Guides

What makes an expense claim get approved on the first pass

Per-category totals, mileage shown as working, what to do about a foreign receipt, and the policy questions worth settling before anyone spends anything.

Expense claims are rarely refused. They are delayed — sent back for a missing receipt, a total that does not add up, or a line nobody can identify. Each round trip costs a week, and all three causes are avoidable in the form itself.

Group by category, not by receipt

An approver is checking whether the shape of the spending is reasonable, not auditing each line. Totals by category — travel, accommodation, meals — let them do that in ten seconds. A flat list of nineteen receipts makes them read all nineteen.

Show the mileage working

Distance times rate, both printed. A single number for mileage invites the question "at what rate?", and the rate is exactly the part that changes every year and differs by country. Use whatever your employer or tax authority publishes, and show it.

Foreign currency

Claim in the currency of the report, and put the original amount and the rate you used in the description. An approver holding a receipt in Japanese yen against a claim line in euros needs to see how one became the other, or they cannot approve it without doing the sum themselves.

Deduct the advance on the form

If you were paid something up front, subtract it on the claim and show both numbers. Claims that ignore the advance get paid twice or get held while somebody works out which — and the second is more common.

Settle the policy before the trip

Three questions cause most disputes: is alcohol claimable, what class of travel is allowed, and what is the daily limit for meals. A company with no answer discovers its policy one argument at a time.

Before you send

• Does every line have a date, a category and a description a stranger could understand?
• Is mileage shown as distance × rate?
• Are foreign amounts shown with the rate used?
• Is any advance deducted on the form itself?
• Are receipts numbered to match the lines?

Worth knowing

• Whether an expense is deductible for the business, and whether reimbursement is taxable for the person, are tax questions rather than form questions. Ask your accountant.