Entering an Expense Report in the Employee Center

Usually, employees enter expense reports when logged in with the Employee Center role. Employees can enter expenses when logged in with a role other than Employee Center if they have the Create level of the Expense Reports permission. However, when approval routing is set up, all expense reports must be entered through the Employee Center to maintain the hierarchy of approval routing.

To enter an expense report when logged in with the Employee Center role:

1. On the Employee Center Home page, in the Home Links portlet, click the Enter Expense Reports link.

   If you use NetSuite OneWorld, notice that the Subsidiary field is automatically populated with your subsidiary.

2. NetSuite inserts today's date as the date of this expense report. You can optionally enter another date.

   The Expenses Total and Amount field values are calculated based on the amounts entered for expense line items.

   A summary box in the upper corner of the entry form displays totals for the transaction. The summary box includes real-time totals for expenses, non-reimbursable expenses, reimbursable expenses, any advances to apply, and the total reimbursable amount.

3. Enter an advance that should be applied to any reimbursement for these expenses.

4. Enter the purpose of these expenses.

5. If your company uses foreign currency expense reports, in the Currency field, select the currency in which you want your reimbursement to be paid.

   Note:

   Currencies must first be set up on the employee record. Only currencies defined on the employee record are available for selection in this field.

6. If you use Multiple Currencies, check the Use Multi Currency box to show the Foreign Amount, Currency, and Exchange Rate fields for each line item. These fields let you enter expenses in foreign currencies that are reimbursed in the base currency. This is true unless an alternate currency is selected in the Currency field.

   This box is checked by default if you have enabled the Use Multicurrency Expense Reports preference on the General subtab at Home > Set Preferences. You can clear the box to hide Multi Currency fields on individual expense reports. Any expenses entered when Multi Currency fields are hidden are automatically saved in the base currency.

   Important:

   The rates and converted amounts displayed on expense lines are provided as approximations only. Actual reimbursement amounts will be based on rates at the time of reimbursement.

7. If your company tracks them, review the default values entered for Department, Class, and Location to edit as necessary.

   Note:

   Any department, class, or location selected in the body of the expense report does not automatically transfer to the line item fields for each expense. For this information to appear on the GL Impact for each line item you must select the appropriate information for each line item. You can also customize your forms with a custom script to automate this process. For more information, see SuiteScript 2.x Scripting Records.

   If you enter intercompany expenses, the department, class, or location must be available to the subsidiary associated with the selected customer. Otherwise, an attempt to generate intercompany adjustments for the expenses will result in errors.

8. If you use the American Express integration, on the Expenses subtab, click Imported Expenses to select your corporate card expense transactions.

9. On the Expenses subtab, complete line items for expenses:

   1. The Ref No. field is automatically populated with 1 for the first line item on this expense report. You may update this number and each new line item will use the next successive number. Line item reference numbers are helpful when referencing receipts and individual expenses.

      Note:

      If you use the Combine Detail Items on Expense Reports preference, line items on expense reports are not listed in the order they are entered. They are regrouped by category. Line items may be listed out of order depending on the assigned category. This preference is located at Setup > Accounting > Accounting Preferences > Time & Expenses. For more information, see Expenses.

   2. In the Date column, enter the actual date the expense was incurred.

   3. Select an expense category.

      If you use NetSuite OneWorld, an expense category is available to only those subsidiaries assigned to the account linked with the expense category. To use intercompany expense transactions, set up expense categories linked to expense accounts that are available to all subsidiaries for use in these transactions. For intercompany expense transactions, users cannot save expense lines unless they contain expense categories available to both the employee subsidiary and customer subsidiary. For more information, see Enabling Intercompany Time and Expenses.

   4. If you selected a category that requires a rate, quantity and rate fields appear. Enter the quantity for this expense.

   5. If a rate is not automatically populated, enter the rate for this expense category. The amount is automatically calculated from the rate and quantity.

      Note:

      If you use multi-currencies, the foreign amount field is used to calculate expense report totals.

   6. If this expense was incurred in a foreign currency, select the currency, and then enter the foreign currency amount.

      If you do system-generated adjustments for intercompany expenses, the currency used for those adjustments is always the base currency of the employee's subsidiary. It may not match the currency recorded. For more information, see Creating Intercompany Adjustments for Time and Expenses.

   7. If it is not automatically calculated, enter the exchange rate applicable for this expense. (Be aware that any automatically calculated rate is provided as an approximation. The rate at the time of reimbursement is used to calculate the actual reimbursement amount.)

   8. In the Amount column, enter the amount of the expense.

      If you entered a foreign currency amount for this expense, the expense is automatically converted to your base currency amount in the Amount column. This amount is provided as an approximation. It may not match the reimbursement amount that is calculated based on the exchange rate at the time of reimbursement.

      If this expense required a rate, the amount is calculated after a quantity and rate are entered.

   9. Optionally, you can enter a memo, department, class, or location to apply only to this line item.

      If you enter intercompany expenses, the department, class, or location must be available to the subsidiary associated with the selected customer. Otherwise, an attempt to generate intercompany adjustments for the expenses will result in errors.

   10. If this item is billable to a customer or project, select it from the Customer list, and then check the Billable box.

       Warning:

       Checking the Billable box without selecting a customer will generate an error. You must select a customer if the Billable box is checked.

       If you use NetSuite OneWorld, the Intercompany Time and Expense feature, and the related Intercompany Expenses accounting preference, note the following. The feature and the preference determine whether you can select a customer or project with a subsidiary different from yours. If the feature is not enabled, or if the preference is set to Disallow, you cannot enter intercompany expenses. Instead, you can select only those customers or projects with the same subsidiary to which you are assigned. For more information, see Enabling Intercompany Time and Expenses.

   11. You can attach a receipt to each line item. In the Attach File column, select List to select your receipt from the File Cabinet or New to upload a new receipt. You can attach the same receipt to multiple line items.

   12. If the receipt for this item is being provided, check the Receipt box.

   13. If your company uses non-reimbursable expenses, and this item is not reimbursable, check the Non-reimbursable box. For more information, see Non-reimbursable Expenses.

   14. Click Add.

10. Continue adding expense line items.

    Note:

    Similar line items on expense reports may be combined if your company has enabled the Combine Detail Items on Expense Reports preference. For more information, see Projects Accounting Preferences.

11. When you are finished, save the expense report.

    Warning:

    If your company uses expense report policies, you may receive a warning if one or more of your expense lines are over the allowed amounts. Depending on how the expense report policies are set up, you may be able to submit your expense report without changing the entered expenses. Any expense lines that are a violation of defined policies are highlighted in red. Click Show Policies to see details of any policy violations.

    You have the following choices:

    • Submit, Submit & New, or Submit & Print – to save the report and identify it as complete after you have entered all information.

      After an expense report is marked complete, you can no longer make changes to it.

    • Complete Later – to save an incomplete form without submitting it. Information on the form is saved, but the form is not submitted for approval.

Important:

Only expense reports that are submitted as complete enter the queue for supervisor or accounting approval.

Related Topics

• Entering an Expense Report with a Role other than Employee Center
• Enter an Expense Report

General Notices