You can use ApprovalMax to create and submit expense claims for approval. Expenses can be paid either out of pocket or using a corporate card.
You can create an expense claim in ApprovalMax in two ways, from scratch or by starting from receipts you've already captured in My Expenses. This article walks you through creating a claim from scratch.
All of the methods described below are also available in the ApprovalMax mobile app for iOS and Android.
Please note: An Expense Claim can contain up to 200 expense lines.
To create an Expense Claim request
Click on + New Request in the top right corner of ApprovalMax:
Select “Expense Claim” as the request type and click on Create:
Select the expense type using the toggle. The expense type determines which header fields are required and what document is created in Xero after approval. It cannot be changed after the claim is submitted.
Out of pocket – for reimbursable expenses paid personally.
Corporate card – for expenses paid using a company card.
For Corporate card expenses:
Select Corporate card at the top of the request form and fill out the following:
Employee — select the employee the claim is being submitted for. If your Requester matrix restricts you to a single employee, this field is pre-filled automatically. The employee must exist as a contact in your Xero Organisation.
Bank account — select the Xero bank account that the corporate card expenses were charged to. The claim currency is locked to the selected bank account's currency.
Date — defaults to today's date. Adjust if needed.
Note for approvers — optional. Use this to add any context that will help Approvers review the expense claim.
In the Expenses section, add a line for each expense. You can do this in three ways:
1. Manually
Manually fill in the required expense details. Each line requires a receipt uploaded directly to it.
Click + Add line, then select Add new line to add multiple expense lines.
Please note: If you select a currency different from the Organisation's currency, an exchange rate field appears; this is either fetched automatically based on the request date or edited manually.
2. Upload without ApprovalMax Capture
Select Upload files as regular line attachments and upload your receipt files. A new line is created for each file uploaded, with the remaining fields to be completed manually.
3. Upload with ApprovalMax Capture
Select Upload line attachments via ApprovalMax Capture and upload your receipt files. ApprovalMax Capture uses OCR to read each receipt and automatically pre-fills the date, description, amount, and currency for each line. Review and complete any fields that were not recognised.
Once all required fields are complete, click on Submit for approval. If any mandatory fields are incomplete, they are highlighted, and the claim is saved as a draft until you fill them in and resubmit the request for approval.
If all required fields are filled, the expense claim is submitted for approval and then assigned a sequential number per employee, starting from 1, which cannot be edited manually.
Once approved, ApprovalMax automatically creates one Spend Money bank transaction in Xero for each expense line in the claim, posted against the selected bank account.
For Out of pocket expenses
Select Out of pocket at the top of the request form and fill out the following:
Employee — select the employee the claim is being submitted for. If your requester matrix restricts you to a single employee, this field is pre-filled automatically. The employee must exist as a contact in your Xero Organisation.
Date — defaults to today's date. Adjust if needed.
Note for approvers — optional. Use this to add any context that will help approvers review the claim.
1. Manually
Manually fill in the required expense details. Each line requires a receipt uploaded directly to it.
Click + Add line, then select Add new line to add multiple expense lines.
Please note: If you select a currency different from the Organisation's currency, an exchange rate field appears; this is either fetched automatically based on the request date or edited manually.
2. Upload without ApprovalMax Capture
Select Upload files as regular line attachments and upload your receipt files. A new line is created for each file uploaded, with the remaining fields to be completed manually.
3. Upload with ApprovalMax Capture
Select Upload line attachments via ApprovalMax Capture and upload your receipt files. ApprovalMax Capture uses OCR to read each receipt and automatically pre-fills the date, description, amount, and currency for each line. Review and complete any fields that were not recognised.
Out-of-pocket claims include a Mileage section for recording distance-based expenses. Click on + Add line in the Mileage section and enter the date, description, distance travelled, and unit price.
Please note: The unit price and account are pre-filled from your workflow's mileage settings but can be adjusted. Receipts are optional on mileage lines. Mileage is always recorded in the same currency as the expense claim.
Once all required fields are complete, click on Submit for approval.
If any mandatory fields are incomplete, they are highlighted, and the request is saved as a draft until you fill them in and resubmit for approval.
If all required fields are filled, the expense claim is submitted for approval and then assigned a sequential number per employee, starting from 1, which cannot be edited manually.