# Expense Entry

How to find, read, create and submit an expense in Job Book: the Expenses list and its saved views by role, the display view, and the create form from Date and Employee through Expense Item and Attachments to Submitted.

Source: https://getjobbook.com/help/Expense_Entry
Last updated: 2026-09-18

## Key Concepts

Expenses are expense claims: out-of-pocket costs your staff pay and need to be reimbursed for. If your company relies on corporate credit cards you might have fewer personal expenses to submit, but when you do pay out of pocket, this is where the expense is filed. Technicians file most expenses; Managers and Administrators follow the same process when creating their own personal expenses. If you work in the field, [Site Staff Expense Entry](https://getjobbook.com/help/Site_Staff_Expense_Entry) walks through the same form from a technician's account. What expense tracking does for your job costs is on the [Expenses](https://getjobbook.com/features/expenses) product page; this page is how to file one.

- **One expense per payment or receipt**: the **Date** should be the day the purchase happened, not the day you file it, even if you are filing later in the week.
- **The life of an expense**: four stages, each one a checkbox on the record or a queue on the list:
    1. Draft: saved with the **Submitted** checkbox cleared. It waits in your own **My Expenses** view and does not post to approvals until you finalize it.
    2. **Submitted**: you check **Submitted** and save. **Submitted Date** is date-stamped for you and the expense joins the Expense Approval Backlog.
    3. **Approved**: a Manager or an Administrator approves the expense, usually the job's project manager. This is covered in [Expense Approval](https://getjobbook.com/help/Expense_Approval).
    4. **Processed**: the last step. What it means is your company's call: for some of our customers it is the employee being paid back, for others the expense being put on the invoice that charges the client. A Manager or an Administrator ticks the checkbox on the expense, or it is ticked from the **Expenses** table on the invoice that bills the job, which is covered in [Invoices](https://getjobbook.com/help/Invoices#the-expenses-table).
- **Saved views by role**: a Technician or a Job Coordinator gets views of their own expenses only; an Administrator or a Manager also gets the queues the whole company works from. They are listed under [Finding an expense](#finding-an-expense).
- **Locked once submitted**: a Technician can edit an expense while it is a draft. Once it is submitted it opens read-only for them: a Manager or an Administrator either corrects it or clears **Submitted** to hand it back as a draft, which is how an expense that cannot be approved is returned for correction. Approving locks it further, ready to be reimbursed.
- **Expense Items are your company's list**: the categories on the form are the expense types set up by your administrators, in [Administration Settings](https://getjobbook.com/help/Administration_Settings#expense-items).

## Performing Common Tasks

### Finding an expense

On the dashboard, in the **Expenses** card, click **Explore**.

![The Expenses card on the dashboard, with Explore marked](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/expenses-card-explore.DFqpqIVt.png)

*Explore is where a filed expense is followed: whether it has been approved, and later whether it has been processed.*

The **Expenses** list opens with a strip of saved views along the top, and the views you get depend on your role.

As an Administrator or a Manager the views are **Not Approved**, **Admin Queue**, **All**, **My Expenses** and **All My Expenses**.

![The Expenses list on the Not Approved view, showing the five saved views, the toolbar and three cards](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/expense-list.C4ogj0KD.png)

*The saved views follow the life of an expense, from Not Approved to Admin Queue.*

- **Not Approved**: every submitted expense that is still waiting for approval, for everyone, not just you. These are the same records as the **Expense Approval Backlog** on the **Workflow** card, shown as cards instead of a grid.
- **Admin Queue**: approved expenses waiting to be marked Processed.
- **All**: every expense you can see.
- **My Expenses**: the expenses you have created but not yet submitted for approval.
- **All My Expenses**: all of your expenses. A submitted expense opens read-only from here whether or not it has been approved: once you submit, only a Manager or an Administrator can change it. Drafts are edited from **My Expenses**.

As a Technician or a Job Coordinator the views are **My Expenses** and **All My Expenses**, which hold the same things they hold for everyone else. **All My Expenses** has no **Create** button whatever your role, so start an expense from another view or from the dashboard.

The rest of the screen is the same on every view:

- The search box reads "Type and press Enter to search". Type into it and press Enter, or click **Search**, to narrow the view.
- **Create** opens a blank expense and **Export to Excel** downloads the view.
- Each card reads **Date:**, **Employee:**, **Job #:** and **Item:**. On **My Expenses** and **All My Expenses** the cards drop **Employee:**, because every record is yours. Click the card to open that expense.

### Viewing an expense

Clicking a card opens the expense's display view, which is read-only. The buttons at the top of the display screen, repeated below the record, are **Edit**, **Export to PDF**, **Delete** and **Back**. **Export to PDF** makes a file you can print or email. A Technician sees **Edit** and **Delete** on a draft only; once an expense is submitted, only a Manager or an Administrator can change or delete it.

![The display view of a submitted expense, showing its four buttons and every field from Date to Processed](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/expense-display.B0sIcGlb.png)

*The display view is the filed expense as it stands: read it, export it, or check how far it has got.*

- **Date:** and **Expense #:** sit at the top. The expense number is the system's own and is not on the create form.
- **Employee:**, **Job:** and **Expense Item:** are links. The **Job:** link opens the job the expense was booked to.
- **Total Expense Amount:**, **Description:** and **Attachments:** repeat what was filed.
- **Submitted:** and **Submitted Date:** tell you whether the expense has left your drafts and when.
- **Approved:** is ticked once a Manager or an Administrator has approved it, and **Processed:** once the last step, whatever your company counts as processing, is done.

### Creating an expense

There are two ways in:

- On the dashboard, in the **Expenses** card, click **Create New**.
- In the **Expenses** list, click **Create**.

![The Expenses card on the dashboard, with Create New marked](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/expenses-card.DWbvMzwm.png)

*Create New is the quickest way to file an expense while the receipt is still in your hand.*

Either way the expense form opens, titled **Create**. Any field with a red star is required.

![The blank expense create form from Date through Attachments to Submitted Date](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/expense-create.BOfAZAfR.png)

*One claim per receipt, filed against the job it was for.*

- **Date:** required. It defaults to today's date. Set it to the day the purchase happened.
- **Employee:** required. Defaults to you; pick someone else to file an expense on their behalf.
- **Job:** required. Click the field and pick the job that generated the expense.
- **Expense Item:** required. The dropdown shows the expense types set up by your administrators; see [Administration Settings](https://getjobbook.com/help/Administration_Settings#expense-items).
- **Total Expense Amount:** required. A **$** spinner box. Enter the amount shown on the receipt.
- **Description:** required. A short note that explains the purchase, such as "Filled unit 204 after Boundary Survey".
- **Attachments:** click **Add** to attach the receipt, and any supporting document such as a hotel folio. If you are on a computer you can click the **Select File** button to upload a photo or PDF; if you are on a cell phone you will have the option to take a picture. Job Book stores attachments with the record so approvers don't have to chase you later.
- **Submitted**: checked by default. If you are still gathering receipts, clear it to save a draft instead.
- **Submitted Date:** filled in for you when you submit. You cannot type it.

Click **Save**. If a required field is empty, Job Book says "One or more values are invalid, please check your form." and highlights the field in red; fill it in and click **Save** again. Saving takes you back to the dashboard.

### Submitting a draft

To submit a draft: on the dashboard, in the **Expenses** card, click **Explore**, click the **My Expenses** view and click the expense, then click **Edit**.

![The edit view of an expense, showing the Submitted checkbox, Submitted Date and the Approved and Processed checkboxes above Save](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/expense-edit.DuqtlFUp.png)

*Ticking Submitted and saving moves a draft into the approval queue.*

- Change anything that needs changing, then check the **Submitted** box.
- Click **Save**, then click **Back**.

On the list your expense is gone from **My Expenses**, because that view holds drafts only. Click **All My Expenses** and you will see it waiting to be approved by the job's project manager. Submitting sends the expense for approval in the [Expense Approval Backlog](https://getjobbook.com/help/Expense_Approval).

After approval the record is locked. If something has to change, ask a Manager or an Administrator: they can fix it themselves, or clear both **Approved** and **Submitted** so the expense comes back to **My Expenses** as a draft for you to correct and submit again. Clearing **Approved** on its own leaves it submitted, and a submitted expense is still read-only for you.

### Checking whether it was approved

Two ways to tell:

- Open the expense from **All My Expenses** and look at **Approved:** on the display view.
- On the dashboard, in the **Personal Reports** card, click **My Expenses**. The report lists each expense with its job, amount and **Status**, and is covered in [Personal Reports](https://getjobbook.com/help/Personal_Reports#my-expenses).

### Best practices

- Submit expenses daily, or at least weekly, so approvers have fresh details and you get reimbursed faster.
- Match the expense to the same job you used on your [Daily Work Record (DWR)](https://getjobbook.com/help/DWR_Entry). An expense filed against the wrong job distorts two budgets.
- Upload receipts right away. A faded or missing receipt slows the approval and may not be reimbursed at all.
- Use meaningful descriptions, so approvers understand how the purchase supported the job without calling you.
- Review your totals before submitting. Fixing small errors now saves the expense being handed back to you later.

## Video

Watch the video: [Job Book How to Use Guide #6: Creating Expenses](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJl8iOVsr18)

## Related Guides

- Expense Entry
- [Site Staff Expense Entry](https://getjobbook.com/help/Site_Staff_Expense_Entry)
- [Expense Approval](https://getjobbook.com/help/Expense_Approval)
- [DWR Entry](https://getjobbook.com/help/DWR_Entry)
- [Personal Reports](https://getjobbook.com/help/Personal_Reports)
- [Administration Settings](https://getjobbook.com/help/Administration_Settings)
- [Invoices](https://getjobbook.com/help/Invoices)