Expenses

Expense Management (Finance → Expenses) records every business cost across three tabs — Expenses Records, Create Expense, and Bulk Import.

Overview

Enter expenses one at a time or in bulk, attach receipts, and have an owner or manager approve or reject them. Every new expense starts as Submitted and counts as spend straight away — in the Total Amount card, the Profit & Loss report and the ledger — until someone rejects or deletes it. Reimbursed is a status you set by hand to note that the employee was paid back; UpChannels does not make that payment.

• Plans: the page needs Pro or a trial. On Basic it is greyed out behind an upgrade card and the sidebar shows a small Pro tag next to Expenses. Groupable View, Pivot View and Export CSV need Premium or a trial; on Pro they show an upgrade card instead.
• Approvals: only the store owner (the Owner switch or the Owner role) and Managers (set in Settings → Team) can approve, reject or mark an expense Reimbursed — with Approve, Reject, the row Status dropdown or the Status field in Edit. Nobody can review their own expense, owners included; it needs a different owner or manager. The one exception is a store that has never had anybody else who could approve — a genuine one-person shop — where you approve your own claim and the expense is marked self-approved. The one status change anybody else can make on their own expense is sending it back from Rejected to Submitted after fixing it. UpChannels records who approved and when.
• After approval: once an expense is Approved or Reimbursed, only a different owner or manager can change its amount, date, category, payment method or Reimbursable setting. The employee can still edit the description, vendor, notes and receipt, and can untick Reimbursable until the expense is marked Reimbursed.
• From the bank feed: an expense made with Record to books in Bank Reconciliation is saved as Approved straight away, in the name of the person who records it and not reimbursable — it skips review, which is why only an owner or manager can record one.
• Demo: the amber Demo button in the header opens a read-only copy with sample data and an 11-step guided tour. It works on every plan.

There are no recurring expenses, no drafts and no custom categories: the category list is fixed.

Tabs in detail

Expenses Records

• Search: pick a field (Employee, Description, Vendor, Notes, Category, Project, Approver or Reviewer), type at least 2 characters, then press Enter or click the magnifier. Searching Category matches the name you see (Fuel, Office Supplies) as well as the short code (gas, supplies).
• Filters: date range, Status, Category, Payment Method and Tax deductible. The date range is required, starts at the last 30 days, can span at most 13 months, and filters on the Transaction Date (the day of the purchase) — not the Submitted Date in the first column.
• Stat cards: Total Amount (dollar total of everything except Rejected), Approved (a count) and Pending (a count of Submitted expenses). All three follow the filters.
• View modes: Standard (a table, 10 per page, newest first), Groupable (Premium) and Pivot (Premium).
• Status column: the owner and Managers get a dropdown that saves the new status the moment they pick it — on other people's expenses. Their own expenses, and everything for everyone else, show plain text.
• Receipt column: View opens the receipt, Missing means one is required but not attached, N/A means none is needed.
• Details dialog (click a row): every field, Edit, receipt preview and replace, Approve/Reject (the owner and Managers, on other people's Submitted expenses only) and Delete (the owner and Managers).
• Export CSV (Premium): downloads every expense that matches the filters, not just the page you are on.

Create Expense

• Fields: Date (today by default), Amount, Category, Payment Method (Credit Card by default), Vendor and Description. Everything except Vendor is required — the same rule Bulk Import and the edit dialog use.
• Tax deductible starts ticked; untick it for spending the business can't deduct. Reimbursable starts unticked; tick it only when you paid with your own money and the business owes it back to you. Only reimbursable expenses count toward Pending Reimbursements on the Expenses Report.
• Categories: Fuel, Parts, Meals, Tools, Travel, Office Supplies, Vehicle Maintenance, Training & Education, Payroll & Wages, Other.
• Payroll & Wages is for wages paid outside a pay run. It lands on the Payroll & Wages line of the Profit & Loss report, next to anything a finalized pay run posted there. A pay run never creates an expense, so the two never double count. Bulk Import takes this category as PAYROLL, and reads "Wages", "Salary" and "Payroll expense" as that category too.
• Receipt: tick I have a receipt for this expense, then Choose File (PNG, JPG or PDF, up to 10 MB). A receipt is required over $25 — $25.00 exactly doesn't need one. The file uploads when you submit.
• Submit Expense saves it as Submitted with you as the employee, then clears the form (the two checkboxes go back to Tax deductible ticked, Reimbursable unticked). You stay on the tab.

Bulk Import

• Download a template: Excel (.xlsx) — date cells, dropdowns for Category, Payment Method, Tax Deductible and Reimbursable, and a "How to fill" sheet — or CSV. Both hold 6 sample rows: delete them before you upload, or they are imported as real expenses.
• Required columns: Date (any date cell in Excel; YYYY-MM-DD in a CSV), Amount (up to $10,000 per row), Category, Description. Optional: Payment Method (blank means Credit Card), Vendor, Notes, Tax Deductible and Reimbursable (Yes or No; blank means Tax Deductible Yes and Reimbursable No). A file without those two columns imports with the same defaults.
• Max 500 rows / 10 MB; upload an Excel (.xlsx) or CSV file. Old .xls files are refused. Category and payment-method spellings are normalized (e.g. "Fuel" → GAS, "Wages" → PAYROLL), and a phrase is read a whole word at a time, so "Truck repair" is Maintenance and "Air filter" is Parts. A category the importer can't place becomes OTHER — check the preview before you import.
• A row with a blank Date, Amount, Category or Description is shown in the preview in red, marked Error, and left out of the import. It keeps its own line number from your file, so you can go and fix it.
• Two identical rows in one file are two expenses: a repeat charge (two $12 parking tickets on the same day) is imported as often as it is listed. Only a row an earlier attempt in this visit already created is left out, and Import Results counts those under Already Imported and lists them by row.
• Import Results shows Total Records, Successfully Imported, Already Imported and Failed, lists each error, and offers Download Error Report. Rows counted under Already Imported are not part of Successfully Imported.
• Imported expenses are saved as Submitted with no receipt, so every imported row over $25 shows Missing in the Receipt column.

Step by step: record an expense

1. Open Create Expense; enter Date, Amount, Category and Payment Method.
2. Add a Vendor and Description. Over $25, tick I have a receipt for this expense and choose the file.
3. Click Submit Expense. The expense appears on Expenses Records as Submitted, waiting for the owner or a manager.

Step by step: approve or reject

1. On Expenses Records, click a Submitted expense to open its details.
2. Click Approve, or click Reject, type an optional reason and confirm with Reject expense (Cancel leaves the expense alone). The reason then shows on the expense, so the person who claimed it can see why. You can also pick the status in the row's Status dropdown, or in the Status field after clicking Edit. None of these are offered on your own expense.
3. The dialog shows the new status at once, and Approve and Reject go with it. The table behind updates too.

Step by step: send a rejected expense back

1. Open your rejected expense on Expenses Records and click Edit.
2. Fix what was wrong — for example Replace Receipt → Choose File for a missing receipt.
3. Set Status to Submitted and click Save Changes. It waits for review again and counts as spend again. Only the person whose expense it is can do this.

Step by step: bulk import

1. Open Bulk Import, click Download Template and pick Excel or CSV. Delete the sample rows and fill in yours.
2. Click Choose File and pick your file. Review the preview: rows marked Error will be skipped.
3. Click Import … Valid Expenses under the preview (or Import … Expenses in the upload card — both name the number that will actually be created). Valid rows are created. Fix any failed rows and upload the file again without leaving the tab — the rows that already went in are left out, and listed under Already Imported. If choosing the same file does nothing, save the fixed copy under a new name and choose that.

Tips & best practices

• Snap receipts at purchase — expenses over $25 need one to submit.
• Delete the template's sample rows before uploading.
• Default date range is the last 30 days — widen it (up to 13 months) to find older expenses. It filters on the purchase date.
• Stay on the Bulk Import tab while you fix and re-upload a file. Leaving the tab or reloading forgets which rows were already imported.
• Nobody approves their own expense: an owner's or manager's own expense needs a different owner or manager. In a store that has never had anybody else who could approve, the owner approves their own and the expense is marked self-approved. Where the store has had somebody else — a manager who is switched off today, say — your own expenses stay Submitted until they are switched back on; they still count as spend, and Create Expense says so before you file one. See "I'm the only owner" under Common questions.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Receipt upload fails	Use a PNG, JPG or PDF under 10 MB; refresh and retry
Import shows errors	Fix the listed rows (date format, an amount above 0 and up to $10,000) and re-upload
The preview shows more rows than will be imported	The extra ones are red, marked Error — usually a blank Date, Amount, Category or Description. Fill those cells and upload the file again
Filters hide expenses	Check the date range (purchase date, up to 13 months), Status, Category, Payment Method and the search box
A category search finds nothing	Check the spelling — Category matches the name in the list (Fuel, Office Supplies) or the code (gas, supplies), and needs at least 2 characters
No Approve or Reject buttons	They appear only on Submitted expenses, only for the store owner or a Manager, and never on their own expense. A new role shows here after the person signs in again (or within about an hour)
No Status dropdown on my own expense	Nobody reviews their own expense. Ask a different owner or manager. If it was rejected, you can send it back: Edit → Status → Submitted
"Update Failed" when saving an approved expense	Once an expense is Approved or Reimbursed, only a different owner or manager can change its amount, date, category, payment method or Reimbursable setting. Those fields are greyed out for everyone else, except that the employee can untick Reimbursable while it is Approved
"Delete Failed — Deleting an expense is limited to managers and the store owner."	Only the store owner or a Manager can delete an expense. Ask one of them
"Delete Failed — That expense is not on this store any more"	Somebody else deleted it first. Reload the page
Groupable View, Pivot View or Export CSV shows "Unlock Premium Features"	These need Premium or a trial
Imported expense shows Missing receipt	Imports can't carry receipts. Open the expense, click Edit, Replace Receipt, then Save Changes
"An expense needs an amount greater than zero.", "An expense needs a category." or "An expense's date is years in the future."	The store's own check, behind the form's. You will normally see the form's wording first; this one appears if a save reaches the store another way. Fix the amount, pick a category, or correct the year

What's next

• Analyze spend: Reports → Expenses Report
• See it in profitability: Reports → Profit & Loss
• Match expenses to your bank feed: Finance → Bank Reconciliation
• Pay your team from their hours instead: Team → Workforce
• Track supplier costs: Inventory → Vendors

Detailed reference

Every button, icon, field and message on this page, for when you need the exact detail. Each panel starts closed — open the one you need.

Page header and toolbar

Control	Where	What it does	Notes
Sidebar Finance → Expenses	Sidebar	Opens this page on Expenses Records	On Basic, a small Pro tag shows beside it. No tag during a trial
Shortcuts cards Expenses Records, New Expense, Import Expense Records	Shortcuts page, Finance group	Open this page on Expenses Records, Create Expense or Bulk Import	All three are gone from Shortcuts for anyone an owner has hidden Expenses from, along with the sidebar item
Figure cards Expenses (MTD) and Pending approvals, and the Expenses quick link	Dashboard, level 05 Sustainable	Open this page	Pending approvals counts Submitted expenses
Title Expense Management and the line "Track and manage your business expenses efficiently."	Header	Page heading	Always shown
Demo (Play icon, amber)	Header, right	Opens the read-only sample copy with a guided tour	Works on every plan, even while the page is locked. See the Demo mode panel and Demo mode
Tab Expenses Records (green)	Tab bar, first	The expense list, filters, totals and views	Opens by default
Tab Create Expense (blue)	Tab bar, second	The new-expense form	—
Tab Bulk Import (purple)	Tab bar, third	The Excel or CSV importer	—
Tab link in the web address	Address bar	/finance/expenses?tab=expenses-records, ?tab=create-expense or ?tab=import-expenses opens that tab	Read on first load only; any other value opens Expenses Records. Switching tabs updates the address
Leaving a tab	Tab bar	The tab you leave is reset	You lose its filters and page number, a half-filled form, or a loaded import file with its preview and its memory of rows already imported
Upgrade card Unlock Pro & Premium Features — "SMS, insights, finance tools & more"	Over all three tabs	Greys out the tabs (showing sample records) so nothing underneath can be clicked	Basic plan with no trial. Hidden while the plan is loading, during a trial, and when the plan can't be determined. See the Upgrade prompts panel

Tab: Expenses Records — search, filters, totals and views

Control	Where	What it does	Notes
Spinner	Top of the tab	Shows while the list loads	—
Card Advanced Filters (Filter icon)	Top card	Holds search, Refresh, Export CSV and the filters	—
Search field picker (shows Employee until you change it)	Search box, left	Chooses what the search matches: Employee (default), Description, Vendor, Notes, Category, Project, Approver, Reviewer	Changing the field alone doesn't search again — press Enter or the magnifier. Category matches both the name you see (Fuel, Office Supplies) and the stored code (gas, supplies), so either spelling finds the row; an older category that has no name in the list still matches its code. Project isn't set anywhere on this page, so it only finds older records. Approver and Reviewer match the name of the person who approved or reviewed the expense; pasting their ID code from an export finds it too
Search box (placeholder "Search...")	Search box, middle	Press Enter to search	Case-insensitive "contains" match. Needs at least 2 characters. Empty the box and press Enter to clear the search. Goes back to page 1
Magnifier (Search icon)	Search box, right	Runs the search	Greyed out while exactly 1 character is typed
Refresh (circular arrows, spin while loading)	Card header	Reloads the list, the three stat cards, and the Groupable or Pivot data if that view is open	Greyed out while loading
Export CSV (Download icon)	Card header	Premium or trial: downloads every expense that matches the filters (all pages) as expenses-export-YYYY-MM-DD-HHmm.csv. Pro: opens Unlock Premium Features instead	Greyed out while loading. Columns: Description, Employee, Category (as a code such as GAS), Amount, Currency, Payment Method, Transaction Date, Status, Vendor, Project Code, Location, Mileage, Receipt, Receipt Number, Reimbursable, Tax Deductible, Submitted Date, Approved By, Approved Date, Reviewed By, Review Date, Review Notes, Rejection Reason, Notes, Created Date, Updated Date. Times are in your store's time zone. Approved By and Reviewed By give the reviewer's name. A cell starting with = + - or @ gets a leading apostrophe so Excel can't run it as a formula. The rejection reason also shows on the expense itself, under the status pill
Date range button (Calendar icon, e.g. "Aug 19 - Sep 18, 2026")	Filter row, first	Opens a two-month calendar: click a start day, then an end day	Starts at the last 30 days. Required — it can't be cleared. An end date more than 13 months after the start is pulled back to 13 months. With only a start picked, the button reads "Sep 01, 2026 - ..." and the list shows everything from that day on. Filters on Transaction Date. Caption under the calendar: "Required · up to 13 months"
Status filter (placeholder "All statuses")	Filter row, second	All Statuses, Submitted, Approved, Rejected, Reimbursed	Goes back to page 1
Category filter (placeholder "All categories")	Filter row, third	All Categories, then Fuel, Parts, Meals, Tools, Travel, Office Supplies, Vehicle Maintenance, Training & Education, Payroll & Wages, Other	Older categories found in the loaded expenses (for example OFFICE) are added at the end, shown by their code. Goes back to page 1
Payment Method filter (placeholder "All Payment Methods")	Filter row, fourth	All Methods, Cash, Credit Card, Debit Card, Check, Bank Transfer, Digital Wallet, Other	Goes back to page 1
Tax deductible filter (placeholder "Tax deductible: All")	Filter row, fifth	Tax deductible: All (the default), Tax deductible, Not tax deductible	Narrows the list, the three stat cards and Export CSV together. Goes back to page 1. There are still no amount, reimbursable, receipt or mileage filters
Card Total Amount (dollar sign)	Stat cards, first	Dollar total, with "… expenses" underneath	Counts Submitted, Approved and Reimbursed. Rejected expenses are left out of both the total and the count. When the totals can't be read it shows "—" and "Totals unavailable — click Refresh" rather than $0.00
Card Approved (check circle)	Stat cards, second	Count, with "Approved expenses" underneath	A count, not dollars. Reimbursed expenses are not included. Shows "—" when the totals can't be read
Card Pending (alert / clock icon)	Stat cards, third	Count, with "Pending review" underneath	Counts Submitted expenses. Shows "—" when the totals can't be read
Card Expense Records (card icon)	Records card title	Holds the view switch and the list	—
Standard View (table icon)	Records card header, right	The paged table (see the next panel)	Default. Highlighted while active
Groupable View (layers icon)	Records card header, right	Groups the expenses by one or more columns, with subtotals	Premium or trial. On Pro: sample data under Unlock Premium Features
Pivot View (bar-chart icon)	Records card header, right	A cross-tab table	Premium or trial. On Pro: sample data under Unlock Premium Features
"Showing 1-10 of … expenses"	Under the view buttons	The range on this page	Standard View with at least one result

Tab: Expenses Records — Standard View table

No column can be sorted. Rows are ordered by when they were created, newest first.

Control	Where	What it does	Notes
Row click (or Tab to the row and press Enter or Space)	Any row	Opens Expense Details	—
Submitted Date (clock icon)	Column 1	When the expense was submitted, in your store's time zone ("—" if none)	Not the purchase date
Category	Column 2	Colored badge with the category name	Older categories show their code
Description	Column 3	The description, with the notes underneath after a small note icon (cut short)	—
Status dropdown	Column 4	Pending Approval (Submitted), Approved, Rejected, Reimbursed. Picking one saves at once: "Updated — Status changed to …." (the message uses Submitted for Pending Approval)	The store owner and Managers only, on other people's expenses. Every change records who made it and when. Approved also records you as the approver and clears any rejection reason. Reimbursed keeps the original approver (or records you, if it skipped Approved). Rejected — with no reason from here — and Pending Approval clear the approval
Status text	Column 4	Grey text: Submitted, Approved, Rejected or Reimbursed	Everyone else, and the owner and Managers on their own expenses
Employee	Column 5	Initial avatar and name ("Unknown" and "?" if blank)	The name comes from the store's people list, so renaming somebody in Settings → Team changes it here too, on old expenses as well as new ones. Someone who has left, or a claim brought in from elsewhere, keeps the name that was stored with it
Vendor	Column 6	Shop icon and vendor, or "N/A"	—
Subcategory	Column 7	Text, or "—"	Only settable in the edit dialog
Amount	Column 8	"$0.00" with the currency (USD) underneath	—
Payment Method	Column 9	Icon and method name	—
Bank-verified icon (bank building in a green circle)	Column 9, after the method	Tooltip: "Bank-verified — matched to a bank transaction during reconciliation"	Only when the bank feeds add-on is on and the expense is part of an automatic or confirmed match in Bank Reconciliation. Suggested matches don't count
Transaction Date (calendar icon)	Column 10	The purchase date, e.g. "Sep 3, 2026", exactly as entered	This is the date the filters use
View badge (receipt icon, green)	Column 11	Opens the receipt in a new browser tab	The link stops working after 5 minutes; click View again for a fresh one. Clicking it doesn't open the details. If the link can't be made, nothing happens
Missing badge (red)	Column 11	Status only	Receipt Required is on and no receipt file is attached. New expenses over $25 have Receipt Required on, so every imported row over $25 shows Missing
N/A badge (grey)	Column 11	Status only	No receipt, and none required
Previous page (left arrow)	Under the table, left	Goes back one page	Greyed out on page 1. The page controls show only with more than 10 results
Page numbers (1 2 3 … last)	Under the table	Jumps to that page	Up to 5 numbers with "..." gaps. Current page highlighted
Next page (right arrow)	Under the table	Goes forward one page	Greyed out on the last page
"Page … of …"	Under the table, right	Where you are	—
Empty state "No expenses found" / "Create your first expense to get started"	Records card	Nothing matches the filters	Only when the list really came back empty. Anything that failed — the list itself, or reading your account when the page opened — shows "Couldn't load your expenses" instead

Statuses

Status	Meaning
Submitted (blue; Pending Approval in the owner/manager dropdown and in Groupable View)	Waiting for review. Already counted as spend in Total Amount, the Profit & Loss report and the ledger
Approved (green)	Reviewed and accepted
Rejected (red)	Not accepted. Taken out of spend totals and the ledger
Reimbursed (purple; grey in the details dialog)	Marked as paid back to the employee. A status only — no payment is made

Tab: Expenses Records — Groupable View (Premium)

Works on the same filtered expenses as the page (all pages), then applies its own date range on top.

Control	Where	What it does	Notes
Card Row Grouping	Top of the view	Holds the grouping controls	—
Expand all / Collapse all	Card header, right	Opens or closes every group at every level	Shown once at least one grouping is chosen
Clear all	Card header, right	Removes all groupings	Shown once at least one grouping is chosen
Transaction Date Range button (Calendar icon)	Card body	A second date filter for this view only	Starts at the last 30 days. Can only narrow the page's date range, never widen it. Can be cleared; it then reads "Select date range" and the view shows everything the page's filters allow
×	Right of that date button	Clears this view's date range	Shown while a date is set
Group by (Add one or more columns) (placeholder "Select column")	Card body	Adds a grouping level: Category, Subcategory, Status, Approval Status, Payment Method, Employee, Vendor, Month, Quarter, Year, Reimbursable, Has Receipt	Columns already used drop out of the list. The order you add them is the order they nest
"Showing … of … expenses"	Card body	How many expenses are inside this view's date range	Shown while a start date is set
"Select a column to group your expenses"	Card body	Hint	No grouping chosen
"Grouping hierarchy:" chips (e.g. Category → Status), each with X	Card body	X removes that level	—
Group row (click anywhere) or its arrow button	Table	Opens or closes that group	Shows the value, an "… expenses" badge, Total:, Avg:, Reimbursable: and Receipts:. Total and Avg leave out Rejected; the count includes them. Mileage: is shown as well, but only when at least one loaded expense carries mileage — nothing on this page records it
Expense row click	Table	Opens Expense Details	Premium or trial
Columns	Table	Expense ID (last 6 characters), Date, Employee, Vendor, Category, Subcategory, Amount, Payment Method, Status, Approval Status (Pending Approval / Approved / Rejected / Reimbursed), Reimbursable (Yes/No), Receipt (Yes / Missing / N/A)	Category and Payment Method read the same names as the standard list (Fuel, Credit Card), and grouping by either groups by the name. An older category or method with no name of its own is shown exactly as stored. Has Receipt groups read Yes, Required (Missing) or N/A. Click a row to open the expense
Total Summary row	Table footer	Grand total (Rejected left out), "… expenses", reimbursable count, receipts count	—
"Loading expenses..." / "No expenses found in the selected date range" / "No expenses found"	Table area	Loading and empty states	A load that failed replaces the whole view with "Couldn't load your expenses" and a Try again button. On Basic and Pro this view is sample data, so it always shows the demo table and the upgrade panel, never a load error

Tab: Expenses Records — Pivot View (Premium)

Control	Where	What it does	Notes
Card Pivot Configuration	Top of the view	Holds the pivot controls	—
Reset (rotate icon)	Card header	Back to Rows: Subcategory, Columns: Category, Values: Amount (Sum), and turns the pivot off	—
▶ Activate Pivot / ✓ Pivot Active	Card header	Turns the pivot table on or off	Starts off. Nothing shows until you click it
Transaction Date Range button and ×	Card body, first column	This view's own date filter and its clear button	Starts at today and the 29 days before. Can only narrow the page's date range; once cleared it reads "Select date range". "Showing … of … expenses" underneath while a start date is set
Row Fields chips (each with X) and "Add row field"	Card body, second column	Adds or removes a row dimension	Options: Category, Subcategory, Status, Approval Status, Payment Method, Employee, Vendor, Month, Quarter, Year, Reimbursable, Has Receipt — minus any already used as a row or column. Chips can't be dragged; use X and the drop-down to change them
Column Fields chips (each with X) and "Add column field"	Card body, third column	Adds or removes a column dimension	Same options and rules
Value Fields (Measures) chips, e.g. "Amount" with a Sum drop-down, each with X	Card body, fourth column	Shows or removes measures, and sets how each one is totalled	The drop-down on a chip changes that measure only: Sum, Average, Count, Min or Max
"Add measure"	Card body, fourth column	Adds Amount or Count, always as Sum	Change it afterwards with the drop-down on its own chip. Mileage is offered as well, but only when at least one loaded expense carries mileage — nothing on this page records it
"Add at least one value to enable pivot view."	Card body	Hint	No measures chosen
Pivot table	Below the card	Row labels, one column per column value and measure (headed by the value, the measure and its aggregation in brackets), and a Total row	Rejected expenses are left out unless Status or Approval Status is a row or column. The Total row adds up Sum and Count columns; for Average, Min and Max it recalculates over every expense in that column. Cells can't be clicked. Category and Payment Method read the same names as the rest of the page
'Configure pivot fields above and click "Activate Pivot" to see the pivot table'	Table area	Placeholder	Pivot is off, or it is on but has no measures
"Loading expenses..." / "No expenses found in the selected date range" / "No expenses found"	Table area	Loading and empty states	A load that failed replaces the whole view with "Couldn't load your expenses" and a Try again button. On Basic and Pro this view is sample data, so it always shows the demo table and the upgrade panel, never a load error

Tab: Create Expense

Card Create New Expense (dollar icon). The fields have no visible labels: you see placeholders and a red * inside each required field.

Fields:

Field	Required	Default	Rules and error text
Date (date picker)	Yes	Today	"Validation Error — Please select a date for this expense". Saved as the Transaction Date
Amount (placeholder "0.00")	Yes	Blank	Above 0, cents allowed: "Validation Error — Please enter a valid amount greater than $0". The store refuses a zero or negative amount as well, so the rule holds whatever saved it. No upper limit here (Bulk Import caps a row at $10,000)
Category (placeholder "Select category")	Yes	None	Each option has a hint: Fuel (Vehicle fuel and transportation costs), Parts (Equipment parts and materials), Meals (Business meals and client entertainment), Tools (Work tools and equipment purchases), Travel (Business travel expenses), Office Supplies (Office and administrative supplies), Vehicle Maintenance (Vehicle repairs and maintenance), Training & Education (Professional development and training), Payroll & Wages (Wages, salaries and other pay), Other (Other business expenses). Error: "Validation Error — Please select an expense category"
Payment Method (placeholder "Select method")	Yes	Credit Card	Cash, Credit Card, Debit Card, Check, Bank Transfer, Digital Wallet, Other. Error: "Validation Error — Please select a payment method"
Vendor (placeholder "Where purchased?")	No	Blank	—
Description (placeholder "What was this expense for?")	Yes	Blank	Checked last, after the date: "Validation Error — Please enter a description". Spaces alone don't count
Tax deductible (checkbox)	No	Ticked	Untick it for spending the business can't deduct. Saved as the expense's Tax Deductible setting
Reimbursable (checkbox), with "Tick only if you paid with your own money and the business owes it back to you."	No	Unticked	Saved as the expense's Reimbursable setting. Approved reimbursable expenses make up Pending Reimbursements on the Expenses Report
I have a receipt for this expense	No	Unticked	Shows the file picker. If you untick it after choosing a file, the picker hides but the file is still uploaded on submit
Receipt file	Over $25	None	PNG, JPG or PDF, up to 10 MB. Over $25 (strictly — $25.00 needs none): "Validation Error — Receipts are required for expenses over $25. Please attach a receipt file."

Buttons and indicators:

Control	Where	What it does	Notes
Spinner next to the title	Card header	Loading your account	—
"Creating expense for: Amy Rivera (Conroe Appliance)"	Card header	Names you and your store	The display name you chose, or your first and last name, or any other name saved for you, or your sign-in email if the store holds none of those. That is the same order every screen uses to show who an expense belongs to, so an expense is filed under the name you are shown by. If your store has no name saved it reads "Creating expense for: Amy Rivera", and the line is left out entirely when neither is known
Panel Receipt Information (receipt icon) with a red Required badge	Below Description	Groups the receipt controls	The badge appears once Amount is over $25
Warning "Receipt is required for expenses over $25" (red, with a warning sign)	Receipt panel	Reminder	Amount over $25 and no file chosen
Attach Receipt → Choose File (Upload icon), hint "PNG, JPG, or PDF — uploads automatically on submit"	Receipt panel, dashed box	Opens the file browser	Only after ticking I have a receipt for this expense. Click to browse — files can't be dragged in
"Selected: …"	Under Choose File	Shows the chosen file name	—
Submit Expense (send icon) / "Uploading receipt..."	Bottom, full width	Checks amount, category, payment method, date, description and receipt in that order, uploads the receipt, then saves: "Success — Expense submitted successfully". The form clears and you stay on this tab	Greyed out while saving. Saved as Submitted, with Tax Deductible and Reimbursable as the checkboxes say, Receipt Required on when over $25, in USD, with you as the employee, under your own name. The form then resets, checkboxes included. If the receipt upload fails the expense isn't created: "Receipt upload failed — Could not upload the receipt. Please retry before submitting."

Tab: Bulk Import

Control	Where	What it does	Notes
Card Bulk Expense Import (spreadsheet icon)	Top	Three numbered steps	—
Step 1 Download Template — "Start with our template to ensure your data is properly formatted. Excel is the easiest to fill in."	Instructions card	Text	—
Download Template (Download icon, with a menu arrow)	Step 1	Opens a menu with two choices	Greyed out, with a spinner, while the Excel file is being built
Menu item Excel (.xlsx) — "Recommended. Date cells, dropdowns for Category, Payment Method, Tax Deductible and Reimbursable, and a how-to sheet."	Download menu	Downloads expense_import_template.xlsx: "Template Downloaded — Excel template has been downloaded to your device."	Sheet Expenses has 6 sample rows; red headers are required and grey optional, and clicking a header shows a hint. Excel refuses an Amount outside 0.01 to 10,000 and a Date that isn't a date. Category, Payment Method, Tax Deductible and Reimbursable have dropdowns; typing another value only gets a warning. Sheet How to fill has the steps. Failure: "Could not create the Excel template — Try again, or download the CSV version instead."
Menu item CSV (.csv) — "Plain text, for other software or your own exports."	Download menu	Downloads expense_import_template.csv: "Template Downloaded — CSV template has been downloaded to your device."	Same 6 sample rows. Delete them before uploading, or they are imported as real expenses
Step 2 Upload Your File — "Upload your completed Excel or CSV file with expense data."	Instructions card	Text	—
Step 3 Review & Import — "Review the validation results and import your expenses."	Instructions card	Text	—
Card Upload Expense Data	Second card	Holds the file picker	—
Choose File (dashed box: "Excel (.xlsx) or CSV files", "Maximum 500 rows / 10 MB")	Upload card	Opens the file browser and reads the file at once	Click to browse — files can't be dragged in. The browser also lists .xls files, which are then refused. Column names match loosely (case, spaces, _ and - are ignored). In Excel, the first sheet with a header row naming at least 2 known columns in its top 20 rows is used. A CSV may open with title lines above its header row (for example "Expense report — August"): the first line within the top 20 naming at least 2 known columns is taken as the header, and Row numbers still match your file. CSV text can be UTF-8 or Windows (Western) encoding. After an import with failed rows the loaded file stays chosen, so picking the same file again may do nothing — save the fixed copy under a new name
File line (name, "… KB • Excel workbook • sheet “Expenses”" or "CSV file") and Ready badge	Upload card	Confirms the file was read	Also shows after "Invalid File" or "Too many rows"; the Import button then reads Import 0 Expenses and is greyed out
Import … Expenses (arrow icon, green) / "Processing..."	Upload card	Imports the rows	Greyed out while importing, and when no row in the file can be imported. The number is the rows that will actually be created, the same as the preview's Import … Valid Expenses button — rows marked Error are not counted
"Ready to import … expense(s)" (with "of the … rows in this file" when some will be skipped) / "Total amount to import: $…"	Upload card, blue box	Summary of what the import will do	Both figures cover only the rows that will actually be created, so the amount is what is about to be booked, not the sum of the file
Card Required Data Format — "Your file should include the following columns:"	Third card	Date (Required, e.g. 2024-03-15), Amount (Required, 25.50), Category (Required, GAS), Description (Required, Gas for service calls), Payment Method (CreditCard), Vendor (Shell Station), Notes (Weekly fuel expense), Tax Deductible (Yes), Reimbursable (No)	—
Important Notes:	Format card	"Dates: any date cell in Excel; YYYY-MM-DD in a CSV" · "Amounts should be numeric (no currency symbols)" · "Categories: GAS, PARTS, MEALS, TOOLS, TRAVEL, SUPPLIES, MAINTENANCE, TRAINING, PAYROLL, OTHER" · "Payment Methods: Cash, CreditCard, DebitCard, Check, BankTransfer, DigitalWallet, Other" · "Tax Deductible and Reimbursable: Yes or No. Blank means Tax Deductible Yes, Reimbursable No" · "Maximum 500 rows per import"	Amounts such as "$25.50" and "1,149.00" are still read correctly. European decimals ("1,14") and text such as "12 pcs" are refused
Card Data Preview (… records) (eye icon)	After a file is read	One line per row of the file, none left out: Row, Date, Amount, Category, Description, Payment Method, Vendor, Tax Deductible, Reimbursable, Status	Rows with a problem are red with an Error badge; the rest show Valid. Category, Payment Method, Tax Deductible and Reimbursable show the value that will be saved (Yes or No, blanks already filled in); an answer that isn't Yes or No shows as typed, in red. An unreadable amount shows $0.00 in red. Row is the row number your own spreadsheet shows down its left edge, so it always matches — blank lines in the middle of a file, and a workbook whose headings sit under a title row, do not shift it
Hide Preview (X icon)	Preview card header	Hides the preview	Show Preview (eye icon) then appears in the upload card, under the blue summary, and brings it back. The Import button in the upload card works either way
Tiles Total Records, Valid Records, Invalid Records, Amount to Import	Preview card	Counts and sum	Total Records is every row in the file; Invalid Records counts the ones marked Error, including those with a blank required cell; Amount to Import adds up only the valid ones, so it matches what the Import button is about to create
Validation Issues Found — "… of the … rows in this file will be skipped. They are marked in red above, and the Row numbers are the ones your own spreadsheet shows down the left, so you can find them, fix them and upload it again."	Preview card	Warning	At least one row marked Error
Import … Valid Expenses (large, green) / "Processing Import..."	Preview card, bottom right	Same import as the upload-card button; rows marked Error are skipped either way	Greyed out while importing
Card Import Results — tiles Total Records, Successfully Imported, Already Imported, Failed	After an import	Outcome of the last run	Rows under Already Imported are listed underneath with their row number and the reason. They are never counted as imported. When nothing failed, the file and preview clear and only this card stays
Errors Found: list	Results card	Each problem: "Row …" plus the column at fault (date, amount…), the error, and 'Value: "…"'	A row the system refused ("Failed to create expense: …") shows only its row number. Rows left out for a blank required cell are listed here too, as "Missing required fields: …"
Download Error Report (Download icon)	Results card	Downloads expense_import_errors.csv (Row, Field, Value, Error): "Error Report Downloaded — Exported … error(s)."	Only when there are errors

How each row is read

Rule	What happens
Blank Date, Amount, Category or Description	The row shows in the preview in red, marked Error, and is left out of the import. It is listed again under Errors Found: as "Missing required fields: …" with its line number
Date	Must be YYYY-MM-DD (Excel date cells arrive that way; any time part is dropped). Otherwise "Invalid date format. Use YYYY-MM-DD"
Amount	A positive number up to 10,000. Otherwise "Amount must be a positive number" or "Amount exceeds maximum limit of $10,000"
Category	Never fails. Known spellings are mapped first: Fuel, Gasoline, Petrol → GAS; Part, Material(s) → PARTS; Meal, Food, Lunch, Dinner → MEALS; Tool, Equipment → TOOLS; Transport(ation), Lodging, Hotel, Airfare → TRAVEL; Supply, Office, Stationery → SUPPLIES; Repair(s), Service → MAINTENANCE; Education, Course, Certification → TRAINING; Payroll expense, Wage(s), Salary, Salaries, Pay → PAYROLL; Misc, Miscellaneous → OTHER. The category names shown in the app (Fuel, Office Supplies, Payroll & Wages…) also work. Otherwise a whole word inside a longer phrase decides: pay words win first, then maintenance ("Truck repair", "Van servicing"), then parts ("Air filter", "Head gasket", "Drive belt", "Wheel bearings"), then travel ("Airfare to Dallas", "Hotel in Dallas"), then fuel ("Gas station", "Diesel"), meals, tools, supplies and training. A word is only matched whole, so "Partnership dues" is not parts and "Gasket" is not fuel. A phrase run together with no spaces ("truckrepair") is still placed, using the longer words only. Anything else becomes OTHER — check the preview
Tax Deductible, Reimbursable	Optional. Yes, Y, TRUE, 1 or x means yes; No, N, FALSE or 0 means no, in any case (Excel TRUE/FALSE cells work too). Blank → Tax Deductible Yes, Reimbursable No — also when the file has no such column. Anything else: "Use Yes or No"
Payment Method	Never fails. Blank → CreditCard. cc, Visa, Mastercard, Amex → CreditCard; cheque → Check; wire, ACH → BankTransfer; Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal → DigitalWallet; words containing credit, debit, cash, check, bank, transfer, pay or wallet map to the matching method; anything else → Other
Duplicates	Two rows with the same date, amount, category, description and vendor in one file are imported as two expenses — identical charges are real. A row is only left out when an earlier attempt in this visit already created that same charge, and only as many times as it created it: a file listing a charge three times when one is already in imports the other two. Leaving the tab or reloading forgets what was imported, so the whole file would go in again
Saved values	Submitted, you as the employee under your own name, no receipt, Receipt Required on when over $25, Tax Deductible and Reimbursable from the file (blank: Tax Deductible on, Reimbursable off), Vendor and Notes kept

Dialog: Expense Details / Edit Expense

Opens when you click a row in Standard View or an expense in Groupable View. The title is Expense Details while reading and Edit Expense after you click Edit.

Fields:

Field	Required	Default	Rules and error text
Amount *	Yes	The saved amount	Reading: green "$… USD". Editing: number box (placeholder "0.00"). Must be above 0: "Validation Error — Please enter a valid amount greater than $0". The store checks this too, so an expense can never be recorded at zero or below however it is saved. Greyed out on an Approved or Reimbursed expense unless you are the owner or a Manager and it isn't your expense
Currency	—	USD	Display only; the app works in US dollars
Category *	Yes	The saved category	Editing: dropdown (placeholder "Select category") of the 10 categories. Older categories show their code while reading. Greyed out after approval, like Amount
Subcategory	No	Blank ("None" while reading)	Free text (placeholder "Optional subcategory"). This dialog is the only place to set it
Description *	Yes	The saved description	3-line box (placeholder "Enter expense description"). Required to save: "Validation Error — Please enter a description". An older expense saved with no description is asked for one the first time it is edited
Transaction Date	No	The saved date	Date picker. Kept as a plain calendar date, so it never shifts a day. Greyed out after approval, like Amount
Payment Method	No	The saved method	Dropdown (placeholder "Select payment method"): Cash, Credit Card, Debit Card, Check, Bank Transfer, Digital Wallet, Other. Greyed out after approval, like Amount
Vendor	No	"Not specified" while reading	Free text (placeholder "Vendor name")
Status	No	The saved status	Reading: colored pill (Approved green, Submitted blue, Rejected red, others grey), with a line underneath naming who signed it off and when — "Approved by Amy Rivera on Sep 4, 2026", "Approved by Amy Rivera on Sep 4, 2026 (self-approved)" where the person who filed it approved it themselves, or "Rejected by Amy Rivera on Sep 4, 2026 — No receipt attached" on a rejected one, with whatever reason the reviewer gave. Editing: dropdown Submitted / Approved / Rejected / Reimbursed for the store owner and Managers on someone else's expense; the change is recorded the same way as the row Status dropdown. On your own Rejected expense: dropdown Rejected / Submitted, with "Only … can approve or reject your expense. To send it back for review, set Status to Submitted and save." underneath — saving Submitted clears the rejection reason. Everyone else keeps the pill, with "Only … can change the status, and not on their own expense." underneath
Has Receipt	No	As saved	Checkbox; greyed out while reading
Receipt preview	—	—	Reading, when a receipt is attached: image thumbnail (click for full size in a new tab) or an inline PDF preview, plus Open original. The preview link expires after 5 minutes; reopen the expense for a fresh one
Current Receipt preview	—	—	Editing, when a receipt is attached: the same preview
Receipt Required	No	On for expenses over $25	Checkbox; greyed out while reading. Drives the red Missing badge
Is Reimbursable	No	As chosen on Create Expense or in the import file (off unless someone said yes). Some older expenses have it on although nobody chose it	Checkbox; greyed out while reading, and after approval like Amount — except on your own Approved expense, where you can untick it (not tick it)
Tax Deductible	No	As chosen on Create Expense or in the import file (on unless someone said no)	Checkbox; greyed out while reading
Notes	No	"No notes" while reading	3-line box (placeholder "Additional notes")
Created: / Updated:	—	—	Date and time in your store's time zone
Note at the top: "This expense is approved, so its amount, date, category, payment method and Reimbursable setting can only be changed by the owner or a manager other than the employee. The employee can still untick Reimbursable until it is marked Reimbursed."	—	—	Editing an Approved or Reimbursed expense you can't review. The other fields stay editable

Buttons:

Control	Where	What it does	Notes
Replace Receipt → Choose File (Upload icon)	Editing, under Has Receipt	Uploads the PNG, JPG or PDF straight away and ticks Has Receipt: "Uploaded — Receipt replaced for this expense (save to persist)."	Click Save Changes to keep it. Up to 10 MB. Failure: "Upload Failed — Could not upload receipt"
Remove Receipt	Editing, under Choose File	Detaches the receipt and unticks Has Receipt	Only when a receipt is attached. Takes effect on Save Changes
Delete (trash icon, red)	Footer, left	Opens Are you absolutely sure?	While reading, and only for the store owner and Managers — the people who can actually delete. Everyone else doesn't see the button
Reject	Footer, right	Opens Reject this expense?, with a Reason (optional) box. Reject expense sets Rejected and records the reviewer: "Rejected — Expense rejected."	The store owner and Managers, on someone else's Submitted expense, while reading. Cancel closes the question and changes nothing. An empty box records no reason. The reason is shown on the expense afterwards, under the status pill, and in Export CSV
Approve (green)	Footer, right	Sets Approved and records who approved and when: "Approved — Expense approved."	Same conditions as Reject
Close / Cancel (X icon)	Footer, right	Reading: closes the dialog. Editing: leaves editing and throws away your changes	Greyed out while saving
Edit (pencil icon, blue)	Footer, right	Switches to editing	While reading. Shown to everyone
Save Changes (save icon, green)	Footer, right	Saves the fields you changed: "Success — Expense updated successfully." Back to reading; the list and totals reload. With nothing changed: "No changes — Nothing was changed, so nothing was saved."	While editing. When the change isn't allowed, "Update Failed —" gives the reason (see Messages you may see); otherwise "Update Failed — Failed to update expense. Please try again."
X (close), Esc key, or a click outside	Dialog	Reading: closes the dialog. Editing: leaves editing and discards changes, but the dialog stays open	—
After Save Changes, Approve or Reject	Dialog	The dialog shows what was saved straight away: the new values, the new status, and Approve and Reject gone once the expense has been reviewed. No need to close and reopen it	The table behind updates too

Dialog: Are you absolutely sure? (delete)

Control	Where	What it does	Notes
Text "This action cannot be undone. This will permanently delete the expense "…" for $…."	Dialog	Names the expense	The expense and its ledger entry are removed for good
Cancel	Footer	Closes the confirmation; nothing is deleted	—
Delete (red) → "Deleting..."	Footer	Deletes the expense. The confirmation stays up, reading "Deleting..." with both buttons greyed out, until it finishes; then it and the details dialog close: "Success — Expense deleted successfully."	Failure: "Delete Failed" with the reason — the store says whether it was your access or an expense that had already gone — and the confirmation stays open, so you can Cancel or try again. "Success — Expense deleted successfully." only shows when the expense really went

Dialog: Upgrade prompts

Control	Where	What it does	Notes
Card Unlock Pro & Premium Features — "SMS, insights, finance tools & more"	Over the whole page	Lists Pro ("500 SMS/month + a dedicated phone #", "SMS campaigns & review invites", "Ads-vs-store insights", "Finance: expenses, assets, reports", "Customer Portal: tracking, payments, scheduling") and Premium ("Everything in Pro", "2,000 SMS/month", "Advanced reporting (grouped/pivot)", "CSV / PDF data export", "Workforce: time clock, timesheets, pay runs")	Basic plan, no trial. Apart from the card's own buttons, only Demo in the header still works
Card Unlock Premium Features — "Advanced reporting & data export" (lock icon)	Over Groupable or Pivot View, or as a pop-up after Export CSV	Lists Premium: "Everything in Pro", "2,000 SMS/month", "Advanced reporting (grouped/pivot)", "CSV / PDF data export"	Pro plan. Behind it, Groupable opens on sample data grouped Category → Status with an "Available groupings:" row, and Pivot on sample data (Category by Status, Amount Sum) — marked Demo Data, statuses in capitals, nothing clickable
Check Details (green)	Upgrade card header	Opens Billing	The upgrade card header's only button; the Export CSV pop-up also has a ✕ beside it. The Export CSV pop-up closes first
Grey area around the card	Groupable or Pivot View	Click it (or focus it and press Esc) to go back to Standard View	The Export CSV pop-up closes with a click outside the card, its ✕ or Escape

Messages you may see

Message	When it appears	What to do
"Loading Error — Failed to load expense data. Please refresh the page."	Expenses Records or Create Expense couldn't load your account	Refresh the page; sign in again if it repeats
"Couldn't load your expenses" — then "We couldn't read your account, so your expenses weren't loaded."	Your account or store couldn't be read when the page opened, so the list never ran	Click Try again. Sign in again if it repeats. Your expenses are untouched
"No expenses found" / "Create your first expense to get started"	Nothing matches the filters	Widen the date range (up to 13 months), reset Status, Category and Payment Method, clear the search, click Refresh
"Couldn't load your expenses" — then the reason, and "Your expenses are still there — this page just couldn't read them."	The list could not be read (connection lost, signed out elsewhere), or your account couldn't be read when the page opened	Click Try again — it re-reads your account as well as the list. Reload the page, or sign in again, if it keeps failing. Nothing has been lost
"Updated — Status changed to …."	Row Status dropdown saved	—
"Update failed — Unable to change status"	Row Status save failed	Retry; check your connection
"Update failed — Only the owner or a manager can change an expense's status, and not on their own expense. The employee can only send a rejected expense back to Submitted."	Row Status dropdown when your Manager or Owner access was removed after the page loaded	Ask a different owner or manager
"No Data — No expenses found to export."	Export CSV with nothing matching	Widen the filters
"Export Successful — Exported … expenses to expenses-export-….csv"	Export finished	Open the file from your downloads
"Export Failed — Failed to export expenses. Please try again."	Export error	Retry
"Unlock Premium Features" card	Groupable View, Pivot View or Export CSV on Pro	Upgrade to Premium in Billing — a plan change only the store's owner can make
"Unlock Pro & Premium Features" card	The whole page on Basic	Upgrade to Pro or Premium in Billing. Only the store's owner can change the plan; everyone else sees that page read-only and has to ask the owner
"Validation Error — Please enter a valid amount greater than $0"	Submit Expense or Save Changes with an empty or zero amount	Enter an amount above 0
"Validation Error — Please enter a description"	Submit Expense or Save Changes with a blank description	Type what the expense was for. An older expense saved without a description is asked for one the first time it is edited
"Success — Expense updated successfully."	Edit saved	The dialog shows the new values at once
"Update Failed — Failed to update expense. Please try again."	Edit save failed	Retry
"No changes — Nothing was changed, so nothing was saved."	Save Changes with every field as it was	—
"Update Failed — This expense is already approved. Only the owner or a manager other than the employee can change its amount, date, category or payment method."	Saving a change to one of those fields on an Approved or Reimbursed expense you can't review	Ask a different owner or manager to make the change
"Update Failed — This expense is already approved. Only the owner or a manager other than the employee can change Reimbursable. The employee can untick it until the expense is marked Reimbursed."	Saving a Reimbursable change on an Approved or Reimbursed expense you can't review, other than the employee unticking it while it is Approved	Ask a different owner or manager
"Update Failed — Only the owner or a manager can change an expense's status, and not on their own expense. The employee can only send a rejected expense back to Submitted."	Saving a new Status from Edit when you can't review this expense	Ask a different owner or manager
"Uploaded — Receipt replaced for this expense (save to persist)."	New receipt chosen while editing	Click Save Changes
"Upload Failed — Could not upload receipt"	Receipt upload while editing failed	Use a PNG, JPG or PDF under 10 MB; retry
"Reject this expense?"	Reject clicked	Type a reason if you want one, then Reject expense. Cancel leaves the expense as it was
"Approved — Expense approved." / "Rejected — Expense rejected."	Approve or Reject done	The dialog shows the new status at once, and Approve and Reject are gone
"Approval failed — Unable to approve expense" / "Rejection failed — Unable to reject expense"	Approve or Reject failed	Retry. When your access no longer allows it, the message says so instead
"This action cannot be undone. This will permanently delete the expense "…" for $…."	Delete clicked	Confirm with Delete, or Cancel
"Success — Expense deleted successfully."	Delete confirmed and the expense really was removed	—
"Delete Failed — Deleting an expense is limited to managers and the store owner."	Delete refused: your access changed while the dialog was open	Ask the owner or a Manager
"Delete Failed — This expense has been matched to a bank line. Unmatch it under Bank Reconciliation first."	The expense is part of a confirmed or automatic bank match. Deleting it would leave that match pointing at nothing and a closed statement period that no longer ties out	Open Bank Reconciliation, unmatch the line, then delete the expense
"You're the only person who has ever been able to approve expenses here, so you can approve this one yourself once it's saved. It will be recorded as self-approved. Make someone else a manager, or turn their Owner switch on, in Settings → Team to have expenses reviewed by another person instead." (grey, on Create Expense)	The store has never had a second owner or Manager	Nothing has gone wrong. File it, then approve it; make somebody a manager in Settings → Team if you would rather someone else reviewed
"You're the only person who can approve expenses here right now, so this stays Submitted. It still counts as spend. Switch another owner or manager back on, or make someone else a manager, in Settings → Team to have it reviewed." (amber, on Create Expense)	The store has had another owner or Manager, but nobody active can review your claim today	Switch them back on, or make somebody else a manager, in Settings → Team. Self-approval is not offered here: it is only for a store that has never had a second reviewer
"Delete Failed — That expense is not on this store any more"	Somebody else deleted it first	Reload the page
"Delete Failed — Failed to delete expense. Please try again."	Delete error	Retry
"Validation Error — Please enter a valid amount greater than $0"	Submit Expense without an amount above 0	Enter the amount
"Validation Error — Please select an expense category"	Submit Expense without a category	Pick one
"Validation Error — Please select a payment method"	Submit Expense without a method	Pick one
"Validation Error — Please select a date for this expense"	Submit Expense without a date	Pick the date
"Validation Error — Receipts are required for expenses over $25. Please attach a receipt file."	Submit Expense over $25 with no file	Tick I have a receipt for this expense and choose the file
"Receipt is required for expenses over $25" (red box)	Create Expense, amount over $25 and no file chosen	Same
"Error — Organization information is required"	Submit Expense before your account finished loading	Wait a moment or refresh
"Receipt upload failed — Could not upload the receipt. Please retry before submitting."	Receipt upload failed during submit; nothing was saved	Use a PNG, JPG or PDF under 10 MB; submit again
"Success — Expense submitted successfully"	Expense created	—
"Error — Failed to create expense. Please try again."	Create error	Retry
"Error — Failed to load user information"	Bulk Import couldn't load your account	Refresh the page
"Template Downloaded — Excel template has been downloaded to your device." / "…CSV template…"	Template downloaded	Fill it in; delete the sample rows
"Could not create the Excel template — Try again, or download the CSV version instead."	The Excel template couldn't be built	Retry, or use CSV
"File too large — File is … MB. The maximum is 10 MB."	File over 10 MB	Split the file
"Unsupported file — Choose an Excel (.xlsx) or CSV (.csv) file."	Another file type	Save as .xlsx or .csv
"This Excel file can’t be read — It is in the old .xls format or password-protected. In Excel, remove any password, choose File → Save As → Excel Workbook (.xlsx), and upload the new file."	.xls or password-protected file	Follow the message
"This Excel file could not be opened — It may be damaged, or not really an Excel workbook. Open it in Excel, save a fresh copy as .xlsx, and try again."	Damaged or renamed file	Follow the message
"Parse Failed — Could not read the file. Please check the format."	Any other read error	Start again from the template
"Invalid File — The file must contain a header row and at least one data row."	Empty file	Add rows under the header
"Too many rows — File has … rows. The maximum is 500 per import."	More than 500 rows	Split into files of 500 or fewer
"Rows are missing required values — … rows are missing a Date, Amount, Category or Description. They are marked in red in the preview below, with their row numbers, and will not be imported."	At least one row has a blank required cell	Fill those cells and upload the file again
"File Parsed — Successfully parsed … expense records."	File read with no missing values	Review the preview, then import
"Error — No data to import or missing organization context."	Import with nothing loaded	Choose the file again, or refresh
"Import Complete — Imported … of … expenses." followed by "… rows were already imported earlier and were left out." when an earlier attempt had already created them	Import finished with at least one row created or left out	Check Import Results for failures and for the Already Imported list
"Import Failed — An unexpected error occurred during import."	Unexpected import error	Retry — rows already imported during this visit are skipped
"Invalid date format. Use YYYY-MM-DD"	Import Results, per row	Fix the date
"Amount must be a positive number" / "Amount exceeds maximum limit of $10,000"	Import Results, per row	Fix the amount, or split a large expense
"Use Yes or No"	Import Results, per row, for the Tax Deductible or Reimbursable column	Write Yes or No, or leave the cell blank for the default
"Failed to create expense: …"	Import Results, a row the system refused	Retry
"Validation Issues Found — … of the … rows in this file will be skipped. They are marked in red above, and the Row numbers are the line numbers in your own file, so you can find them, fix them and upload it again."	Preview with rows marked Error	Fix them, or import the valid rows now
"Error Report Downloaded — Exported … error(s)."	Error report downloaded	—
Tooltip "Bank-verified — matched to a bank transaction during reconciliation"	Hover the bank icon in Payment Method	—

Who can use what

Who or what	What changes
Basic plan, no trial	The page is greyed out under Unlock Pro & Premium Features with sample records. Only the card's Check Details button and the header Demo button work. The sidebar shows a Pro tag on Expenses
Pro plan	All three tabs work. Groupable View, Pivot View and Export CSV show Unlock Premium Features
Premium plan or an active trial	Everything. A trial counts as Premium unless the store already picked a plan during the trial, in which case that plan applies
Plan can't be determined	Everything opens
Store owner (the Owner switch or the Owner role) or Manager role	Sees the row Status dropdown and the Approve / Reject buttons, and can change Status in Edit — on other people's expenses. Can also change the amount, date, category, payment method and Reimbursable setting of someone else's approved expense. A role given or taken away in Settings → Team shows here after the person signs in again (or within about an hour)
Everyone in the store	Sees all of the store's expenses (not only their own), can create and import (always as Submitted, in their own name), can open Edit on any expense. Delete is shown only to the store owner and Managers. In Edit they can't change the Status, and once an expense is Approved or Reimbursed they can't change its amount, date, category, payment method or Reimbursable setting
Your own expenses	Nobody can approve, reject or reimburse their own expense, owners included — unless the store has never had a second owner or Manager, in which case you can, and the expense is marked self-approved. Otherwise the row dropdown and Approve / Reject aren't offered on it, and Edit offers no Approved, Rejected or Reimbursed choice. Two things you can do: send your own Rejected expense back to Submitted (Edit → Status), and untick Is Reimbursable on your own Approved expense. In a store where the owner is the only one who can approve, the owner's own expenses stay Submitted and still count as spend — Create Expense carries an amber note saying so, with a link to Settings → Team
Record to books in Bank Reconciliation	An owner or manager can record a bank line as an expense. It is saved as Approved in their own name, not reimbursable, without a review — the money has already left the bank. Because it is Approved and in their own name, they can no longer change its amount, date, category or payment method here; an owner or manager who isn't them has to
Delete rights	Only the store owner and Managers can delete, and the Delete button is hidden from everyone else. The store checks again when the button is used, so a refused delete says "Deleting an expense is limited to managers and the store owner." instead of reporting success. An expense a bank line has been matched to can't be deleted at all: "This expense has been matched to a bank line. Unmatch it under Bank Reconciliation first."
How a save reaches the store	Every filing, change, status change, delete and import goes through UpChannels' server, which names the person making it so the review rules above judge them; nobody's browser can change the expense list directly. The ledger follows each save: an entry is posted when an expense is filed, re-posted when its amount, date or status changes, and removed when it is rejected or deleted
Bank feeds add-on	Adds the bank-verified icon to matched expenses

Demo mode (/finance/expenses/demo)

• Open it: Demo (Play icon, amber) in the Expense Management header. Works on every plan.
• Header: "Expense Management — Demo" — "Sample expenses populated with demo data. All actions are disabled." Exit Demo Mode (left arrow) goes back to the live page.
• Banner: "Demo mode — expenses are populated with sample data. All actions are disabled." with Take a Tour (question-mark icon), which restarts the tour at step 1.
• Tour: starts by itself the first time you open the demo. Progress dots and "… of 11", Back (from step 2), Skip (closes), Next, and Got it! on the last step. Clicking the dark backdrop closes it. Keys: Esc closes, right arrow or Enter goes on (and closes on the last step), left arrow goes back. When a step belongs to another tab, the page switches tab first.
• Still works: switching between the three tabs, the Standard View / Groupable View / Pivot View buttons, Take a Tour, Exit Demo Mode.
• Disabled: everything else inside the tabs — search, Refresh, Export CSV, the filters, page buttons, every form field, Submit Expense, and Download Template and Choose File. Rows don't open a details dialog, and the demo's Bulk Import tab has no preview or import buttons. Inside Groupable and Pivot view the grouping and pivot controls are disabled too — the sample is shown grouped by category and status, and pivoted category by status.

#	Tab	Tour step	What it points at
1	Expenses Records	Expense Tabs — "Switch between three sections: Expenses Records shows all your expenses, Create Expense lets you add new ones, and Bulk Import allows batch uploading from Excel or CSV. This tour walks through each one."	The tab bar
2	Expenses Records	Advanced Filters — "Filter expenses by date range, status (Submitted, Approved, Rejected, Reimbursed), category (Fuel, Travel, Meals, etc.), and payment method. Use the search bar to find specific expenses."	The Advanced Filters card
3	Expenses Records	Expense Overview — "At-a-glance metrics showing total expense amount, number of approved expenses, and expenses pending review — all calculated from your filtered results. Rejected claims are left out of the amount and the count, because a denied claim is not spend."	The three stat cards
4	Expenses Records	View Modes — "Switch between Standard table view, Groupable view (group by category, status, or any field), and Pivot view for cross-tabulation analysis. These three buttons work here in the demo — try them."	The Standard / Groupable / Pivot buttons. They are the one set of controls the demo lets you use, so the step can be followed
5	Expenses Records	Expense Records — "Your full expense list with columns for date, category, description, status, employee, vendor, amount, payment method, and receipt info. Click any row to view details."	The records table (rows don't open in the demo)
6	Create Expense	Create Expense — Details — "Add a new expense in one place: capture the date, amount, category, payment method, vendor, and a description of what the expense was for."	The form
7	Create Expense	Receipt Attachment — "Attach a receipt to back up the expense. Tick the box to confirm you have one, then browse for a PNG, JPG or PDF. It uploads when you submit."	The receipt panel. Files are browsed for, never dragged in
8	Create Expense	Submit — "Submit the expense into the approval workflow. It is saved as Submitted straight away, for the owner or a manager to review; nothing is held back to finish later."	The button row, which holds Submit Expense and nothing else. There are no drafts
9	Bulk Import	Bulk Import — How It Works — "Import many expenses at once in three steps: download the Excel or CSV template, upload your completed file, then review the validation results before importing."	The instructions card
10	Bulk Import	Upload Your File — "Drop in a completed Excel (.xlsx) or CSV file up to 10 MB — the parser reads each row and prepares it for import."	The upload card. On the live page, click Choose File to browse
11	Bulk Import	Required Data Format — "See exactly which columns your file needs — Date, Amount, Category, and Description are required — plus formatting rules like dates and a 500-row limit."	The Required Data Format card

Sample data: 25 expenses (3 pages) by John Smith, Sarah Johnson and Mike Davis: 18 Approved, 4 Submitted, 2 Reimbursed, 1 Rejected. Every category and payment method in it is one your own store can use: Fuel, Parts, Meals, Tools, Travel, Office Supplies and Other; Credit Card, Debit Card, Cash, Check, Bank Transfer and Digital Wallet. The same rows are the sample behind the lock on Basic, and behind Groupable and Pivot View on Pro. The Create Expense tab is pre-filled: today, 245.00, Parts, Credit Card, AutoZone, "Replacement brake pads for company truck maintenance", receipt box ticked, and "Creating expense for: John Smith (Demo Organization)".

Differences from the live page: the search field offers only Employee, Description and Vendor; the Category filter only Fuel, Travel, Meals and Office Supplies; the Payment Method filter only Credit Card, Cash and Bank Transfer. The date button has no calendar. Status is a plain colored pill, never a dropdown. The Receipt column shows only View or N/A, and there is no bank-verified icon. The Create form is read-only, so its ticked Tax deductible and unticked Reimbursable boxes cannot be changed. Download Template has no Excel/CSV menu, the upload box reads "Maximum file size: 10 MB", and the Important Notes list has 3 lines without the Categories and Payment Methods lines.

The figures and the lists match the live page: Total Amount and the expense count leave the Rejected sample out, exactly as your own total does, and the Create form's category and payment-method dropdowns are the live form's own lists.

Common questions

Why don't I see Approve and Reject? They appear only on expenses with status Submitted, only while reading (not editing), only for the store owner and Managers, and never on their own expense. A role change shows up after the person signs in again (or within about an hour). Nobody can approve or reject their own expense — ask a different owner or manager.

Who can change an expense after it is approved? Anyone can still edit its description, vendor, notes and receipt. Its amount, date, category, payment method and Reimbursable setting can only be changed by the owner or a Manager, and not by the person whose expense it is. That way an expense can't be approved for one amount and then edited to another. The one exception: the person whose expense it is can untick Is Reimbursable while it is Approved, because that only lowers what the business owes them.

My expense was rejected. How do I send it back? Open it: the reason the reviewer gave is under the status pill, next to their name and the date. Click Edit, fix what was wrong (for example Replace Receipt → Choose File), set Status to Submitted and click Save Changes. It waits for review again and counts as spend again; the old rejection reason is cleared. Only the person whose expense it is can do this — for anyone else's, ask an owner or Manager.

I'm the only owner. What happens to my own expenses? You approve them yourself, and each one is marked self-approved so the books show that nobody else signed it off. That applies where the store has never had a second owner or Manager: a genuine one-person shop. Create Expense says so as you file one: "You're the only person who has ever been able to approve expenses here, so you can approve this one yourself once it's saved. It will be recorded as self-approved."

If your store has ever had somebody else who could approve — a bookkeeper you have since switched off, for instance — the exception does not apply, and your own expenses stay Submitted until another owner or Manager is active again. That is deliberate: it stops a larger store from switching the second reviewer off, approving its own claims and switching them back on. They still count as spend in Total Amount, the Profit & Loss report and the ledger meanwhile. Give someone the Manager role in Settings → Team to have them reviewed. For your own expenses that are already Approved: untick Is Reimbursable on company-paid ones, or once you have paid yourself back, so they leave Pending Reimbursements. To change their amount, date, category or payment method, have the new Manager do it. Deleting the expense and entering it again is not a good way round it, and is refused outright once a bank line has been matched to it.

I deleted an expense and it came back. Why? Only the store owner or a Manager can delete expenses, and the Delete button isn't shown to anyone else. The store checks again when the button is used, so a delete that is refused says why — "Deleting an expense is limited to managers and the store owner." if your access changed while the dialog was open, "That expense is not on this store any more" if somebody else deleted it first, and "This expense has been matched to a bank line. Unmatch it under Bank Reconciliation first." when it is part of a bank match — rather than reporting success. A delete that works is permanent: the expense and its ledger entry are gone.

Does an expense count before it is approved? Yes. A Submitted expense counts toward Total Amount, the Profit & Loss report and the ledger as soon as it is saved. Rejecting or deleting it takes it back out. Approved and Reimbursed expenses keep counting.

Does marking an expense Reimbursed pay the employee? No. Reimbursed is a status the owner or a Manager picks in the row Status dropdown or in Edit (never on their own expense), to note the employee was paid back. No money moves.

What do Tax deductible and Reimbursable mean? Tax deductible marks spending the business can deduct; it starts ticked, and the Expenses Records export has a Tax Deductible column for your accountant. Reimbursable means the person paid with their own money and the business owes it back; it starts unticked. Approved expenses with Reimbursable ticked make up Pending Reimbursements on the Expenses Report until you mark them Reimbursed. Set both on Create Expense, in the import file's Tax Deductible and Reimbursable columns, or later with Edit. Some older expenses are marked both although nobody chose it, so untick Is Reimbursable on older company-paid ones. On a Submitted or Rejected expense anyone can untick it; once it is Approved, only the person whose expense it is or a different owner or Manager can.

An imported expense is in the wrong category. Will it be corrected? No — nothing is moved for you, because an expense in the wrong category can't be told apart from one somebody chose on purpose. Open it, click Edit, and set the right Category. The importer reads whole words, so "Truck repair" imports as Vehicle Maintenance and "Air filter" as Parts, and anything it can't place becomes Other: check the preview before you import.

Why do my imported expenses say Missing in the Receipt column? Bulk Import can't attach receipts, and every imported row over $25 is marked as needing one. Open the expense, click Edit, use Replace Receipt → Choose File, then Save Changes.

I can't find an expense I know I entered. First check the page isn't showing "Couldn't load your expenses" — that means the list couldn't be read, not that anything is missing; click Try again. Otherwise: the date range filters on the Transaction Date (the day of the purchase), not the Submitted Date in the first column, and starts at the last 30 days. Widen it (up to 13 months), reset Status, Category and Payment Method, clear the search and click Refresh. To search a category, type its name (Fuel, Office Supplies) or its code (gas, supplies), or use the Category filter.

Can I set up recurring expenses, save a draft, or add my own categories? No. Every expense is entered on its own and saved straight away as Submitted, and the 10 categories are fixed. There is one button, Submit Expense, on the live page and in the demo.

Why is the Edit dialog asking for a description when Create Expense didn't? Create Expense lets you leave Description blank, but Save Changes in the edit dialog needs one: "Validation Error — Please enter a description." Add a short description and save again.