Expenses, Templates & Cashbook
Recording expenses, reusable templates, and cash flow tracking
Overview
The Expenses module lets you record every business expense — from fuel and rent to marketing and bank charges. All expenses feed into the P&L report, so your profitability figures are always accurate.
Go to Expenses to view and record expenses.
Recording an Expense
Click Record Expense and fill in:
| Field | Notes | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Date | The date the expense was incurred (can be backdated) | Yes |
| Category | Searchable dropdown — type to filter from your expense categories (Fuel, Rent, Marketing, etc.) | Yes |
| Amount | Total amount of the expense in KES | Yes |
| Description | Brief description of what the expense was for | Yes |
| Payee | Who was paid (supplier, individual, utility company). Auto-fills with the last-used payee from your previous expense | No |
| Payment Method | Cash, MPesa, Bank Transfer, Cheque | No |
| Reference | Transaction ID, cheque number, or receipt number | No |
| Receipt Upload | Attach a photo or scan of the receipt as proof | No |
Expense Categories
Default categories created during setup:
Add custom categories at Settings → Company under Expense Categories.
Expense Approval
Expenses can be submitted for approval before being recorded in your books. This is useful for businesses that require a Finance Manager or owner to approve expenditure before it's recognised.
Expense statuses:
- Recorded: Saved and counting in reports (default if no approval workflow)
- Approved: Reviewed and approved by an authorised user
- Rejected: Expense is not accepted — not counted in reports
expenses.approve permission is required to approve or reject expenses. Assign this permission to Finance Manager or Admin roles.Expense Templates
For recurring expenses (rent, internet, fuel), create Expense Templates to save time. A template pre-fills the category, payee, payment method, default amount, and description so you can record the expense in one click.
Go to Expenses → Templates to create and manage templates. When recording a new expense, select a template from the dropdown to auto-fill all fields — then adjust the amount or date if needed.
Template fields:
- Name: A label for the template (e.g., “Monthly Rent”, “Internet Bill”)
- Category: Expense category to pre-select
- Default Amount: Typical amount (editable per expense)
- Default Payee: Who is usually paid
- Payment Method: Cash, MPesa, Bank Transfer, etc.
- Description: Default description text
- Recurrence: None, daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly (informational label)
Snap-to-Expense (AI Receipt Scanning)
Instead of typing expense details manually, you can photograph a receipt and let AI do the work. Tap Scan Receipt on the expense form to open your camera (or file picker on desktop). The AI reads the receipt image and extracts:
- Amount
- Payee / vendor name
- Category (matched to your expense categories)
- Date
- Description
The extracted details are pre-filled into the expense form for you to review and confirm before saving. You can edit any field before submitting.
Linking Expenses to Invoices
Some expenses are directly tied to specific orders — for example, delivery costs, packaging materials, or outsourced services for a customer job. When recording an expense, you can optionally link it to an invoice. This helps you track the true cost and margin of individual orders.
Linked expenses show the associated invoice number on the expense list, making it easy to match costs to revenue.
Cashbook View
The Cashbook gives you a daily summary of cash movements: Opening Balance + Receipts (payments received) − Expenses = Closing Balance. Filter by date range to see any period. Expand each day to see individual transactions.