The expense reporting feature in Aboard allows employees to submit expense reports for business-related costs and enables administrators to manage, review, and reimburse these expenses. This feature streamlines the expense reimbursement process for your organisation.
Initial setup (administrator)
Enable expense reporting.
Before employees can submit expenses, an administrator must enable the feature:
Navigate to Settings in the admin panel
Go to Expense reporting
Toggle the "Enable Expense Reporting" switch to ON
The feature is now available to your organisation
Set up expense categories
Categories help organise different types of expenses and make reporting more structured:
In the Expense Reporting settings, go to the Categories tab
Click "Create category group" to create a new category group (e.g., "Travel", "Office Supplies")
Within each category group, add specific categories:
Example Travel categories: "Flight", "Hotel", "Meals", "Transportation"
Example Office categories: "Software", "Equipment", "Stationery"
Each category can have:
Name: The category name employees will see
Code: An internal reference code
Emoji: A visual identifier
Color: For easy visual recognition
Set up expense tags (optional)
Tags provide additional filtering and organization options:
Go to the Tags tab in Expense Reporting settings
Create tag groups (e.g., "Project", "Department", "Client")
Add individual tags within each group:
Project tags: "Marketing Campaign", "Website Redesign"
Department tags: "Sales", "Engineering", "HR"
Configure whether tags are required or optional
Employees will need to select appropriate tags when submitting expenses
Configure expense handlers
Set up who can manage and process expenses:
Go to the Handlers tab
Assign managers or HR personnel who can:
Review submitted expenses
Mark expenses as reimbursed
Edit employee expenses
Export expense data
Setting up approval flows
Enable Expense Reporting: The expense approval flow becomes available automatically
Configure Steps: Add one or more approval steps with designated approvers
Set Conditions: Choose if "All" or "Any" approvers in each step must approve
Activate Flow: When active, all expenses require approval (no amount thresholds)
Multi-Step Approval: Set up sequential approval levels if needed
Notifications: Approvers receive automatic notifications for pending requests
Employee experience
Submitting a new expense
Access Expenses: Click on the Expenses section in the portal
Create New Expense: Click "New Expense" button
Fill Required Information:
Date: When the expense occurred
Amount: The cost amount
Currency: Select appropriate currency (SEK, USD, EUR, etc.)
Category: Choose from the predefined categories
Tags: Select applicable tags (if configured by admin)
Comment: Add description or notes about the expense
Attach Receipt: Upload receipt images or documents
Submit: Click "Submit Expense"
Expense status tracking
Employees can track their expenses through different statuses:
Pending Approval: Expense submitted and awaiting manager approval
Rejected: Expense rejected by approver (can be edited and resubmitted)
Pending Reimbursement: Expense approved and awaiting payment
Reimbursed: Expense has been paid out
Editing expenses
Employees can edit expenses that are:
Rejected: Make corrections and resubmit
Pending Approval: Modify before final approval
Note: Expenses that are already reimbursed cannot be edited.
Administrator management
Reviewing expenses
Navigate to Admin > Expenses
View all submitted expenses with filters:
Status: Filter by pending, approved, rejected, reimbursed
Employee: View expenses by specific team members
Category: Filter by expense categories
Tags: Filter by specific tags
Reimbursed By: See who processed reimbursements
Processing expenses
Marking as reimbursed:
For expenses that are approved (or don't require approval), click "Mark as Reimbursed"
This updates the status and notifies the employee
The expense is recorded as processed
Note: Approval/rejection of expenses is handled through the separate Approval Flow system, not by expense handlers.
Editing employee expenses
Administrators can modify employee expenses:
Select an expense from the list
Click "Edit" to modify:
Amount
Category
Tags
Comments
Receipt attachments
Employee receives notification of admin changes
Expense reports and export
Filter and Sort: Use various filters to find specific expenses
Export Data: Export expense data for accounting or reporting purposes
Best practices
Clear categories: Create intuitive, specific expense categories that match your business needs
Consistent tags: Use a standardised tagging system across the organisation for better reporting
Approval strategy: Decide whether to use approval flows (all expenses require approval) or direct processing
Regular processing: Review and process expenses promptly to maintain a good employee experience
Handler permissions: Assign appropriate expense handlers who can manage and reimburse expenses
Documentation: Maintain clear expense policies and communicate approval processes to employees
Required vs optional Tags: Carefully consider which tag groups should be required vs optional