# Site Staff Expense Entry

Filing an out-of-pocket expense from the field: the Create form from Date to Submitted, photographing the receipt, and the views a technician gets on the Expenses list.

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

## Key Concepts

An expense is money you paid out of your own pocket on a job and need back, and you file one for each payment or receipt. You can file it from your phone before you leave site.

## Filing an expense, step by step

1. On the dashboard, in the **Expenses** card, click **Create New**. The form opens titled **Create**, and the red stars mark the fields you have to fill in.

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

*Create New is where an expense starts, before you leave site if you can.*

   ![The expense create form on a phone, from Date through Attachments to Save](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/expense-create.C70My-hn.png)

*One expense per receipt, with its picture taken from the form.*

2. **Date:** starts on today. Set it to the day the purchase happened, even if you are filing later in the week. **Employee:** is already you, so change it only if you are filing for somebody else.

3. Pick the **Job:** the purchase was for, then the category in **Expense Item:**, which lists the expense types your administrators have set up.

4. Type the amount on the receipt into **Total Expense Amount:**, and use **Description:** for a quick note explaining the purchase, such as "Filled unit 204 after Boundary Survey".

5. Under **Attachments:**, tap **Add** and attach the receipt, and any supporting document such as a hotel folio. On a phone you can take the picture there and then; on a computer you upload a file instead. Job Book keeps the attachment with the record, so nobody has to chase you for it.

6. **Submitted** is ticked when the form opens. Leave it ticked to send the expense for approval, or clear it to save a draft while you are still gathering receipts. 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 save again.

## Where to look when you need the expense again

On the dashboard, in the **Expenses** card, click **Explore**. A technician gets the views **My Expenses** and **All My Expenses**:

![The All My Expenses view of the Expenses list on a phone, with two cards](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/expense-list-all-my-expenses.CYxHdHU0.png)

*Once an expense leaves My Expenses you can read it but not change it.*

- **My Expenses**: the expenses you have created but not yet submitted. A draft waits here until you open it, click **Edit**, tick **Submitted** and save. A draft is also the only expense you can delete yourself, with **Delete** on its display view; once submitted, ask a Manager or an Administrator to remove it.
- **All My Expenses**: all of your expenses, so this is where a submitted one is waiting to be approved. A submitted expense opens read-only here, approved or not: once you have submitted it, ask a Manager or an Administrator if something has to change. They can fix it, or clear **Submitted** so it comes back to **My Expenses** for you to correct and submit again. There is no **Create** button on this view either.

To check whether an expense has been approved, on the dashboard, in the **Personal Reports** card, click **My Expenses** and read the **Status** column, which is covered in [Site Staff Personal Reports](https://getjobbook.com/help/Site_Staff_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/Site_Staff_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 descriptions that say what the purchase was for, so approvers do not have to call you.
- Review your totals before submitting. Fixing a small error now saves the expense being handed back to you later.

For every field on this form, see the [administrator's guide](https://getjobbook.com/help/Expense_Entry).

## Video

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

## Related Guides

- Site Staff Expense Entry
- [Expense Entry](https://getjobbook.com/help/Expense_Entry)
- [Site Staff DWR Entry](https://getjobbook.com/help/Site_Staff_DWR_Entry)
- [Site Staff Personal Reports](https://getjobbook.com/help/Site_Staff_Personal_Reports)
- [Site Staff Initial Setup](https://getjobbook.com/help/Site_Staff_Initial_Setup)