Upload a receipt, invoice or ticket (photo or file) from your phone or the web. Factorial fills in the vendor, amount, date and taxes; you check and send.

Create an expense from a receipt

Overview

Use this for anything you paid for work: a meal, a taxi, a hotel, office supplies. Mileage or per diem? Use Mileage or Per diem instead (FAQ 4). Paid with a Factorial card? The expense is already waiting for you as a draft: see Card expenses and manual expenses.

How to use

On the mobile app

1. Open Expenses.
2. Tap Add and choose Regular expense.
3. Take a photo of the receipt or pick a file.
4. Check the details filled in and complete any missing fields.
5. Tap Send for approval.

On the web

1. Go to My spending > My expenses.
2. Click New expense and choose Regular expense.
3. In the Upload a document window, drag your receipt into the box, or click Drag and drop here or click to browse. Factorial starts reading it straight away.
4. In a few seconds the draft opens. Check the vendor, amount, date and taxes against the receipt. Click Edit to add what your company asks for (subcategory, project, description), then Save.
5. If you see "Worth a look before you send", fix what it lists (for example the business purpose) until you see "Good to send".
6. Click Send for approval. You'll see "Sent for approval."

No file yet? Click Skip this step to fill in the expense by hand and add the receipt later.

Create several expenses at once with One

How to use

1. In My spending > My expenses, click New expense and choose Upload receipts (it appears when One is on for you).
2. Pick up to 10 receipt files. One, our AI assistant, creates an expense for each.
3. Check One's summary, then tell it to send them or keep them as drafts. See How do I submit expenses by sending receipts to One?

Tips and Best Practices

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Troubleshooting

I can't find the New expense button (or my employee can't create expenses).
This is almost always because the person hasn't been added to Expenses. If your company pays per user, only Expenses users can create expenses, and on the mobile app the Add button is missing for the same reason. See Why can't I see Expenses or the New expense button? for every cause.

• Employee: ask your HR or finance admin to add you to Expenses.
• Admin: add the person as an Expenses user (How do I add people to Expenses?). If your company doesn't pay per user, check the Can create an expense permission in Settings > Permissions.

"Cannot send for approval" with a list of missing fields.
Your company requires those fields. Click the expense, fill them in, and send it again.

"Reimbursable amount can't exceed the receipt amount".
You can't claim more than the receipt shows. Check the amount on the receipt. If you paid in another currency, see How do I get the amounts right on an expense?.

The upload fails, or a field was read wrong (for example "The document date can't be more than 1 day in the future").
Correct the field in the draft. For every upload message and its fix, see Why won't my receipt upload, or why was it read wrong?.

FAQ

1. Which files can I upload?

PDF, PNG, JPG or JPEG. iPhone photos (HEIC) are converted for you.

2. What if Factorial reads something wrong?

Change it in the draft before you send. What Factorial reads is a suggestion: every field can be edited, and you're the one sending it.

3. Can I put several receipts in one photo, or upload many at once?

With Upload receipts (One), yes: pick up to 10 files and it creates one expense for each receipt. The Upload a document window takes one receipt at a time.

4. Can I create mileage and per diem expenses the same way?

Use Mileage or Per diem in the same New expense menu (on mobile, Add > Mileage or Per diem). They don't need a receipt scan. See How do I claim mileage? and How do I claim per diems?.

5. What happens after I send an expense for approval?

The expense goes to your approvers and its status changes from Draft to Pending. Follow it in My spending > My expenses. See Expense statuses and alerts.

6. I made a mistake after sending. Can I take the expense back?

Yes, while the expense is Pending: click Reset to draft to take it back, fix it and send it again. See How do I edit or take back an expense?.

7. Do Expense checks stop me from sending an expense?

No. If your company uses Expense checks, Factorial checks the draft against the expense policy while you look at it and shows a short message, such as "Worth a look before you send" or "Good to send". The message never stops you from sending.

8. When can I use Upload receipts with One?

New expense > Upload receipts appears when One is turned on for you and you can create expenses. You can upload up to 10 receipts at a time, or one photo of several receipts, and One creates one expense for each.

9. What are the tabs on the expense page?

On the web, an expense opens on a full page with tabs, including Details, Cost allocation, Comments and Linked documents. Cost allocation shows the budget, project, subproject and cost centres the expense is charged to, with each cost centre's percentage. Comments is where employees, approvers and finance discuss the expense, and Linked documents lists the files attached to it. See How do I see which projects or cost centres an expense is charged to? and How do I leave a comment on an expense?.

10. Who sees my receipt?

It stays attached to the expense for your approver and finance team.