Managing and Processing Expenses

BigChange provides a platform for managing and processing expenses. This article explains how to set up, create, and process expenses on BigChange, both from the website and from a mobile device. It also covers how to raise an expense against a job and how to approve expenses en masse.

Setting Up Expense Groups and Categories

Before claiming expenses on BigChange, you need to set up expense groups and categories.

• Navigate to [Top menu] Profile (Icon) → Admin Settings → Financials → Expense Categories
• Add

Select Add, a new popup form will have opened:

• Enter a Group eg Accommodation
• Enter a Category eg Hotel
• Enter a default Nominal Code
• Enter a default VAT amount eg 20%
• If required, enter a default cost eg a toll road on a motorway
• If you want the amount to remain fixed, leave this box unticked, however if you want Resources to be able to change it eg if there was a price change on the toll road, tick this box.
• If the expense category or group is fuel, ticking the checkbox ‘Is fuel’ will result in a conditional field appearing, asking the user to enter the quantity of fuel.

Creating an Expense from the Website

Users with the necessary permissions can add expense items to resources.

• Navigate to the [Top menu] Fleet & Resources → [Side menu] Resource
• Resource pop-up → Expenses tab.
• Select Add.

• Fill in the fields and select save.

Once saved, this expense will appear on the Resource’s list of expenses.

Ownership of Expenses

It is important to maintain an auditable trail when dealing with expenses and part of that is showing the authorisation process.  It is possible to identify the last person to change the status of each expense by looking at the 'Owner' field. 

• The Owner is not the creator but the last person to have made a status change.

• Dave Smith created this expense from his mobile device and Sarah Smith Approved it so it shows Sarah as the owner.

Creating an Expense from a Device

Resources can log an expense through their device either as a general expense or logged against a job.

To log a general/personal expense on a device:

1. 1. • Use the scroll function of the right-hand side of the tablet to get to the expense icon. If the expense is to be directly assigned to a job, then you would click the add expense option when on the job details screen, rather than from the dashboard.

      • Click on the Expense button.

      • Click Add new Expense

      • Click on Expense Group and choose the type of expense from the dropdown menu:

      • Then select the Expense Category, this is the sub-category of the group eg hotel, lunch, etc 

      • Then enter a brief description of the expense, eg ‘Lunch with client’. Click on the back button to exit the keyboard.

      • Next, select the expense date and time. (Please note this date and time prompt will not appear if the resources cannot edit time for expenses: Profile Icon → Admin Settings → General Account Settings → Other Device Settings → Resources can edit the time when entering their expenses). Where this setting hasn't been ticked, the device settings will be used by default.

      • Enter the amount paid, either before VAT or including VAT. Then click Next.

      • Then, where necessary, click the grey box to take a photo of the receipt or add one from your photo library. 

      • Once the form is complete, click save expense in the right-hand corner. 

      • The expense item will then show in the list.

      • Repeat the processes to add any additional expenses, then click Sign and Send.

      • Check the totals, sign in the area provided and click Sign and Send again.

Raising An Expense Against A Job

To raise an expense against a job, fill in your Timesheet and navigate to the job on the tablet. Select Add New Expense.

• Select Add New Expense. Note it can be at any job stage, either completed or not.

• Fill in the expense details as you would do normally. Note how at the top it confirms that you are adding an expense against a job.

• Save the expense.

• You will be given a prompt asking whether you want to claim the expense for your own.

• Selecting ‘Yes’, will add the item as an expense that needs to be reimbursed to the resource. Selecting ‘No’ will still record the expense against the job but it will appear as an amount that doesn't need to be reimbursed. This is particularly useful for adding expenses which are paid for using a company account or company credit card.
• Finish by adding/signing off expenses as described above.

Expenses raised against the job will appear as a financial line item against the job:

Processing expenses

Expenses can be reconciled individually by navigating to:

• [Top menu] Fleet and Resources
• Select a resource
• Edit
• Select the Expenses tab.

• Each expense is then listed

• Click on the relevant expense to view and edit it.

When editing the status field, you will see that the checkbox in the list view changes colour depending upon the status

En Masse Approval of Expenses

For convenience, you can mark a number of invoices in a single action.

 Expenses can be reconciled individually by clicking the Fleet and Resources tab and then on the individual's name.

Reporting on Expenses

To view a report based on expenses reported by your resources, navigate to [Top menu] Analytics & Reporting → Expenses Report

Filters on the report can be selected to give you the precise information you would like eg by team, by resource, by status, etc or even combinations of these eg Sales and sign off date.  Below is the expense we signed off in the examples above.

Expense reports can also be scheduled and sent automatically using the Schedule function on the bottom left-hand side of the screen. 

Conclusion

Managing and processing expenses on BigChange is straightforward once you know how to set up expense groups and categories, create an expense from the website or a device, raise an expense against a job, and process expenses. The ability to approve expenses en masse also adds to the platform's convenience.