Managing team expenses shouldn't mean being buried in paper receipts or getting lost in spreadsheets. We've updated our Expenses tool to make your life simpler and keep your finance team happy.
We've made tracking, sending, and approving expenses easy to use. With a fresh design and mobile-friendly uploads, it’s now much faster to manage spending on the go.
This guide covers everything from the initial setup to seeing the big picture on your dashboard.
Key features
AI Receipt Scanning: No more manual typing. Simply snap a photo of a receipt, and the system automatically extracts the description, date, amount, and VAT.
Smart Mileage Tracking: Enter a start and end point to automatically calculate distances with a built-in map visualisation.
Policy & Spend Control: Keep company costs in check by setting daily spending limits against specific expense categories with automatic warnings if thresholds are exceeded.
Flexible Approvals: Managers can view receipts or route maps side-by-side with claim data and approve or reject individual line items to keep valid expenses moving.
Finance-Ready Visibility: Track company-wide spend trends at a glance and bulk-download stored receipts for easy VAT reconciliation.
Getting started (Setting up your expense options)
To turn on the module, simply head to Configure > Plan and billing > Change plan > Expenses > +
You don’t have to change a thing to get started, but taking a moment to check your settings will help everything run smoothly for your team. If you’re an Admin or HR
user, you can find these by heading to Configure > Settings > Account > Picklists.
Expense types
We’ve already included some common types such as Travel, Meals and Entertainment, and Training, but you can add as many of your own categories as you need. When you add a category, you can give it a quick shortcode so it’s easy to track on your expense reports. If you want to keep a closer eye on the budget, you can also add a daily spending limit to each category.
Mileage rates
It’s easy to create specific rates for things like cars, or vans. Giving each rate a clear name helps your team know exactly what to choose when they’re sending a claim. You can also tick a box to show which rates are current so your list stays tidy.
The employee expense dashboard
On your computer
Employees can see their spending by clicking My expenses on the left-hand menu.
There’s also a handy summary tile under Your profile > My expenses that shows users their total expense amount in draft (unclaimed), how many claims they've submitted, and any that have been rejected.
The dashboard shows four key stats:
Claims in draft
Total claims submitted
Total approved claims
Monthly total for Completed claims
You’ll also find graphs for your monthly spending and spending this month to help you stay on top of your budget.
Using filters
The your expense claims section lists all your personal claims. You can find specific records using the search bar or filter the list by status, such as draft, submitted, or approved.
Employees can only submit claims in the specific currency set on their profile, which is managed by an HR user or their line manager. However, if they have historical claims in more than one currency, they’ll see a currency filter dropdown at the top of the screen. This lets them filter the dashboard to show only the claims for that specific currency (for example, showing just GBP claims, or just Euros claims). The dashboard figures won't convert between currencies; instead, the list will filter down to show the exact totals for the selected currency. When opening the dashboard, it will always default to the profile's current currency view.
On the People Portal mobile app
If you're out and about, the People Portal mobile app makes it easy to check your expenses on the go. Just head to More > HR > Expenses to see your personal spending screen.
At the top, you'll see an expenses summary showing your draft, underway, and completed claims. Below that, the my expenses section lets you look back over your history. Tapping on any of these headings will take you straight to those specific claims so you can review them in a flash.
Creating an expense claim
On your computer
To start a new claim, head to the top-right of the My expenses dashboard and click Create an expense claim.
Give your claim a clear name in the pop-up box, like "June expenses". This helps you group your items together. You’ll then see the claim details screen where you can add your items. If you ever need to rename the overall claim, just click the Edit claim button in the top left-hand corner.
Click add an expense and select one of these three options:
Personal expense (you paid with your own money)
Company expense (paid using a company card)
Mileage claim
Personal and company expenses
These two options use the same form.
You can drag your receipt into the upload a receipt box or click it to choose a file from your computer. We accept PDF, PNG, JPG, and GIF files up to 10MB. If you don't have a receipt, you can still move forward without one.
Once your receipt is uploaded, a scan your receipt box appears giving you two choices:
Scan receipt: Our AI tool will fill in the details for you. It’s always worth a quick double-check of the figures before you save, just to be sure everything is correct.
Skip for now: Choose this if you’d rather type the details in yourself.
Top tip: If you use the scanner after you’ve already typed in some info, the scan will replace what you’ve written, so it’s usually best to scan first.
Add the expense date and a brief description, then make sure you pick an expense category from the menu. If you tick Includes VAT, you’ll see a percentage rate.
If you change this percentage, the VAT amount will update automatically.
Tick the chargeable to client box and add the customer name if you need to bill the cost to a customer. When you're finished, click add expense to save it.
Mileage claims
Mileage claims look a little different. Start with the trip details:
Pick your date of travel from the calendar.
Select your mileage rate, Category and payment method.
The route box helps you work out your distance in two ways:
Automatic: Enter your start and end postcodes and pick the addresses from the list. Tick return journey if you travelled there and back, then click calculate mileage. You’ll see a map with the miles and total cost. If you need to change this, click override mileage and enter the distance yourself. You’ll just need to add a quick reason for the change, like "diverted due to roadworks".
Manual: Use this option if you'd prefer to skip the map and type your miles in directly.
Whichever method you choose, you can also add a description of the trip, whether the expense associated with a project, mark if the expense is chargeable to the client, and upload a photo of a fuel receipt to back up your claim.
Once you're happy with all the details, just click add expense or back should you wish to make any changes
Finishing your claim
All your saved items will appear in a list on the claim details screen. From here, you can easily edit or delete items if you need to make any changes by clicking on the three dots.
Once you’re happy that everything is correct, scroll to the top of the screen and click submit.
(You can also manage the entire claim from here by using the edit claim button, or remove it entirely using the red delete button.)
Keeping track of your claim
Once you’ve hit submit, your claim will head over to your manager or expense approver for review. You don't need to guess what's happening behind the scenes, either, Breathe will automatically send you an email notification the moment your claim is approved or rejected, so you're always kept completely in the loop.
On the People Portal mobile app
To create a new claim on your phone, head to More > HR > Expenses where you'll be taken to your expense summary screen. From there, tap the blue create expense claim button at the bottom of the screen to go to the add expense screen.
The app follows the exact same simple flow as the desktop version: you create an overall claim container, add individual expenses to it, and then submit it for approval.
1. Create an expense claim
Once you've tapped create expense claim, give it a clear name (like "June expenses"). If you already have an open draft claim and just want to add more items to it instead, simply tap into that existing claim to open your expense claim summary screen and select add expenses.
2. Add expenses to the claim
Once you are inside your claim, follow these quick steps for each item:
Select your expense type from the three choices: personal expense, company expense, or mileage claim.
Tap to scan your receipt. The AI tool will automatically extract the data to pre-populate the date, description, and amount for you. Just like the browser version, you can easily type over or change any of these details if needed.
Next, select a category and link the item to a project if required.
Flip the toggles if VAT is included or if the cost is chargeable to client.
Tap add expense. You will see your new item instantly listed on your expense claim summary screen.
3. Submit your claim
You can keep adding as many individual items to this claim as you need. Once you are completely satisfied with all the expense items inside your claim, simply tap submit claim to send the whole bundle off to your manager for review.
Approving an expense claim
When an employee sends a claim, the system automatically sends an email to their approver. You’ll also see a notification on your dashboard to-do list.
Who approves the claim? (Permissions and approvals)
What a user can see and do in the Expenses module depends entirely on their permissions role and your plan size:
Employees: Can only see their personal my expenses dashboard to log and track their own claims.
Line managers and expense approvers: Can see the Company expenses menu, but only see claims and data for the specific people they look after. They cannot see company-wide totals or graphs.
Admin, HR, and Finance users: Have a bird's-eye view of the entire business. On Micro and Starter plans, admin and HR users can see and approve all company spending. On Regular plans and above, this global view and approval right is shared with finance users as well as the Admin.
The person who reviews the claim depends on how your company is set up:
If the employee has a named expense approver, that person will review it.
If there isn't a specific expense approver, it goes to their line manager.
On Micro and Starter plans, the admin or a HR user are notified and can approve the claim if there’s no manager (or expense approver).
On Regular plans and above, finance or admin users will approve it if there’s no manager (or expense approver).
How to review a claim
Click expenses under your dashboard to-do list. The expenses to approve screen shows the total amount of the claim and what is payable to the employee. Click view to open the details. Here, you also have the option to view all expenses or pay all expenses.
When selecting view, the screen shows the history of the claim, including who sent it and when. You can also see if it was rejected or sent back before.
Click the three dots to edit, approve, reject, or delete the expense. If you click on an individual item, a sidebar will slide out on the right. This shows you all the details, including receipt images and mileage maps. You can approve or reject the item directly from here, too.
Rejecting a claim
You can reject a whole claim or just a few specific items.
To reject a claim, click the red reject claim button or use the sidebar options. Just type a clear reason into the box and click confirm rejection.
The system won’t notify the employee until you click that final button. Once it’s rejected, the employee can see your reason, edit the expenses to make any changes, and send it back for approval.
The company expenses dashboard
Where you see expenses on your menu depends on your role. While all employees have a my expenses tab for their own claims, those managing the company spending have a broader view.
Admin and HR users (on Micro and Starter plans) or admin and finance users (on Regular plans and above) can click Expenses on the left-hand menu to see spending across the whole business.
Line managers and expense approvers can also see this menu, but they’ll only see the claims for the people they look after.
The main screen shows you the number of drafts, what’s been submitted, and the totals for the month. You’ll also find two helpful graphs:
Monthly spending total: See how much your team spends each month, colour-coded by status.
Where the money is going: A handy breakdown of spending by category.
Please note: The data shown on these dashboards and graphs is displayed based on the date the expense claim is submitted, rather than the date the individual expenses took place.
You can filter the main list of claims by employee name or status to find exactly what you’re looking for. If your team submits claims in multiple currencies, you can use the currency filter at the top of the screen to isolate and view spending for a specific currency at a time.
Exporting receipts
If you’re the Admin or a Finance user, you can export receipt data for company audits.
Go to expenses and click receipt exports in the top right-hand corner. From here, you can export spreadsheet data for a specific date or download the actual files your team uploaded.
Expense reports
If you need to run more detailed reports on your spending, you can use our standard reporting tools found by navigating to Reports > Expense reports
For a quick breakdown, here's what each report displays
Expense Claims Report - A report filtered by the date the claim was submitted
Expenses Report - A report of the expenses themselves and the date they took place. (not necessarily when they were submitted)
Take a look at our Expense Reports guide to learn more:
Frequently asked questions
Q: How much is it?
A: The cost of the Expenses module depends on your Breathe plan. To view our current pricing, just take a look at this link.
Q: How do I start using Expenses?
A: To turn on the module, simply head to Configure > Plan and billing > Change plan > Expenses > +. Once you've clicked that, you can start using it straight away. Please keep in mind that if you work with a Breathe Partner, they can switch this module on for you.
Q: Can I have a trial?
A: Yes! You can trial the Expenses module for 14 days before deciding to add it to your plan. You can start your free trial by clicking here.
Q: Why can’t I delete the mileage expense type?
A: The system needs the 'mileage' type to work out exactly how much your employees are owed based on your rates, so it can't be edited or deleted. However, you can easily customise your own mileage rates by heading to Configure > Settings > Picklists > Mileage types. Once those are set up, your team is good to go.
Q: Who can approve expenses other than an expenses approver?
A: Depending on your company setup, Admin, HR, and Finance users can all review, approve, or reject expense claims to help keep things moving.
Q: Can I log an expense in a different currency?
A: Expenses need to match the currency set on your profile. If you buy something in a different currency while you're away, just convert the amount into your usual currency before adding it to your claim. It’s a good idea to use the description box to note down the original cost and the exchange rate so your manager can see the details.
Q: Can I turn off the Expenses module if we don't use it?
A: Yes, you can. If your business doesn't track expenses, an Admin can remove the module from the system. Just head to Configure > Plan & billing and uncheck the box next to Expenses.
Q: Can a manager log an expense claim for an employee?
A: To keep your data safe and accurate, employees need to submit their own claims from their own account. If someone can’t get into the system, the best thing to do is share the details with an Admin or Finance user who can keep an eye on the business data from the main dashboard.
Q: Why can't people change the submission currency on their profile?
A: To keep your company records accurate, employees can only submit claims in the specific currency set on their profile. If this needs to be updated, it must be changed by an HR user (found under Employee profile > Job > Edit > Payment currency). A line manager can also update this in the same way if the account's line manager permissions are set to 'Manage' for 'Profile inc docs'. You can check or change this by heading to Configure > Settings > Permissions and approvals > Change what line managers can see and do, and ticking Manage against Profile.
Q: Can an expense be edited after it has been approved?
A: Yes, an expense approver can still make changes to an expense item even after it has been approved. However, once the expense has been marked as paid, it is securely locked in the system for your financial records and can no longer be edited or changed.
Q: How do policy limits and daily spend limits work?
A: To help keep claims in line with your company policy, you can set daily spending limits against specific expense categories. When an employee is building a claim, the system will automatically display a policy limit warning on their screen if they go over these thresholds, flagging it before they hit submit.
Q: Can we download receipts in bulk for our finance records?
A: Yes! To make VAT reconciliation as smooth as possible for your finance team, you can bulk download stored receipts alongside your standard expense dashboard metrics and data exports.
Q: Who gets notified when a claim is submitted, approved, or rejected?
A: The system handles notifications automatically at every stage:
When a claim is submitted: The designated approver or line manager automatically receives an email notification and a task on their dashboard to-do list.
When a claim is approved or rejected: The employee instantly receives an email keeping them in the loop. If a claim is rejected, the email will include the clear reason typed by the approver so the employee knows exactly what needs to be fixed.