Introducing: Expense Agent in Business Central (2026 release wave 1)

Overview

The video introduces the Expense Agent, built to fill a long-standing expense management gap in Business Central. Receipts arrive by email (including a shared mailbox), through a dedicated web app, or through Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. The agent extracts merchant, amount and date, assigns categories, itemizes some receipt types such as hotels, groups expenses into reports, and writes the data to the Business Central expense module through APIs. The demo covers the Outlook and web app flow, the Expense Reports list page in Business Central, and the agent setup.

The presenter separates compliance rules from policies. Rules are simple checks on amounts and limits and must be 100% accurate. Policy-based approval for complex conditions is still being implemented and is expected near the end, before GA. The video also explains licensing: people who only use the agent do not need a Business Central license, while Business Central users do. The presenter says more automation is planned.

Key points

• Receipts can be submitted by email, a shared mailbox, a web app built for non-Business Central users, or Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat.
• The agent extracts merchant, amount and date, assigns categories, and itemizes some receipt types such as hotels.
• Compliance rules cover amounts, daily limits and required justifications. They are simple and must be 100% accurate.
• Rules are already implemented; policy-based approval (business class, hotel star rating, alcohol) is still in the process of implementation and will come later.
• Expense report creation currently groups expenses by a specific period, with further automation planned.
• Setup in Business Central covers email configuration, categories, posting groups and user access. Reports appear on the Expense Reports page.
• Licensing: non-Business Central users are charged by Copilot credits, only when using the agent. Business Central users who approve need a Team Member license, even when approving in the web app. Posting expense reports and payments needs Essential or Premium.

Features

A status with a roadmap link comes from the Microsoft 365 roadmap feature this part of the video covers (matched by Haiku; links Opus dropped are not used); other statuses need a status word in the video itself.

AL objects mentioned

As heard in the captions. A name that matches one object page by exact type and name links to it; the others stay as named.

• other “Expense Agent” at 1:50
• other “Expense Agent Service” at 5:56
• page 6997 “Expense Reports” at 9:10
• other “Expense Module” at 6:08

Quotes

• 0:31 “Our first goal is to fill a long-standing product gap with AI-powered solution.”
• 1:10 “basic concept is to automate receipts to get extraction, categorization, itemization, and approvals automatically”
• 4:13 “As I said, some of these features are in our agent, some of these features are in the Business Central.”
• 5:11 “expense users that will be interested in filing expenses do not have to be Business Central licensed users and they should not be disrupted”
• 11:31 “It’s required absolutely accuracy, so we cannot say this is enough to have 99% accuracy. They are strict rules and must be 100% accurate”
• 12:47 “So, in this moment, we have these two options, rules already implemented, policy in a process of implementation.”
• 13:34 “if you are using agent, but this is only if you are using expense agent, you are not required to have Business Central license.”
• 15:05 “This is a big, really big investment, and we do not want to cover everything in one session, no way.”

Disclaimers in the video

• 2:57 preview: this is something what we will have in our public preview
• 3:50 subject-to-change: we will continue to invest into this direction to make as more automation as possible. everything what we see this is possible to be done automatically with AI, this is subject of our investment
• 4:13 coming-later: for public preview and for 2026 wave release wave two, plus, so do not take a wrong my assumptions that this is not everything what will come very soon
• 4:41 coming-later: all these things should be delivered before GA. So, it was about functionalities we are covering
• 12:47 coming-later: policy in a process of implementation. And this is what will come on the end.

Presenters (as heard): Alexander Totovic, Monica Ahuja.