainment G/L accounts or Non-Stock Items (identified by a company setting).

This form records details like attendees and whether the expense claimed is for employees, clients, or both, so the appropriate tax may be calculated based on the tax relief allowable.

Flights

If you enter a flight ticket claim based on G/L accounts or Non-Stock Items (identified by a company setting) then this form is specifically to record the CO2 emissions so they can be reported along with any CO2 mileage.

Company credit card upload

Bank file import

The facility allows users to import credit and debit card files, which automatically create expense forms in draft format for iDocuments users to complete and submit.

Note: The bank statement will be imported into iDocuments in Excel format.

For each expense transaction, you need this information:

Transaction date in
Expense description
Currency code
Exchange conversion rate
Transaction amount
Credit card holder’s name
Credit card account number

The credit card file fields supplied by the bank are mapped to corresponding fields in iDocuments, ready for file upload.

The credit card account reference is added to the user record, so related expenses in the bank import file will be routed to each applicable user for coding and submission.

Processing credit card claims

Users with a credit card expense ready for completion will receive a task alert on their dashboard. The expense line will be red, indicating they must complete the coding and details before submission. Here, users may upload a receipt manually. Credit card expense lines will be identified as Type CC.

Credit card expenses will be automatically posted into SAP Business One/ERP to the credit card control account defined during the initial configuration.

Capturing expense receipts

This function allows users to import single (line) or multiple (header) receipts that can later be coded to create expense submissions. When they upload an expense receipt file, the system automatically generates a draft expense claim(s) in the 'Expense List' screen. The uploaded expense receipt will be automatically attached to the line.

Draft expenses generated from Capture Expense Receipts are identified in red on the expense list screen. Once coded and updated with the expense information, they're submitted via the expense entry process.

Capturing credit card expense receipts via the mobile app

Users can use the iDocuments mobile app to take a photo of a receipt and upload it to the system for processing against the corresponding credit card expense line.

Company credit card users with receipts relating to credit card expenses select the 'Credit Card Expense' page, enter the date, expense description, and expense value, attach the photo, and upload the record.

The credit card bank file upload also checks for any receipts with matching user, date and amounts and, if matched, then the receipts will be automatically attached.

Once the credit card bank file has been uploaded to iDocuments, the credit card expense lines will be available to the user to manually match to the previously uploaded receipts. The user will see expense lines imported from their credit card, ready to be matched with the receipts uploaded from the mobile app.

Clicking the button next to the line will display the credit card receipts pop-up box, which lists receipts the user has uploaded that haven't been matched to an order line. Receipts may be selected to match each order line.

A link to the receipt is then listed on the expense line under Attachments and may be opened for review at the line level.

SAP Expense Types

For SAP-specific business partners, when ‘Type of Business’ is set to Employee, the ‘Expense Type’ option is available. This is a mandatory field and, when selected, this also defaults the code and the tax code fields from the expense type set-up in SAP.

Approving an expense

Expenses cannot be self-approved.

Expenses are routed to the approver configured for a user’s workflow. The approver is alerted by email when they have an expense claim to approve. (Note: Emails are sent only if you've enabled the email integration facility.)

The approver then logs in to view items requiring approval, shown under My Tasks.

The approver can approve or reject the expense. If it's approved, it's routed to the finance approver for the final approval step before posting to SAP Business One/ERP.

A finance approver can change the details of the expense, unless they are also the creator.

Approved cash expenses will be transferred to SAP Business One/ERP as an approved AP Invoice.

If the expense is rejected, the approver must enter a reason, and the creator will be prompted to re-submit.

'My Expenses' summary

Each user can have access to a summary of their expenses and mileage claims year to date.

Expense list view

The list view presents summary details of each claim in list form with Smart Search and filter options.

You can choose an expense to drill down to header and line details. For each expense, you'll see these tabs:

Details – Line details of the expense claim.
History – Audit of the approval/rejection steps with date and time stamp; creator/approver.
Comments – Displays notes relating to the approval process, such as rejection reasons.
Attachments – Lists attachments, such as receipts, that may be selected and opened.
Mileage – Summary of mileage-type expenses for the expense.
Entertainment – Summary of the entertainment-type expenses for the expense.
Flights - Summary of the flight-type expenses for this expense.

Last modified: 07/02/2025/11:36 am