Administering your Zoho Expense account

Along with submitting and approving expense reports, Admins will have access to an additional section named Admin on the LHS. They can configure the organization’s account, invite users, integrate with other apps and setup company policies. In this section you will learn how to configure the organization’s account, under the Settings module in the Admin section.   

Settings

Click on the below links to easily navigate through the page.

• Organization Profile
• Branding
• Regional Settings
• Expense Preferences
• Fields Customization
• Adding New Custom fields
• Reports Preferences
• Advance Payments Preferences
• Categories
• Sub-categories
• Export Template for Reports
• Adding a Paid Through account
• Customers
• Projects
• Merchants

Organization Profile

Under organizational profile, you can edit the following parameters:

• Company Logo: The logo you upload here will be reflected in all your documents. You can simply click on ‘upload your logo’ button, select the image file and upload it. Prefered Size: 240px*240px with 72 DPI. Maximum File Size: 1 MB.
• Organization Name: You can edit your organization name entered during quick setup, in this field.
• Company Address: Provide your detailed address along with other contact details such as phone number, website etc.
• Primary Contact:  Change or edit the primary contact person’s name entered when you’re creating a new organization in Zoho Expense.
• Email:  Change or edit the primary email address entered during the creation the your new organization in Zoho Expense.

Branding

Give a personal touch to your Zoho Expense account. Choose the theme that will go well with your company by performing the following steps:

• Navigate to Admin > Settings > Branding.
• Upload an organizational logo that will be visible in the PDF of your expense reports.
• Choose a theme of your choice. If you have multiple organizations, you can differentiate among them by using different themes.

Regional Settings

• Base Currency: You can choose the base currency in which all your accounting is done. You can also manage currencies efficiently using the Manage Currencies option present right next to the base currency text field.
• Language: Currently, Zoho Expense supports English, French and Spanish. Support for other languages will be available soon.
• Time Zone: Change or edit your timezone.
• Date format: Change or edit the date format according to your requirements.

Note: Once a transaction is created in base currency, it cannot be changed.  

Preferences

Expense Preferences

Expenses preferences allows you to manage various parameters such as setting an expense expiry period, assigning general policies to expenses, sending reminders regarding unreported expenses etc. Below given are the list of options available under expenses preferences.

Base Currency: You can view your base currency which you had selected during your quick setup.

Manage currencies: Under the Manage currencies page, you can add currencies that are involved in your expenditure, and assign them exchange rates for easier conversion.

Enable automated currency conversion: We’ll automatically convert the foreign currency expense to your base currency, based on the spot rate on the transaction date.

Create reimbursable expenses by default: When you create an expense, the claim reimbursement option in the new expense page will be auto-checked by default, thereby creating reimbursable expenses.

Expense expiry period: You can check this option and specify the expiry period before which, expenses have to be approved.

Notifications

Warn users when an expense created by them nears its expiry date: Notifications allow you to warn users when their expense is two days due for expiry date.

Send reminders for unreported expenses: You can set daily/weekly/monthly reminders regarding unreported expenses.

Cards

Auto-match/create expenses for corporate card transactions: Your card transactions will be automatically matched with your existing expenses based on the date (before or after three days from the specified date) and the expense amount. If you do not have expenses that correspond to any transaction, an expense will be automatically created based on the transaction details.

Permit users to edit the amount in personal card expenses: You can allow the users to edit the amount of the expenses incurred through their personal cards.

Enabling personal expense

Personal expenses are the expenditures that are not business related. These expenses are incurred by employees for themselves.

Admins can enable the personal expense option for their organization. To enable:

• Navigate to the Admin module on the left sidebar and select Settings.
• Click Expenses under Preferences.     
• Mark the personal field option under Expense Fields Customization.

Fields Customization

While creating an expense report or an expense, you will be prompted to fill several input fields. But not all of them might be necessary. So, in order to make it simple, Zoho Expense comes with field customization. Here, you can choose the input fields your users should see while creating a new expense or an expense report. You can also choose to make these fields mandatory and add them to the report PDF.

• Click the Settings module under the Admin section on the left sidebar.
• For removing fields from the Expense creation page, go to Expenses under ‘Preferences’ and scroll down to the Expense Fields Customization section.

• For removing fields from the Report creation page, go to Reports and scroll down to the Report Field Customization.

• Uncheck the field(s) you wish to exclude.
• Select the fields which you would like to make as mandatory. Users will not be able to submit/save the expenses unless the mandatory fields are filled in.
• Choose whether or not to show these fields in the report PDF.
• Click Save.

Adding New Custom fields

In addition to customizing the fields, you can also add new fields to your expenses and expense reports. Let us see how that’s done:

• Click the Settings module under the Admin section on the left sidebar.
• To add custom fields in the expense creation page, navigate to Expenses.
• Scroll down to the Expense Field Customization section and click + New Field.

• Similarly, to add custom field in the +New report page, navigate to Report.
• Scroll down to the Report Field customization and click + New Field.

• Fill in the following fields:

  • Label: Provide a label for the Custom Field.

  • Data Type: A data type is simply the type of data you enter into the system.

Following are the data types we support:

Data Type Name	Description
Text	Enter a word or a short phrase against the field name.
Email	Enter an email address against the field name.
URL	Enter a URL to a file or a website against the field name.
Phone	Enter a contact number against the field name.
Number	Enter any positive or negative number against the field name.
Decimal	Enter any positive or negative decimal number against the field name.
Amount	The amount you enter will be displayed. Currently, only your accounting currency will be supported.
Percent	Enter a value to denote a percentage against the field name.
Date	Select a date from the calendar for this field.
Checkbox	You can add a checkbox with a small text or description to tell what it is for. For example, it may be used to confirm an action or make a choice. If it is selected, the value ‘True’ is passed, else ‘False’ is passed.
Auto-generate number	Provide a prefix (or) suffix and a starting number to enable auto-generation of numbers.
Drop-down	Provide a list of options that can be selected from the drop-down.

• Default Value: The value entered in this field will be displayed by default for this field. You can always change it while creating the report.

• Preview: You will be able to see how the custom field will look like when creating a report.

• Choose whether or not to show the custom field in all the PDFs.

• Click Save.

Reports Preference

Auto generating expense report numbers

You can set a prefix and a starting number for the auto-generation of your expense reports.  

Report Name Automation:

Generate report name automatically: You can auto-generate report names by choosing placeholders such as Customer, Start Date, Policy etc. from the Placeholders dropdown.

 

Selecting a Default PDF template

This option allows you to decide on how you want to see your Report in the PDF format. There are two options, namely,

• Include signature line in report PDF: This option allows you to include a signature line for the submitter and the approver(s) of the expense report in the PDF of the report.
• Show Report History in PDF: This option lets you include the report history in the PDF reports.
• Show trip details in report PDF: If your report is associated to a trip, this option allows you to display the trip details in the PDF report.
• Include receipts in PDF report: This option provides you a choice to include or exclude receipts in the PDF reports.You can also choose the number of receipts you like to display per page in a report.

• Standard : In the Standard template, all the expenses will be sorted in the ascending order of the dates on which the expenses were incurred.
• Group by Category : In the Group by Category template, all the expenses will be segregated according to their categories.
• PDF Font: This dropdown allows you to choose a font for the text in the PDF reports.

Configuring Report Custom Status

In addition to the pre-defined statuses, Zoho Expense allows you to create new custom statuses for your Approved and Reimbursed reports. In your business, when you approve and reimburse reports, you may have intermediate stages such as Reimbursement Initiated, Reimbursement Pending or more. But Zoho Expense only has Approved and Reimbursed as statuses. Now, if you want the stages in your business to match with the report’s status in Zoho Expense, you can create them as custom statuses using the Custom Status option. Changing the status of the report, will only change the status name, and the reports are still considered as Approved/Reimbursed, set according to your configuration.

To create a new custom status:

• Go to Admin > Settings > Reports.
• Navigate to the Report Custom status section and click + New.
• Fill in the status Name and select Approved or Reimbursed from the Consider As dropdown.
• Click Save.

To change the status of the reports:

• Go to Reports Approval.
• Select the Approved/Reimbursed report for which you would like to change the status.
• Click Mark as “Name” from the More dropdown on the top right corner of the page.
• Once this is done, the report will be marked with the new status and will be considered as Approved/Reimbursed as per your configuration.

Note:

• Once you change the status, it cannot be reverted.
• Changing the status of the report will only change the status name, and the reports will still be considered as Approved/Reimbursed, based on your configuration.

Configuring notifications that occur upon report submission

Upon report submission, you have options to:

• Configure the last day for report submission - This option allows you to set deadlines before which the users are required to submit their expense reports every month. Users cannot submit their expense reports after the last day of submission of the respective month.
• Attach report as a PDF file to the notification email - The expense report is attached as a PDF file along with the notification email.
• Copy the submitter in the email - A copy of the report submission notification is sent to the submitter upon the submission of the report for approval.
• Receive a copy of the report - A copy of the report is sent as an email to the user you select from the dropdown, once it is submitted.
• Display Terms & Conditions - You can add the terms and conditions for the submission of reports. This will be displayed in the Submit Report page when a user tries to submit a report.

Configuring approval preference

Approval preference allows you to:

• Allow approvers to approve their own reports.
• Set the number of days within which an expense report should be approved. (Applicable from the date of submission.)
• Notify approver when submitted reports are nearing their due dates.
• A copy of the report will be sent as an email to the user you select from the dropdown, as soon as it is approved.

 

Configuring notifications related to expense reports

Under this section you can configure the system to send notifications when:

• Expense reports are approved or rejected.
• Expense reports are marked as reimbursed.
• Comments are added to expense reports.

Configuring Approval types

The Approval types help you configure the approval workflow of your organization. The approval type may be based on the hierarchy defined while inviting the user or based on some custom criteria. You can configure the approval type for your reports in this section.The following are the available approval types:

• Hierarchical approval: Select this option to set the approval flow based on the hierarchy set while inviting the user. If you select this option, the reports will be submitted to the user assigned to them in the Submits To section of the Users module for approval. Select a user in the Approves and forwards to section, to forward the reports for further approval.

Note: You can change the hierarchy in the Edit User page.

• Custom Approval: Select this option if you want the approval flow to be based on certain criteria. Learn more.

Advance Payments Preferences

Approval types

Zoho Expense lets you set approval workflows for your employees’ Advance Payment requests. Additionally, you can keep a check on their requests through a series of criteria that will help you assess if the advance payment should be approved or not.

• No Approval: You can set this if you don’t want to set up any approver for your employees. Your employees can record and apply advance payments to their reports directly. The advance payment will be approved automatically.

• Simple Approval: As an admin, you can individually approve the advance payment requests your employees submit. For this, you can select simple approval which allows only you to approve advance payments.

• Custom Approval: You can configure this approval, if you want to customize approval workflows for your organization. You can set up multiple criteria that trigger multiple levels of approval when conditions are satisfied.

Learn more about setting up Custom Approval.

Admins can set approval types by performing the following:

• Click Settings under the Admin section on the left sidebar.
• Navigate to Advance Payments under Preferences.
• Select the approval type.

Advance Custom Status

If you want to provide an alternative status specifically for approved advance payments, you can add a custom status. This option will help you set up new custom statuses based on the expense reporting process in your organization.

For example, your organization might have multiple stages after an advance payment has been approved such as partially paid, pending, paid etc. You can create new custom statuses for these stages and update the approved advance payment accordingly.

To add advance custom status:

• Click + New.
• Enter the status name.

Check the Notify approver via email option, if you want the approvers who were set up through the custom approval policy to receive email notifications when employees submit advance payment requests.

Advance Fields Customization

You can add custom fields for advance payments besides the default fields if you want your employees to provide additional information when they request for advance payments.

• Scroll down to the Advance Fields Customization section and click + New Field.

• Fill in the following fields:

  • Label: Provide a label for the Custom Field.

  • Data Type: Select a data type in which you want your employees to enter information.

• Click Save.

List

Categories

Categories allows you to classify your expenses, using which it later provides a clear picture on your business expenditures. Zoho Expense comes with a set of pre-defined categories, but also allows you to create a new category if necessary.  

To create a new category:

• Go to Admin > Settings > Categories.
• Click on + New Category.
• Enter the category name and the account code.
• The category you create will be common to all policies. Within a policy, you can override the existing general rules and make rules specific to a particular category.
• Click Save to save your category.

To create a sub-category

Using Sub-categories, you can be further specific about your expense type. For instance, expenses incurred during a business travel include meals, lodging, cab charges etc. Here, you can add them as sub categories under the parent category ‘Travel’. As a result, you can accurately track the amount spent during the business travel.



• Navigate to the Admin module on the left sidebar and select Settings.
• Scroll down to the Category section.
• Click on + New Category button.
• Enter the category name.
• Select the option Make this a sub-category?
• Enter the account code if necessary.
• Click Save.

Importing expense categories

To import expense categories:

• Go to Admin > Settings > Categories.
  
• Click on the Option drop-down present right next to the + New Category on the top right corner of the page.
• Select Import category (.CSV or .TSV).
• Map the fields from your uploaded file and click Next.
• Click Import to import the category on to your Zoho Expense Account.

Exporting expense categories

To export expense categories:

• Go to Admin > Settings > Categories.
• Click on the Option drop-down present right next to the + New Category on the top right corner of the page.
• Select Export category.
• Choose the format in which you would like to save your file (.CSV or .XLS).
• Click Export to download the data on your Computer.

Export Template for Reports

Let’s take an example where you need to export reports from Zoho Expense to import it in your accounting software. While doing so, you may not require all the fields in the CSV or XLS file. In such cases, you can customize the export by creating an export template. To do that:

• Navigate to the Admin module on the left sidebar and select Settings.
• Scroll down to the Export Templates section.
• Click on + New button.

• Provide a Template name.

• Fields corresponding to Expense Report, Expense and Users will be listed in the page. A few of the fields are mandatory and cannot be deselected. To include more fields in the template, click View more.
  
• Remember to Save your changes. You can now export the approved reports from the Approvals section using a template of your choice.

Adding a Paid Through account

On adding a paid through account, you can record the reimbursement of your expenses under these accounts. The accounts added in Zoho Expense will be automatically listed in Zoho Books and vice versa.

To add your Paid Through account:

• Navigate to the Admin module on the left sidebar and select Settings.
• Go to the Paid through section and click on + New button located on the top right corner.
  

• Fill in the account name and choose an account type.

• Click Save

Importing Paid through accounts

To import paid through accounts:

• Go to Admin > Settings > Paid Through.
  
• Click on the Option drop-down present right next to the + New on the top right corner of the page.
• Select Import Paid through to import the Paid through accounts. The file should be in CSV or TSV format.
• Map the fields from your uploaded file and click Next.
• Click Import to import the accounts on to your Zoho Expense Account.

Exporting Paid through accounts

To export expense categories:

• Go to Admin > Settings > Paid Through.
• Click on the Option drop-down present right next to the + New on the top right corner of the page.
• Select Export Paid through.
• Choose the format in which you would like to save your file (.CSV or .XLS).
• Click Export to download the data on your Computer.

Customers

Customers column allows you create, edit, and manage your customers to whom you can bill your employees’ expenses (expenses by an employee on behalf of your organization’s customer(s).)

To add a new customer:

• Click the Settings module under the Admin section on the left sidebar.
• Go to the Customers tab and click on the + New Customer button.
• Fill in the necessary details and click Save.

Note: If your Expense account is integrated with Zoho Books, all your newly added customer data will reflect in your Books account.

Projects

In Zoho Expense, you can create projects and track expenses that are associated with each project.

To create a project in Zoho Expense:

• Click the Settings module under the Admin section on the left sidebar.
• Go to the Projects tab and click on the + New Project button placed on the top right corner.

• A new project window will appear on the screen.
• Fill mandatory fields such as Project Name and Customer Name.
• After filling the project details, head to the users section and associate users to the project.

• You can include all the users, add a few existing users, or invite new users to be a part of your project.
• After adding users to your project, click Save in order to save your newly created project.

• Now, the users who are part of the newly created project will be able to associate them while creating an expense.

Merchants

Merchants column allows you to add, edit, remove, and merge merchant entries and related information.

How to add a merchant

To add a merchant:

• Click the Settings module under the Admin section on the left sidebar.
• Go to the Merchants tab and click on the + New Merchant button on the top right corner
• Add Merchant Name.
• Enter the Merchant Code.
• Click Save to save your newly created merchant entry.

You can now associate the merchant using merchant code while creating expenses.

Merging merchant entries

You can merge two merchant entries into one when there is a duplication in your merchant list.

Let’s take an example where your organization has a merchant named “Willpower Inc.”, and you’ve created a new merchant entry for the same. Now, if another user in your organization creates another entry named “Will power Inc.”, then there will be two merchant entries with the same name. Under such conditions, you can merge both the entries into one. To merge merchant entries:

• Click the Settings module under the Admin section on the left sidebar.
• Go the Merchants tab and select the two merchant entries which you would like to merge into one.
• Click on the Merge button on the top left corner to merge the expense entries.

Note: Upon merging, one of the two expenses will become the master, and the details of the other expense (child) will be transferred to the master expense. (The child expense will be deleted.) This merge cannot be undone.

Currencies

Using Zoho Expense, you can create expenses in any currency. If you do not find your currency in the existing list, you can add your currency by performing the following steps.

• Navigate to Admin > Settings > Currencies.
• Click + New Currency.

• In the pop-up that follows, select the Currency Code. The Currency Symbol will be auto-filled.

• You can choose the accuracy of the conversion by selecting the decimal places of the exchange rate.
• If you have not enabled automated currency conversion, you can add the exchange rate yourself.

• Hover over the currency for which you want to add the exchange rate and click edit. On the bottom right corner, click Add exchange rate.