Reimburse employees

After an expense report is posted to an accounting journal, the next step is to reimburse the employee. Employees can be reimbursed via cash, check, or direct deposit in two ways:

  • Individually: Each individual expense report is reimbursed separately.

  • In bulk: Multiple expense reports are reimbursed in a single payment.

Note

Reimbursing expenses through the employee’s payslip is not available; the Reimburse in Payslip option on the settings page should be left disabled. Expenses are always paid with a regular payment registered in the Accounting app.

Reimbursement settings

Reimbursements can be paid via check, cash, or bank transfer (usually referred to as direct deposit). To set up payment options, first configure the various settings by navigating to Expenses app ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings.

Set how payments are made in the Accounting section. Click the drop-down menu under Payment methods, and select the desired payment option(s). The available options are the outgoing payment method lines of the bank and cash journals, for example Manual (Bank), Manual (Cash), and, when the Checks payment method is enabled on a bank journal, Checks (Bank). This setting only restricts the payment methods for expenses paid by the company.

Leaving this field blank allows for all available payment options to be used.

The same section also holds the Employee Expense Journal (the default journal used when posting reports paid by employees) and the Expense Outstanding Account (the default outstanding account for expenses paid by the company).

screenshot: finance-expenses-reimburse-settings
menu
Expenses ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings
shows
The "Accounting" block of the Expenses settings with the "Employee Expense Journal", "Expense Outstanding Account" and "Payment methods" settings.
highlight
The "Payment methods" many2many field (red frame).
data
Demo company; Employee Expense Journal "Expenses", Payment methods "Manual (Bank)".
module
hr_expense
notes
English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the Accounting block.

When all desired configurations are complete, click Save to activate the settings.

Reimburse individually

To reimburse an individual expense report, first navigate to Expenses app ‣ Expense Reports. All expense reports are presented in a default list view. Click on the expense report being reimbursed to view the report details.

Important

Only expense reports with a status of Posted can be reimbursed directly to the employee.

Click the Pay button in the top-left corner of the expense report, and a Pay pop-up window loads. Enter the following information in the pop-up window:

  • Journal: Select the accounting journal to post the payment using the drop-down menu. The default options are Bank or Cash.

  • Payment Method: Select how the payment is made using the drop-down menu. If Cash is selected for the Journal, the only option available is Manual Payment. If Bank is selected for the Journal, the default options are Manual Payment or Checks.

  • Recipient Bank Account: This field only appears if the Journal is set to Bank. The employee’s bank account populates this field, by default. If the employee has more than one trusted bank account on their employee profile, use the drop-down menu to select the desired bank account.

  • Amount: The total amount being reimbursed populates this field, by default.

  • Payment Date: Enter the date the payment is issued in this field. The current date populates this field, by default.

  • Memo: The text entered in the Expense Report Summary field of the expense report populates this field, by default.

screenshot: finance-expenses-reimburse-payment
menu
Expenses ‣ Expense Reports ‣ (a posted report) ‣ Register Payment
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The "Register Payment" pop-up for one expense report: Journal "Bank", Payment Method "Manual", Recipient Bank Account, Amount, Payment Date and Memo fields, and the "Create Payment" button.
highlight
The "Journal" and "Payment Method" fields.
data
Report "Trip to Brussels", amount 210.00, journal Bank.
module
hr_expense
notes
English UI, light theme, 1440px width.

When the fields of the pop-up window are completed, click the Create Payment button to register the payment, and reimburse the employee. A green In Payment banner now appears on the expense report.

Reimburse in bulk

To reimburse multiple expense reports at once, navigate to Expenses app ‣ Expense Reports to view all expense reports in a list view. Next, select the expense reports to be reimbursed.

Important

Only expense reports with a status of Posted can be reimbursed directly to the employee.

Tip

Adjust the STATUS filter on the left side to only show Posted expense reports. This displays only expense reports that are able to be reimbursed.

Tick the checkbox next to the expense reports being reimbursed, then click the Pay button, and a Pay pop-up window loads. Enter the following information in the pop-up window:

  • Journal: Select the accounting journal to post the payment using the drop-down menu. The default options are Bank or Cash.

  • Payment Method: Select how the payment is made using the drop-down menu. If Cash is selected for the Journal, the only option available is Manual Payment. If Bank is selected for the Journal, the default options are Manual Payment or Checks.

  • Group Payments: When multiple expense reports are selected for the same employee, this option appears. Tick the checkbox to have only one payment made per employee, rather than issuing multiple payments to the same employee.

  • Amount: The total amount being reimbursed for all the expense reports populates this field, by default.

  • Payment Date: Enter the date the payments are issued. The current date populates this field, by default.

When the fields on the Pay pop-up window are completed, click the Create Payments button to register the payments, and reimburse the employees.

screenshot: finance-expenses-reimburse-repay-multiple
menu
Expenses ‣ Expense Reports ‣ (several posted reports selected) ‣ Register Payment
shows
The "Register Payment" pop-up opened for several posted expense reports at once: Journal, Payment Method, Group Payments checkbox, Payment Date and the "Create Payment" button.
highlight
The "Group Payments" checkbox.
data
Two posted reports of the same employee.
module
hr_expense
notes
English UI, light theme, 1440px width.