Expense report life cycle

Expense reports move through a set of stages from drafting to payment. The stage shows where the report is in the review, approval, and reimbursement process.

Expense report statuses

Expense reports can have the following statuses:

Status	Meaning
Draft	The expense report is being prepared by the user and can still be edited.
Submitted	The expense report has been sent for review to the approver for review.
Checked	The expense report has been reviewed before final approval.
Approved	The expense report has been approved for payment or reimbursement.
Rejected	The expense report was not approved.
Paid	Payment or reimbursement has been recorded for the approved expense report.
Cancelled	The expense report has been cancelled and will not be processed.

Review and approval actions

The available actions depend on the stage of the expense report and the user's permissions.

Action	When it is used
Submit	Sends a draft expense report for review.
Checked	Marks a submitted expense report as reviewed before final approval.
Approve	Approves a checked expense report.
Reject	Rejects a checked expense report.
Paid	Records that an approved expense report has been paid or reimbursed.

The person responsible for the next action depends on whether the expense report is linked to a project.

Current stage	Next action	Project expense	Non-project expense
Submitted	Check	Project director or manage-projects user	Resource manager
Checked	Approve or reject	Project director or manage-projects user	Resource manager
Approved	Mark as paid	Project director or manage-projects user	Resource manager

Submitted expense reports appear in the approver's expense report queues. Checked reports can be approved or rejected, and approved reports can be marked as paid.

Re-opening an expense report

If changes need to be made to a submitted expense report, the user can re-open it by going to Profile > Manage Expenses.

Re-opening an expense report returns it to draft so that it can be edited and submitted again.

Project expense labels

The Project > Expense Reports section may show project or invoice labels. These labels are not expense report statuses.

Label	Meaning
Awaiting approval	The project expense report has been submitted but has not been approved.
To invoice	The project expense report has been approved and can be added to an invoice.
Invoiced	The project expense report has been added to an invoice.

Related guides

• Log an expense.
• Approve expense reports.