What's the difference between Out-of-Pocket and Company Card Expense Claims?

When creating an Expense Claim in ApprovalMax, the first decision is the expense type. This determines which fields appear on the claim, what line types are available, and what happens in Xero once the claim is approved.

Both types move through the same Expense Claim Workflow, but they behave differently in a few important ways.

Out-of-pocket claims are for expenses the employee paid personally and needs to be reimbursed for. There is no bank account on the claim header, and the claim currency can be freely selected. Both expense lines and mileage lines are supported.

On final approval, ApprovalMax automatically creates a single Bill in your Xero Bill workflow with the employee as the supplier, covering all expense and mileage lines in the claim.

Corporate card claims are for expenses charged to a company card. A Xero bank account must be selected on the claim header, and the claim currency is locked to that bank account's currency. If you change the bank account, the currency updates to match. Only expense lines are supported; the mileage section is not available on corporate card claims. A supplier must be specified on each expense line.

On final approval, ApprovalMax creates one Spend Money bank transaction in Xero per expense line, posted against the selected bank account with the supplier specified on that line.

You can switch between Out of pocket and Corporate card while the claim is still in Draft. Be aware that switching type clears the Bank account field and removes any Merchant or Supplier values already entered on expense lines. If you switch from Out of pocket to Corporate card, any mileage lines are also removed.

If the expense was paid from the employee's own funds and needs to be reimbursed, use Out of pocket. If the expense was charged directly to a company card, use Corporate card.