How to create an expense?

To create an expense go to Purchases ➝ Expenses ➝ Add Expense

Expense creation page includes:
– The Author name or the Expense creator. By default, this is the member who has created the expense. This field is visible only for the Account Owner and Administrators, so, for instance, they can change the Author of an expense, which then will be visible also to the chosen member (author). There is also a ‘Paid by claimant’ box next to it, means this expense will be paid by the author if checked:

– ‘Make Recurring’ box. You can make the expense recurring, read more here
– Expense name
– Notes
– Vendor/supplier. There are two ways to add the vendor on the expense page:
1. Just type the name in the field
2. Add the vendor in Contacts -> Vendor, then choose the name from the dropdown

– Currency – more about it here
– Date
– Category. You can choose one category from the dropdown or create a new one in the tab ‘Expense Categories’ and then select it, more here
– Amount
– Add item – one expense can have more than one item, more here
– Tax. Select the tax from the drop-down or simply add a new tax by using the ‘Add New Tax’ link. Defalut Tax? Read more here.

– ‘Attach to project’ – assign the expense to a client or project, more here.
– ‘Attach file’ – attach a receipt or other billing document
– Admin fee. To add the admin fee, checkmark  ‘Attach to project’ -> ‘Admin fee’. You can add the admin fee as a fixed amount or as a percentage (more here).

How do I update/delete an expense?

To edit an expense go to, Purchases ➝ Expenses ➝ click on the expense name on the grid or click ‘edit’ in the row end menu.
To delete an expense go to Purchases ➝ Expenses ➝ mark checkboxes of needed expense and click ‘Delete’.

… Or choose the same option (‘Delete’) on the row end menu.
Deleted expenses will be moved to the tab ‘Deleted’, however, you are always able to restore deleted items by moving them to the ‘Active’ tab.

You can also mark the expense as paid, or unpaid (when the expense is or isn’t paid by the claimant yet).

More about expenses:

Find out how to create expenses by sending an email from here.
 

Billable expenses by default

If some of your business expenses are related to a particular client or project, you can invoice the client with these expenses.
To attach an expense to the invoice, firstly you need to assign the expense to the project/client on the expense page. Be sure, that the “Expense is billable” box is checked.

Note: To be 100% sure that the ‘Expense is billable’ box is checked, you need to set it by default in the Settings -> Preferences -> Expenses -> box (‘Expenses are billable by default’)

Create Transaction out of expenses

once you click it, you’ll get to this page:

Select a bank account, and add a note, but even if you save it just like this, you’ll be able to edit it later in Banking (click on the account name you chose and you’ll get to your transactions), you can edit them from here:

How do I search for a specific expense?

You can quickly find and filter expenses on the Expense list by using the Search option:

Here you can filter information by:
– Vendor – choose the vendor linked to your expense
– Category – choose the expense category
– Client name – enter your client’s full name or just a part of it
– Expense name – enter the expense’s name or a part of the name
– Owner name – choose the author of expense
– Project name – enter a project name (or part of the name) which is assigned to expense
– Date range – choose a time frame that includes the expense creation date
– Amount range – choose an interval for the expense amount
– Status – choose one or several expenses statuses
– Currency – choose the expense currency.

Sort Expenses

You can also filter your expenses by clicking the needed heading. This rule also works when assigning an unexplained transaction to an expense:

Change Vendor

If you enter something’s different names for the same vendor, as for example: Hotel on the Beach; Hotel on the Beach – Miami; Hotel Miami; Hotel Miami on the Beach.

With this option you can clean up this mess. You choose the expenses you want to change and press “change vendor”:´

Choose your preferred Vendor:

Press “save” and your vendor will change:

You can also search for a specific status via the search field. Just choose your “status” which you want to search for and hit “search”.

There are 9 expense statuses, which belongs to 3 groups:

If expense is assigned to a client:

Non-billable (The expense will not be included to an invoice)
If the expense is not attached to a client/project or if the expense is attached, but the checkbox ‘Expense is billable’ is unchecked.

Unbilled (The expense was assigned to a client but hasn’t been invoiced yet)
The expense is attached to a client/project and the checkbox “Expense is billable” is checked.

Billed (The expense was included in an invoice)
If an unbilled expense is attached to an invoice, it becomes ‘billed’. You can attach expenses to the invoice on the “Create Invoice” page (more here).

Partial (The invoice with the attached expense is partially paid.)
If the invoice with the attached expense is partially paid.

Paid  by a client (The invoice with the attached expense is fully paid)
If the invoice with the attached expense is fully paid.

When claimed by internal staff, expenses status can be

Reimbursed (The expense was reimbursed)

When the expense was paid by the claimant and the company has already reimbursed it. The owner of the company uses the button ‘Mark as reimbursed’ in this case:

Read more here

Not Reimbursed  (The expense hasn’t been reimbursed yet)
When the expense was paid by the claimant but the company hasn’t reimbursed it yet.

When paid by the company/claimant, expenses status can be

Activated (The expense is activated)

Unpaid  (The expense hasn’t be paid yet)

overdue  (The due date of the expense has been exceeded

You can easily filter the expense grid by the different statuses and also if they have a receipt or not. Just click on the right hand side on Show all expenses and then you can select your needed filter out of the dropdown:

Recording a new expense category

The zistemo includes a default list of expenses based on DATEV.
However, you can add your own expense categories and subcategories.

To add a category go to Purchases ➝ Expense Categories ➝ Add Category

Using expense categories

Every expense is linked to an expense category. You can choose the appropriate category on the expense page:

The ability to show/hide expense categories

With zistemo you have complete control over the expense categories dropdown list. At any point, you can choose to show/hide specific expense categories in the default dropdown lists. The path is Purchases -> Expense Categories.

Note: The hidden categories will not be included in the categories list on an expense page or on the reports.

Update the expense category for all selected expenses in one click

In zistemo you can easily change the category of the expenses with a few clicks. Select your expeses you want to change the category and press the button “change category”

Choose the preferred new category for your expenses.

In order to attach an expense to a specific invoice, you have to select the customer and the project. Just go to ‘Add Expense‘, then click the ‘Attach to project‘ box and choose a customer from the drop-down list.

Also, make sure that the checkbox “Expense is billable” is checked (if it’s unchecked, then you will not be able to attach it to the invoice). Click on the ‘Add Expense’ button to confirm your action, and that’s it

When you will create a new invoice for this customer, zistemo will automatically recognize there’s an unbilled expense for this customer and you’ll be able to attach it to your invoice in the ‘Invoice Items’ section.

The expense documents will be visible at the end of your invoice, where you can also opt for adding them as attachments when sending out the invoice by email. Your client will then have a clear view of what types of expenses the invoice contains, as well as the documented proofs for any extra expenses you added.

If you want to attach expense documents to an invoice, you should mark the ‘Attach also the Document to the invoice’ and click ‘Attach expenses’ as you can see in the screen below:

This option comes handy particularly for small businesses which provide services but also need to buy supplies or materials in order to complete their tasks. For instance, home improvement teams will invoice working hours as well as materials, right when they purchase them from the store.

If you want to, that “Attach to project” is checked by default, please enable it in the Preference Settings -> Expense:

You will not see this information (attached expenses) on the project page. But you will be able to attach these expenses to the invoice generated from this project.

Your client will pay these additional expenses through the invoice.

Expenses for an internal client project

Are you selling projects to clients? (e.g. in real estate)
Track your expenses on internal projects and add them automatically to the final project invoice.

To do that, follow the simple steps: ‘Expense’ tab ➝ ‘Add Expense’ ➝ mark the checkbox ‘Attach to project’. Select the customer ‘-internal-‘ in order to add the expense to your in-house projects instead of an existing external client.
Then simply choose the exact project that you would like to sell (as in the screenshot below) and finish by pressing ‘Add Expense’. Now, the expense will be added to your project, which then can be invoiced to your client as a whole.

Add several expenses in bulk action

You also can add several expenses to one project with a bulk action. Just go to the expense grid and select several expenses you want to add to a project. Click on top on “Assign to Project”

After you clicked on it, you can choose the client + project and choose if the expenses are billable or not

Now, whenever you create a new expense in zistemo if you enter the expense name which already exists, you can choose it from the drop-down suggestion list and the other fields will be filled automatically (except “Date” and “Amount”).

Note: Please use “UFT-8” for encoding

Next, you can download a sample file to see how this .csv would look. You can also view and download a sample file HERE.

To create a .csv, select your file and click “Upload File”:

Importing Expense Categories

When importing your expenses, one of the required fields in your .csv file is “Category” (expense category):

If you use one of the existing categories, the system will take it from the existing list (find “Expense Categories” list in “Purchases” -> “Expense Categories”). If you use a category that’s not on the list, this new category will be added automatically to the “Expense Categories” list.

IMPORTANT: if you use the existing categories, remember to also fill the “Category ID” column to prevent mistakes. By the way, if you did not enter the correct ID (check out the list below to see the default IDs used in zistemo), the system will use the category with the ID you provided, which will override the existing (default) one.

Example: In zistemo, Advertising Cost ID is 1 and Representation Cost ID is 3.
If you enter “Advertising Cost” in the “Categories” column, but in the “ID” column you insert “3”, then this imported expense will be related to the category “Representation Cost”.

zistemo “Default Categories” and IDs

To integrate zistemo expenses with Expensify or Shoeboxed, first, you have to set it up in “User menu” -> “Integration”.

Expensify

Click the “Expensify” button. Here, you need to fill “Client ID” and “Client Secret”. To get it, click the green link in the header – “Integration settings”:

Then click “Click here to regenerate your partnerUserSecret”.

Copy the data:

and insert it in the “Expensify” integration settings screen, as shown below:

Note: if you want to export expenses from Expensify to zistemo – first you should create the expense report and attach expenses to this report in Expensify.
The expense currency should be the same as in your zistemo account.

Shoeboxed

To integrate zistemo with Shoeboxed, you need the “Client ID” and the “Client Secret”.

To get it, go to your Shoeboxed account –> open “Settings” -> choose “My API apps” tab -> and click “Create a new API app”.

Now add your “Company name” (or any other relevant info/name) to the “Company/app name” field, then copy the URL from your zistemo Shoeboxed integration window and insert to the “Redirect URL” field. Next, click “Save”.

After saving, you will see “ID” and “Secret”:

Copy it to your “Shoeboxed” integration screen and click “Save”.

Note: if you wish to export expenses from Shoeboxed to zistemo, it’s recommended to have them registered in Shoeboxed with category and amount. Also, you should use the same currency as in your zistemo account.
Shoeboxed lets you add more than one category to an expense, while zistemo only allows one. In this case, remember that zistemo will take the first category.

NOTE: If you change your mind, you should know that you can change/disconnect Xero, Shoeboxed, Expensify or Quickbooks at any time. Just go to the user menu ->  Integration and click “Disconnect”:

1. Create Mileage

Zistemo allows you to create mileage records. You can do it by going to “Purchases” -> “Mileage Tracking”.

Click the “Create a mileage” button and start filling in the details:

– Driver is the user who has driven the vehicle
Note: Only if you are an account owner or an admin you can see and change the driver of the mileage.
– For “Title” – it’s the title of your mileage and you’ll see it later on the mileage grid:

– “Car name” – is the name of the vehicle that you gave it on the fleet
– “Trip Reason” – was this mileage a private or business trip?
– “Date”, “Start time” – when was the car used?
– “From”, “To”: Start and End position
– “Start Mileage”, “End Mileage”, “Distance”, “Unit”– distance is needed in order to calculate expenses. Unit for km/miles

2. Mileage Rate

Mileage amount is calculated as distance multiplied by rate. By default, “Rate” is the mileage rate of a mileage author. You can see it at the end of the page, below the Total.

Click the “Change staff rate” link and you will be redirected to the Edit Staff Member page where you can modify it. If your mileage is attached to a Project, then the mileage rate of the project is used.

3. Mileage Billing

To make the mileage billable, first, assign this mileage to the client and check the box “Mileage is billable”.

Tip: You can also create time entries via mileages, click here to learn more

Now you can attach this mileage to the invoice. Click to “Create An Invoice” -> choose Client -> click “This client has unbilled mileages. Want to attach them to this invoice?”

Next, choose the mileage from the list and click “Attach Mileages”.

Now the mileage is included in the invoice and you can click “Activate and Send” (on the invoice) to bill it to your client.

You also can create a time entry directly on the mileage. Learn more about create time entries via mileage

4. Mileage Settings

4.1 Default Tax on Mileage

Go to “Settings” -> “Preferences” -> “Mileage” and enable the “use the default tax on mileages” option. You do not have to add tax manually on each mileage afterwards.

4.2 “Attach to project” is checked by default

This option allows, to set the option “attach to project” is checked by default. So you never miss to add a mileage to a project. First choose this option in the settings and enable it:

Afterwards “attach to project” will always be checked:

4.3 Notes, Departure, Arrival are required “field” settings

If you enable this option, the fields “Notes, Departure, Arrival” will be required fields. You can also disable it.

4.4 Enable mileage approval process

If you need a more detailed approval process for your mileage, you can enable it on settings/preferences:

You need to choose between basic approval process and advanced approval process.

4.4.1 Basic Approval Process

In easy words: user submits mileage -> team leader reviews mileage -> admins approves mileage.

What can the user roles do in the basic approval process?
Account Owner and Admin: full access to all mileages, can submit, reject and approve, can not mark as reviewed
Team Leader: Create, read, update, delete own + team member’s and capture data’s mileages, can reject and mark as review mileages
Team Member: Create, read, update, delete own mileages only
Capture Data: Create, read, update, delete own mileages only

Department leaders do not count into the basic approval process. To consider department leaders as approving persons please use the advanced approval process.

On the line end menu you can make actions like mark as reviewed, rejected and approved. The Mileages can not be edited, as long as it is “reviewed or approved”.

If you mark a mileage as “rejected”, you should add a reason to the rejection:

4.4.2 Advanced Approval Process

In easy words: user submits mileage -> admin/team leader (supervisor) reviews mileage -> department leader approves mileage

What can user roles do in the advanced approval process?
Account Owner & Admin: full access to all mileages, can submit, reject, approve and mark as reviewed
Team Leader as Department Leader/Member: Create, read, update, delete own + all department members mileages; can reject and approve mileages of department members but not own mileages (must be approved by owner or admin), can submit own mileages
Team Leader as no Department Member: Create, read, update, delete own + team member’s and capture data’s mileages; can reject and approve mileages from team member’s and capture data’s but not own mileages (must be approved by owner or admin), can submit own mileages
Team Member: Create, read, update, delete own mileages only
Capture Data: Create, read, update, delete own mileages only

4.5 Manage Trip purpose

You can also add trip purposes to the mileage form. Simply enable “manage trip purpose” option and “add purpose”:

Afterwards you are able by creating a mileage to enter your pre-defined purpose:

4.6 Delete all Mileages

On Settings/Preferences/Mileages you can delete all mileages with on click:

If you click on “Delete all mileages” a window open where you need to confirm to really delete all mileages. Please note that if you delete all mileages, there is no way to get them back but to create them again.

5. Mileages – compensated or not compensated

You can mark mileages as compensated or not compensated. Just choose this option from the row end menu of the mileage record.

6. Convert Mileage to Expense

If you made a bank transaction for a mileage reimbursement to a staff member that has a private milage, you can convert a mileage into an expense and in this way you can explain the transaction you made for these mileage allowance. Please note that you can only convert mileages to an expense that made with a private category.

Create a mileage and choose private category:

After creating a mileage you can create an expenses via the dropdown in the mileage list:

“Add Expense” to create the expense:

In the Mileage Tracking overview you can also see the connected expenses on each mileage:

7. Bulk action

You can use bulk actions for mileages by marking the check-boxes on the grid.

Available bulk actions:
– archive – archive the estimates
– delete – delete the estimates
– mark as reviewed
– mark as not compensated
– mark as compensated

Rejection we do not support as bulk, since every rejection needs a comment.