Expense management (preview)

Path: Business functionality > Expense management (preview) · tier official · system none · narrative reviewed (checked by Opus)

Overview

Expense management (preview) lets employees record expenses and group them into expense reports. Reports go through a status workflow and approval, are checked against rules and policies, and are posted to the general ledger. The feature also covers travel request planning and comparison, VAT calculation and reclaim, and marking categories as refundable or reimbursable. You can use it with or without Expense Agent.

The section is split by task. Start with the overview page for the concepts and the report status workflow. Then use “Set up expense management” to configure general settings, categories, rules and policies, users and teams, mileage rates, and per diem and mileage allowances. “Work with expenses in Business Central” covers the manual lifecycle through to reimbursement in the Payment Journal.

Expense Agent has two subtopics. “Understand Expense Agent” explains what it does, how it processes emails, how policy compliance is checked, and its responsible AI limits. “Work with Expense Agent” gives the steps for requesters and approvers. A separate troubleshooting page covers common agent problems.

Key points

• The feature is in preview and works with or without Expense Agent.
• Expense reports follow a status workflow with approval workflows and rule and policy compliance checks.
• Travel requests can be planned and compared, and VAT can be calculated and reclaimed.
• Setup covers general settings, the Expense Agent, categories, rules and policies, expense users and teams, mileage rates, and per diem and mileage allowances.
• Manual processing runs from the expense card through review, approval, posting, and employee reimbursement in the Payment Journal.
• Expense Agent turns receipts into draft expense reports, supports mileage expenses, and has a mobile app.
• Requesters upload receipts and submit reports. Approvers approve them or send them back.
• Troubleshooting covers sign-in failures, receipt upload problems, AI detection errors, policy violations, network errors, AI quota limits, and posting failures.

Subtopics

• Set up expense management (6 pages)
• Work with expenses in Business Central (6 pages)
• Work with Expense Agent (6 pages)
• Understand Expense Agent (4 pages)

More Learn pages

• Expense Management Overview in Business Central: Learn about expense management in Business Central, including how to capture expenses, create reports, get approvals, and post to the general ledger.
• Troubleshoot Expense Agent Issues: Find solutions for common issues in Expense Agent, including sign-in problems, receipt upload failures, and policy violations.

Business Central pages and reports

The pages, reports and queries this hub’s Learn pages name (ms.search.form, API reference), joined to the code by exact object id (data/index/docs-objects.json); a page shows the table it runs on.

• Page 6903 “Expense Ledger Entries” · on Table 6912 “Expense Ledger Entry”
• Page 6933 “Expense Management Role Center” · captioned “Expense Management”
• Page 6987 “Posted Expense Reports” · on Table 6915 “Posted Expense Report Header”
• Page 6989 “Expenses” · on Table 6900 “Expense”
• Page 6997 “Expense Reports” · on Table 6906 “Expense Report Header”
• Page 63 “Applied Employee Entries” · on Table 5222 “Employee Ledger Entry” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 234 “Apply Employee Entries” · on Table 5222 “Employee Ledger Entry” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 625 “Unapply Employee Entries” · on Table 5223 “Detailed Employee Ledger Entry” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 4400 “SOA Setup” · captioned “Configure Sales Order Agent” · on Table 4325 “SOA Setup” · via Understand Expense Agent
• Page 4410 “SOA Multi Items Availability” · captioned “Item Availability” · on Table 27 “Item” · via Understand Expense Agent
• Page 5224 “Employee Posting Groups” · on Table 5221 “Employee Posting Group” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 5237 “Employee Ledger Entries” · on Table 5222 “Employee Ledger Entry” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 5238 “Detailed Empl. Ledger Entries” · captioned “Detailed Employee Ledger Entries” · on Table 5223 “Detailed Employee Ledger Entry” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 5239 “Empl. Ledger Entries Preview” · captioned “Employee Entries Preview” · on Table 5222 “Employee Ledger Entry” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 5240 “Detailed Empl. Entries Preview” · on Table 5223 “Detailed Employee Ledger Entry” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 6900 “Expense Management Rules” · on Table 6927 “Expense Rule Header” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6901 “Expense Rule Card” · on Table 6927 “Expense Rule Header” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6910 “Expense Report” · on Table 6906 “Expense Report Header” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 6911 “Expense Report Lines” · on Table 6907 “Expense Report Line” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 6920 “Expense Location Card” · on Table 6925 “Expense Location” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6930 “Expense Payment Methods” · on Table 6913 “Expense Payment Method” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6937 “Expense Locations” · on Table 6925 “Expense Location” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6939 “Expense Approval Setup” · on Table 6932 “Expense Approval Setup” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6945 “Expense Category Card” · captioned “Expense Category” · on Table 6921 “Expense Category” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6946 “Expense Categories” · on Table 6921 “Expense Category” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6949 “Expense User” · on Table 6923 “Expense User” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6951 “Expense Users” · on Table 6923 “Expense User” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6952 “Expense Groups” · on Table 6924 “Expense Group” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6953 “Posted Expense Report Lines” · on Table 6916 “Posted Expense Report Line” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 6960 “Add Expenses To Expense Report” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 6973 “Expense Subcategories” · on Table 6929 “Expense Subcategory” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6974 “Per Diem Expenses” · on Table 6905 “Expense Per Diem” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6975 “Expense Itemizations” · on Table 6902 “Expense Itemization” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 6976 “Expense Posting Groups” · on Table 6928 “Expense Posting Group” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6979 “Expense Report List” · on Table 6906 “Expense Report Header” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 6980 “Manager Expense Report” · on Table 6906 “Expense Report Header” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 6981 “Manager Expense Reports” · on Table 6906 “Expense Report Header” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 6988 “Expense” · on Table 6900 “Expense” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6990 “Expense Teams” · on Table 6931 “Expense Team” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6992 “Expense Participants” · on Table 6904 “Expense Participant” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 6996 “Expense Agent Setup” · captioned “Expense Management Setup” · on Table 6930 “Expense Agent Setup” · via Set up expense management
• Page 6998 “Posted Expense Report” · on Table 6915 “Posted Expense Report Header” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 7101 “Travelers” · on Table 6938 “Traveler” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 7127 “Expense Policies” · on Table 7092 “Expense Policy” · via Set up expense management
• Page 7128 “Mileage Rate Setup” · on Table 6939 “Mileage Rate Setup” · via Set up expense management
• Page 7129 “Travel Request Card” · captioned “Travel Request” · on Table 6840 “Spend Request” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 7130 “Expense Vehicle Types” · captioned “Vehicle Types” · on Table 7108 “Expense Vehicle Type” · via Set up expense management
• Page 7136 “Travel Request List” · captioned “Travel Requests” · on Table 6840 “Spend Request” · via Work with expenses in Business Central
• Page 7137 “Travel Request Subform” · captioned “Lines” · on Table 6841 “Spend Request Detail” · via Work with expenses in Business Central

Source: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0). Descriptions are Learn’s own.