Expense Claim field guide

An Expense Claim records a business cost paid or incurred by an employee. It is not automatically payable, reimbursable, or deductible. OSERP validates policy, receipt, tax, employee, project, currency, advance, approval, and duplicate evidence before creating a liability or reimbursement.

Claim header fields

Open People → Expenses → New Claim.

Field	Example	Purpose and impact
Claim number	EXP-2026-004281	Immutable audit key
Employee	Maya Rao	Claimant and payee
Company	Demo Retail Group LLC	Legal scope
Branch	DXB-MAIN	Responsibility
Claim date	2026-09-17	Policy period
Trip/project	HOSP-2026	Cost and billing context
Currency	USD	Conversion and settlement
Payment method	Payroll / bank	Reimbursement route
Advance	AED 2,000	Deduction and clearing
Policy	Travel v3	Validation rules
Status	Draft / submitted / approved	Workflow gate

Header also stores purpose, travel dates, destination, manager, cost centre, project, client-billable flag, tax jurisdiction, attachments, and external reference. A claim must not use another employee’s bank account without approved payee rules.

Line fields

Field	Example	Purpose and impact
Line number	10	Stable detail reference
Expense date	2026-09-16	Tax and policy date
Category	Hotel	Account and allowance
Merchant	Gulf Hotel	Evidence and duplicate check
Description	1 night, client visit	Business explanation
Amount	USD 220.00	Gross cost
Tax amount	USD 10.48	Recoverability
Receipt	hotel-8892.pdf	Proof
Cost centre	Consulting	P&L allocation
Project/WBS	HOSP-2026	Margin and recharge
Billable	Yes	Client invoice eligibility
Mileage	42 km	Rate calculation
Advance offset	AED 0	Clearing

Lines should show gross, tax, non-recoverable tax, policy limit, approved amount, currency rate, and reimbursement amount. A receipt missing for a controlled category creates an exception or rejects the line.

Policy and duplicate checks

Policy fields include category, per diem, daily limit, receipt threshold, allowed currency, approver, weekend rule, client-billable rule, and effective dates. A hotel at USD 220 against a USD 180 limit needs exception reason and approval.

Duplicate detection compares employee, merchant, date, amount, receipt hash, and card transaction ID. A duplicate must be blocked or reviewed; changing the description must not bypass it.

Mileage and advances

Mileage records vehicle, route, origin, destination, distance, rate, toll, parking, and evidence. For 42 km at AED 1.00/km, mileage is AED 42. A route exceeding policy needs reason or manager approval.

An advance request records employee, purpose, amount, currency, trip/project, bank, approval, and expected clearing date. An advance payment debits employee advance and credits bank. A claim clears the advance; an unused balance is returned and reconciled.

Tax and accounting

Tax fields include tax code, taxable base, rate, recoverability, jurisdiction, receipt number, and exemption. Non-recoverable tax joins expense; recoverable tax posts to input-tax account. Manual override requires permission and reason.

Posting an approved claim debits expense, project/WBS, asset, or client-recharge cost and credits employee payable or card clearing. Reimbursement debits payable and credits bank/payroll. A rejected claim does not create expense or liability unless policy records a non-reimbursable company cost.

For a USD hotel claim of 220 at 3.6725, functional cost is AED 808.15. Payment at another rate creates realised FX only when the company settles the employee payable.

Approval and reimbursement

Approval validates employee active status, manager, policy, receipt, duplicate, tax, currency, project, budget, client-billable evidence, and advance. Maker and approver must be separated. A claim approved for AED 808.15 can be batched with other reimbursements only after bank or payroll details are verified.

Batch fields include employee, claim IDs, payment account, currency, net amount, withholding, file ID, checksum, approvers, bank status, and rejection reason. A failed payment remains open with retry state.

Client recharge and project impact

A billable line stores client, contract, rate, markup, tax, invoice period, and source claim. Recharge may differ from employee cost; both remain visible. A claim charged to HOSP-2026 updates project actuals and forecast. Unapproved time or expenses must not enter client billing.

API and audit mapping

Use immutable claim ID, employee ID, company, dates, currency, lines, policy version, attachments, and idempotency key. Redact bank and identity data in logs. Return status, approved amount, payable ID, payment batch, and correlation ID.

{"employeeId":"emp_004281","companyId":"company_uae","claimDate":"2026-09-17","currency":"USD",
 "policyVersion":"travel_v3","projectId":"hosp_2026",
 "lines":[{"date":"2026-09-16","category":"HOTEL","merchant":"Gulf Hotel","amount":"220.00","tax":"10.48","receiptId":"doc_8892"}]}

Audit evidence includes submitter, approver, policy version, receipt hash, tax decision, allocation, payment, reversal, user, timestamps, and request ID. Retain receipts according to statutory and company policy.

Close and practice

Month end reconciles claims, employee payables, advances, card clearing, project costs, client recharge, tax, FX, bank, payroll, and aged exceptions. A claim cannot close while advance, receipt, approval, or payment status is unresolved.

Practice: create a multi-currency travel claim with hotel, mileage, tax, advance, one duplicate receipt, and one over-limit line. Approve valid lines, reject or explain exceptions, reimburse through a payment batch, recharge a client, and reconcile to GL. Explain every field, precision, policy, permission, status, journal, tax, FX, API ID, and audit event.

Related: Employee field guide, Payment Receipt field guide, Journal Entry field guide, Projects workflow, and API cookbook.