Create an Expense
There are two ways in Lightyear to create an Expense:
Manually: If you don't have the receipt on hand, or want to add it in at a later date, you can manually create the Expense.
Upload: If you do have the receipt, you can use the Upload functionality, where you can Smart Extract the details or choose to manually enter.
Create Expense via Manual Entry
To create an Expense without the receipt document, first head to the Expenses area. Here, you can click Create > Create Expense in the top right of your screen.
You will be taken to a form to enter the details relevant to the Expense you are claiming back.
Expense Details
The header section of the 'Create Expense' form is reserved for details about the Expense.
Enter the Merchant Name where you have spent the money needing to be reimbursed e.g. Tesco, Coles, Target, etc.
The Expense Date is the date when the money was spent.
From this page, you can select or create a report that automatically adds the Expense upon creation.
If you need to enter any additional information to be viewable at header-level, you can do this in the 'Misc Ref' field.
You will not need to enter an Expense Number; this will automatically generate once you click Create.
🤓 Tip: The Expense Number can then be edited later from within the Expenses tab.
Expense Line Details
The line items section of the 'Create Expense' form is to enter details about what has been purchased, i.e. the description, quantity and amount.
The Description, Quantity and Unit Price fields refer to the item(s) purchased and are required fields.
Tax Code will automatically populate based on your accountancy software defaults, but can be changed by selecting the dropdown and selecting another.
Account, Category 1 and Category 2 are accountancy software specific and will be required by your finance team in order to categorise your Expenses. You can fill this out within the Create screen, or later on while viewing in the Expenses tab.
Additional Fields
Internal Notes: Leave a note against your Expense that will appear within the Activity tab once created.
Attachments: Click the Paperclip icon to add external supporting documents to your Expense.
📌Note: The attachment will not display in Panel 3 after creation; that will come later.
Totals
The Subtotal, Tax, and Total of the Expense display in the top right of the Create Expense screen, automatically calculating a running total of your line items.
By default, this will display as Tax Exclusive, but can be adjusted by selecting a different option in the 'Amounts Are' field. This can be changed to Tax Exclusive, Tax Inclusive or No Tax.
Add a Document
When you create an Expense manually, it will be created without any supporting documentation in Panel 3. Depending on your Company Settings, a rule may be enforced that prevents an Expense progressing past a certain point without this supporting documentation being added.
To add the document,
Select the Expense within your Expenses tab.
In Panel 3, click 'Upload'.
Select 'Browse Files' to open your device's documents
Select the file you want to add to the Expense.
📌 Note: Only one file can be attached to the Expense; additional upload attempts will fail.
Depending on the status of the Expense, you may or may not have the option to choose Smart Extract when uploading the supporting document. If you do choose Smart Extract, the Expense will move to the Processing tab while Smart Extract gets your data.
⚠️ Warning: If you choose Smart Extract, any data entered against the Expense will be lost and overwritten with the newly Smart Extracted data instead. This cannot be undone.
If you do not choose Smart Extract, the Expense will stay where it is, and the document will be attached without overwriting any manually entered data.
Create Expense via Upload
If you have the receipt, you can either upload via the Mobile App, or through Desktop. In this section, we'll explore the desktop method.
From the Expense, go to the Processing tab
Click the Upload button in Panel 1.
Click Browse Files
Select up to 50 documents to be uploaded at a time.
Smart Extract will be selected by default; you will not have the ability to unselect this.
Click Upload to upload your documents to Processing.
Smart Extract
If selected, Smart Extract will automatically extract key information from your document, including:
Merchant Name
Expense Number
Expense Date
Subtotal
Tax
Total
When you click Upload, the documents will display in Processing and will automatically begin to Smart Extract. In Panel 1, this will display with the Extraction in Progress icon.
Once Smart Extract has completed it will do one of two things:
Move automatically through to Expenses
Remain in Processing
Move automatically through to Expenses
If Smart Extract extracts all required fields, it will automatically move into the Expenses tab and display as Unread within Panel 1. The Expense will be created as 'Unreported' and can then be 'Added to Report' to be sent through the workflow.
Remain in Processing
If your document is missing required information, such as those highlighted below, it will stay in Processing awaiting your manual intervention.
Select the document, and fill in the blank fields as needed. Once you have done this, you can click Create in the bottom right of Panel 2 to send it through to the Expenses tab as Unreported.
Manual Entry
If you choose not to use Smart Extract, the Expense will land in Processing where you can manually enter the required Expense fields:
Merchant Name
Expense Number
Expense Date
Line Item Details: Description, Quantity, Unit Price
Create an Expense report
A Report can be created at any time from within the Expenses workflow by clicking Create > Expense Report in the top right of your screen.
This will open a pop-up containing some fields required to create the report.
Name: Defaults to 'Expense Report {today's date}', but can be edited to suit your needs.
Date: Defaults to today's date.
Currency: Defaults to the currency of the country in your Lightyear account, e.g. AUD in Australia, GBP in the United Kingdom, etc. When this is set, only Expenses of the same currency can be added to the Report. If you have mixed currency Expenses, these will need to be added to separate Reports.
Submitter: The user for whom the Report is for; the user to be reimbursed. If your Lightyear User is linked to an Expense Supplier, this will automatically default to your name. If your user is not linked, or you're linked to multiple Expense Suppliers, you will need to select the relevant name from the dropdown menu. In the scenario where you cannot find the name you're looking for, you will need to reach out to an Expense Admin in your Lightyear account to be set up correctly.
Click Create and the report will be created in Draft, and Expenses can be added into it.
Only when the Report has at least one Expense within it, can it then be Submitted and sent through the Approval Workflow.
Important: The combination of the Report Name and Submitter must be unique; you will not be allowed to create a duplicate Report Name under the same Submitter.