We recently updated the expense section of GroupThinq to streamline and simplify the expense creation and approval process.
Creating a New Expense
In your expense section, you will now notice a new simple expense form at the top of the browser window where you can create a new expense, assign it to a project, and drag and drop a copy of your receipt (PDF, JPG, PNG) with your expense.
Once saved, the expense will be sent to your accounting department (or person) for approval. You can check the status of your expenses in the ‘My Expense Report’ table below the expense form. Any expenses that are assigned to projects will show up in that project’s expense list (Project>Financials) for future invoicing.
With the new expense filters, your expense report is now easier to filter if you are looking for a particular expense.
Accounting staff can now create an expense on behalf of any staff member by selecting their name in the form. So, if someone wants to give their receipts to accounting, the accountant can enter the expense for any staff member. Only the accounting group have this special permission.
Expense Type Edits
If you need to change or add new expense types for your company, click the ‘expense type’ edit button (the grey pencil) and either add a new expense type (the big orange + symbol), or edit the text for an existing expense. Permissions for editing this list are controlled in the Admin section of GroupThinq.
There are two expense types in this new table (see figure 4).
- ‘Fixed’ expenses are the most common expense type and have no set ‘rate’ or multiplier. These are one-off expenses that change with every new expense. Examples include meal expenses, hotel expenses, transportation expenses, etc. For these expense types, do not select the multiplier checkbox in the edit table.
- ‘Multiplier’ expenses have both a rate and a quantity and the expense is calculated by multiplying them together. For instance, a mileage expense has a mileage rate (say $0.50 per mile) and a quantity that the user can adjust. To create a multiplier expense type, check the multiplier check box, set the multiplier rate and describe the measurement units in the expense notes. For example, for a mileage expense type, check the multiplier box to the right of the name, add a mileage rate (say $0.5) and add a comment about the measurement units (say / mile). Now when staff select a multiplier expense from the drop down menu and add a quantity, the expense will be calculated by multiplying the preset rate by the quantity.
New Expense Approvals
The expense approvals section has also been recently updated and simplified. Now, your accounting department can approve, reject or pay an incoming expense from staff either individually or as a group by selecting the checkboxes. To view a detailed expense in form view, click the blue eyeball button (to the left of the person’s name). With this update, accounting staff can easily edit the expenses form rather than rejecting the expense and making the user make the change on their end.
We are making other expense updates to the project expense section over the coming months to simplify your company’s workflow and better connect your team to your accounting department.
