This article is for: admins, finance teams, approvers and employees.
Factorial checks expenses for duplicates and common mistakes as soon as they're created or edited. There's nothing to set up, and the built-in checks don't use One credits. Employees fix problems before sending; reviewers look closely only where needed.
Built-in checks
Overview
Built-in checks warn (an alert; the reviewer decides) or block (the expense can't be sent until fixed). You can't change or switch them off.
| Check | What it catches | What you see | Who sees it | Blocks or warns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duplicate | Same receipt twice, a card payment also entered by hand, two per diems for the same days | Duplicate | People who see all company expenses | Warns |
| Category conflict | A per diem and a Meals or Refreshments expense on the same days | Category conflict, and on the expense Compare to see both side by side | Anyone who can see the expense | Warns |
| Mileage modified | A calculated distance changed by hand | Modified in the Alerts column | Anyone who can see the expense | Warns |
| Budget | Spending near or over a budget | Budget risk or Over budget | Anyone who opens the expense | Warns |
| Amounts and dates | Reimbursable amount above the receipt total or zero, document date over a day ahead, impossible tax lines | Review your expense details at the top of the expense, with what to fix | The person sending | Blocks sending |
| Card payments | A payment over the balance or limit, in a blocked category, or flagged as risky | Declined and a Decline reason | Cardholder and card managers | Blocks the payment |
Details: How do I handle duplicate expenses?, How do I get the amounts right on an expense?, How do I set a budget and track expenses against it?, Expense statuses and alerts and How do I control how much a card can spend, and where?.
Ready-made Expense checks
Overview
If your company uses Expense checks, it starts with 28 ready-made checks, on by default. Unlike built-in checks, you can change or remove any of them: ask One, which is free. Each expense checked uses 2 One credits, once per expense. A hard flag (out of policy) tells the employee the expense is likely to come back. A soft flag (warning) asks the reviewer to take a look. Neither blocks sending.
| Group | Hard flags | Soft flags |
|---|---|---|
| Timing | Date after sending · outside the employee's contract | Sent over 30 days after the document date · document date over a day off the receipt |
| Receipts | Missing, unreadable, card-machine slip, not itemised, invoiced to another business | |
| What was bought | Tobacco and gambling, fines, gift cards and cash, household items, hotel and travel extras, personal care, family and pet costs, personal subscriptions, donations | |
| Amounts | Claim more than 1% above the receipt total | Currency differs from the receipt |
| Context | No business purpose, guests not named, category doesn't fit | |
| Worth a look | Alcohol, business class, weekend or holiday, time off (needs the Time off module), mileage on a car rental day |
How built-in checks differ from Expense checks
Built-in checks are fixed, always on, and can block. Expense checks are your own rules written with One, and they only recommend. See How do I check expenses against my expense policy?.
Tips and Best Practices
- Fix problems on the draft. Checks run while the expense is still a draft, the cheapest moment to fix a receipt or an amount.
- Keep the card expense, reject the manual copy. This is the most common duplicate. See How do I handle duplicate expenses?.
- Finance: open Spending > Employee expenses and use the Alerts filter to find flagged expenses.
- Related: Card expenses and manual expenses · Expenses without a receipt
Troubleshooting and FAQ
Troubleshooting
I know an expense is a duplicate but there's no alert.
Duplicate alerts are only shown to people who can see all company expenses. Factorial also doesn't catch every duplicate, so compare receipts yourself when something looks familiar.
An expense I didn't change got a Duplicate alert.
When a similar expense is added, Factorial checks the earlier one again, so both are flagged.
I can't send my expense.
Read the message on the field: it names what to fix, for example the reimbursable amount or the document date. A draft can be saved with the problem, but not sent.
FAQ
1. Why was my expense flagged as a possible duplicate?
Factorial flags an expense that uses the same receipt as another, or the same supplier and invoice number read from the receipt. It also flags a card payment and a manual expense that look like the same purchase, and two per diems for the same days and rate. Rejected expenses and manual drafts aren't compared.
2. Why was my expense flagged with Category conflict or Modified?
A Category conflict alert means a per diem and a Meals or Refreshments expense of the same person fall on the same days. A Modified alert means someone changed the distance Factorial calculated for a mileage expense. Both only inform the reviewer.
3. Why did the Duplicate alert disappear?
Factorial checks an expense again each time it's edited and keeps only the alerts that still apply. A Duplicate alert goes away after an edit when the match is gone, for example you attached a different receipt, or the other expense has since been rejected. People who see all company expenses can also remove it with Remove alert. If the match is still there when the expense is edited again, the alert can come back.
4. Do I have to set up duplicate detection?
No. Factorial flags duplicates automatically for every company, and you can't switch it off. If an alert is wrong, people who can see all company expenses can remove it.
5. Does a duplicate alert stop an expense from being approved?
No. A Duplicate, Category conflict or Modified alert only informs the reviewer. If your company uses Expense checks, One's recommendation also takes these alerts into account: a Duplicate or Category conflict alert leads to "Rejection recommended", and a Modified alert on its own to "Review recommended". The reviewer still decides.
6. Which mistakes stop an expense from being sent?
A reimbursable amount above the receipt total, or at zero when your expense form requires it; a document date more than a day in the future; tax lines that can't be right; and a mileage rate or per diem total that doesn't match your rates. A missing receipt or required field also stops it if your expense form requires it.
7. Which built-in checks warn, and which block?
Alerts warn. Amount, date, tax and rate checks block sending. Other blocks: the amount, merchant and currency of a card expense can't be edited; an approver can't approve an expense that fails the amount, date, tax or rate checks above; an expense with a zero amount, or in a closed payroll period, can't be added to payroll; declined card payments are blocked at the card. Expense checks only recommend.
8. Do built-in checks use One credits?
No. Duplicate alerts, Category conflict, Modified, budget status and the amount and date blocks don't use One credits. Only Expense checks do: each expense checked uses 2 One credits, once per expense, and checking it again after an edit is free.
9. When do built-in checks run?
Built-in alerts run when an expense is created or edited while it's a draft, pending or sent back for changes. Approved, rejected and paid expenses aren't checked again.
10. Can I add my own checks?
Yes, with Expense checks. See How do I check expenses against my expense policy?.
11. What happens when a card payment is over the card's limit?
The payment is declined and creates no expense. The cardholder is notified when a payment is declined because of the card's limits or a lack of funds. See How do I control how much a card can spend, and where?.
12. Which ready-made checks flag an expense as out of policy?
A date after the day it was sent, a date outside the employee's contract, a claim more than 1% above the receipt total, and purchases that usually aren't reimbursed: tobacco, gambling and lotteries, fines, gift cards and cash, household shopping, hotel and travel extras, personal care, family and pet costs, personal subscriptions, and donations. Everything else is a warning.
13. Can I remove a ready-made check?
Yes. Ask One, for example "remove the weekend check", and click Save. Your other checks stay.
14. Does the ready-made time-off check work for every company?
No. It needs the Time off module. Without it, that one check isn't added.
15. If we run out of One credits or turn off Expense checks, does duplicate detection still work?
Yes. Duplicate detection and the other built-in checks run on their own, separate from Expense checks, and don't use One credits. They keep flagging duplicates, Category conflicts and edited mileage. Only the Expense checks verdict (in or out of policy) stops when credits run out or Expense checks are off.