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Approve and pay expenses

Approve, reject or send back expenses waiting for approval, and record their payment.

An expense a member records waits as Pending approval. An owner or admin decides it, then records its payment.

Who can do this

Only owners and admins can approve, reject, send back or mark an expense paid. Members and viewers cannot. In the demo workspace nothing can be changed.

Before you start

To mark an expense paid you need a ringgit bank or cash account on Banking.

Steps

Approve or reject

  1. Open Expenses under Purchases in the Finance menu.
  2. Choose Pending approval in the status list.
  3. Open the row's menu and choose Approve or Reject, then confirm.

An approved expense is locked. It can then be paid, and only sent back or rejected while nothing has been paid. A rejected expense stays in the list as Rejected. Anyone who may edit can change it and send it again.

Send back an approved expense

  1. Open the row's menu on an approved expense with nothing paid, and choose Send back.
  2. Type why it is sent back, then confirm with Send back.

It goes back to Pending to be corrected, and its entry in the books is reversed on that day. Approved again, it is a new entry.

Mark an expense paid

  1. Open the row's menu on an approved expense and choose Mark paid.
  2. Choose the account it was Paid from, the Date paid, the Method and any Reference.
  3. Check the Amount paid (RM). Paying less leaves the rest for another payment.
  4. Click Mark paid.

This records a payment voucher, paid now. It shows on Payment vouchers and Banking. To undo a wrong one, void it on Payment Vouchers.

Common problems

  • "This expense has a payment against it, paid or still to be paid, so it cannot be rejected." The same applies to sending it back.
  • "This expense was changed after you opened it. Check it again, then approve or reject it." Someone changed it meanwhile.
  • "Expenses are paid from a ringgit account. Choose a ringgit account."
  • "That is more than is still to pay on this expense."
  • "Only an owner or admin can approve or reject an expense. Ask one of them to do this."

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