ClickTime provides an additional Expenses Module that you can add to your account. Continue reading to learn how to set up and utilize its Expense features. Existing customers can reach out to support@clicktime.com for a free 30-day trial of this tool.
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Setting up a Manager to Review and Approve Expenses
Setting an Expense Approver for an Individual User
Reviewing, Approving, and Rejecting Expense Sheets
Deleting an Expense Sheet
Overriding Expenses
Managing Expense Types
Managing Payment Types
For instructions on how your staff can use the Expenses Module, please see the Using Expense Sheets & Expense Items (web) or Mobile Application Expenses guides.
NOTE: please be aware that in order for someone to track Expenses, they must have access to at least one Project for time entry. More details on Project Availability can be found in (this guide). ALSO, if the user is submitting billable Expenses associated with a particular Project, they must have access to that Project and it must be active in the system. Otherwise, later during Expense Review, the Expense Item will not be editable (even if the Expense Sheet is open or rejected) and there will be an 'attention' icon in the Actions column, with a message that looks similar to this:
Setting up Expense Sheet Approvers
To grant Expense access to a Manager, navigate to the Security & Permissions section of the Person Details page. This is where you can configure the different levels of permissions that this person has for reviewing expenses.
Administrator Permissions
All Administrators can approve or reject any person’s expense sheet, even if the Administrator is not specifically selected as a person’s approver. An Administrator may also override or submit any person’s expense sheet. In the Time Entry and Approval Requirements area (located on the Person Detail page), Administrators have the ability to configure themselves as their own expense sheet approver.
Manager Permissions
In order for a Manager to approve a person’s expense sheet, there are two different settings that must be configured. First, the Manager must have permission to review expense sheets. This can be done by configuring the Managerial Permissions area in the Person Detail page (see image below). If a Manager has permission to review expenses, they can also approve and override expenses.
Second, a specific person's approver must be designated as the Manager. Both Administrators and certain Managers (those with suitable permissions) can configure a Manager to approve expenses.
Please Note: To allow a Manager to approve (or reject) an Expense Sheet, they must be assigned as that employee's Expense Sheet Approver. Providing them with the "Lock and approve expenses" permission will make them appear as an option for the Expense Sheet Approver. However, only those Managers assigned as the Expense Sheet Approver for a user can approve/reject their Expense Sheets.
Notifications After Approval
An email notification can be automatically sent to an Administrator or Manager once an expense sheet is approved and ready for payment. This feature promptly notifies the Administrator without the need for regular system checks.
To select the Administrator or Manager to receive the payment notification, navigate to "Timesheet and Expense Information" under Company > Preferences.
In the "Timesheet and Expense Information" section, select an Administrator or Manager from the "Notify this person when an expense sheet is approved for payment" dropdown list. The selected person will see an "expense sheets waiting for payment" link upon login.
Setting an Expense Approver for an Individual User
You can edit a person's expense approval configuration on the Person Detail page. Check the "Expenses are approved by" box in the "Timesheet Settings and Approvals" section to allow the person to submit expense sheets for approval.
Next, choose an expense sheet approver from a drop-down list of all Administrators and Managers with the necessary permissions. A Manager or Administrator can also be configured to approve their own expense sheets.
If your company has a policy that necessitates the electronic submission of expense sheets, it is crucial to ensure that the checkbox labelled "Expenses are approved by" is marked and an individual is designated as the approver. Without assigning an approver, employees won't be able to submit their expense sheets for review and approval.
It's important to remember that only Managers who are assigned as the user's Expense Sheet approver on the Person Details page have the authority to either approve or reject the submitted Expense Sheets.
Moreover, only those users who have an Expense Sheet Approver set on their Person Details page are permitted to submit their Expense Sheet for the approval process.
Administrators also have the ability to change the Expense Sheet Approvers for multiple employees at once using the "Actions" option found on the Company --> People page. This feature becomes particularly handy when the designated approver is on leave and their approval responsibilities need to be temporarily reassigned to another individual. This is covered in more detail here.
Reviewing, Approving, and Rejecting Expense Sheets
Once the employee is set up with an Expense Sheet Approver, they will see the "Submit For Approval" option on the Expense Sheet Details page:
Submitting the Expense Sheet will notify their Expense Sheet Approver via email, indicating that there is an Expense Sheet awaiting approval:
Expense Sheet Approvers will also receive a notification on their Company Dashboard, indicating that there are Expense Sheets awaiting approval. By clicking the link, they will be directed straight to the Expense Sheet Review page for the expenses they are assigned to approve.
Continue reading for detailed guidance on the process of reviewing, approving, or rejecting the submitted Expense Sheets. This information will assist you in understanding the procedures and best practices to ensure efficient and accurate handling of your team's expense reports.
Reviewing Expense Sheets
Approving Expense Sheets
Rejecting an Expense Sheet that is "Waiting for Approval"
Rejecting an Expense Sheet that is already "Approved"
Re-submitting a "Rejected" Expense Sheet
Marking an Expense Sheet as "Paid"
An Administrator or Manager reviews the expense sheet, confirms that it has been completed satisfactorily, and marks the expense sheet as “approved.” If an expense sheet is rejected, the expense sheet is returned to the employee for correction.
The next section will cover using the Dashboard alerts to find specific Expense Sheets that are "Waiting for Approval", but you can always use the Expense Sheet Review options from the Company --> Expenses page to find specific Expenses:
By clicking on the "Filters" button, you can filter Expense Sheets by their Status, their Date, the Approver, or the Expense Sheet owner.
When filtering for Specific People, you can search the list by Person Name, Email, Division, or Employment Type.
Approving an Expense Sheet that is "Waiting for Approval"
From the Company ---> Dashboard page, click "Review" next to the notification "x expense sheets are waiting for your approval."
Select the checkboxes for the appropriate expense sheets you are ready to approve, and click the Approve button in the upper right.
You can add a comment when approving, and then click Approve.
After the Expense Sheet has been "Approved" no further edits can be made to it without "Rejecting" the Expense Sheet as as whole.
Rejecting an Expense Sheet that is "Waiting for Approval"
When reviewing a submitted expense sheet, an Administrator or Manager can reject the expense sheet if it includes incomplete or incorrect information.
Please Note: In order for someone with Manager access to ClickTime to "reject" an Expense Sheet, someone with Administrative access will need to update the "Security Settings" section of the Company ---> Preferences page to "allow managers to unlock-un-approve timesheets and expense sheets when they also have permission to lock/approve them":
From the Company ---> Dashboard page, click on "Review" next to the notification "x expense sheets are waiting for your approval."
Select the checkboxes for the appropriate expense sheets to reject, and click "Reject".
You must then enter an explanation for why the expense sheets were rejected. When an expense sheet is rejected, an email is sent to notify the user that their expense sheet has been rejected.
Rejecting an Expense Sheet that is already "Approved"
If the Expense Sheet has been Approved, no further edits can be made to the Expense Sheet. You can Reject an Expense sheet to make it available for edits, or Undo Approval to move the Expense Sheet back to Waiting for Approval if it should be approved by someone else.
Re-submitting a "Rejected" Expense Sheet
Once the Expense Sheet is "Rejected", the employee can make the necessary changes. Alternatively, the Manager or Administrator can make changes on their behalf using the "Override Expense Sheet" options.
Once Changes are made, the Expense Sheet must be re-submitted.
In order to see the option to "Submit For Approval", the employee must have a Expense Sheet Approver set on their Person Details page:
Marking an Expense Sheet as Paid
Once an expense sheet has been approved, an Administrator or Manager with the appropriate expenses permissions has the ability to mark an expense sheet as paid. Only administrators can mark an expense sheet as unpaid.
Go to the Expense Sheet Review page and select the appropriate expense sheets and click "Mark as Paid".
You may then enter a comment and check numbers for the payment.
Once an expense sheet has been marked as "Paid", only an Administrator can revert the status of the expense sheet to "Unpaid". This can be done on the Expenses Review page.
Note: If a check number is entered when the expense sheet is marked as paid, the number will be erased when the expense sheet is reverted to unpaid.
In order to delete an Expense Sheet, it must be in either an "Open" or "Rejected" state. End-users can delete their own Expense Sheets in the 3 dot action dropdown.
If the Expense Sheet has been marked as "Paid", you'll need to first find the Expense Sheet and "Mark as Unpaid:
Then, choose to "Reject" the Expense Sheet.
Administrators and the Approving Manager can delete the Expense Sheet by using the Override Expense Sheet option.
In the Expense Sheet Override Modal, you can choose to "Delete":
An Administrator or Manager with the appropriate permissions may override a person’s expense sheet in order to make changes or to submit expense sheets on behalf of people who are sick or on vacation. The override permission gives an Administrator or Manager the ability to override single expense items, submit the expense sheet for approval, and unsubmit the expense sheet for approval. All of these actions are recorded in the expense sheet’s history.
In order to use this option, the Expense Sheet must either be in an "open" or "rejected" state. Expense Sheets that are "waiting for approval", "approved", or "paid" must first be "Rejected".
Once the Expense Sheet has been rejected, click the Expense Sheet's 3 dot action button and click "Override Expense Sheet".
You can then edit any details about the Expense Sheet and save your changes.
To edit Expense items, return to the Expenses Review list, expand the expense sheet by clicking on the row, and click the eye icon on the Expense Item you wish to override.
This opens the Expense Item Panel where you can view Expense Item Details. Click Override in the lower left of the panel to edit the details.
Make any needed changes, and then click Save.
NOTE: if you find that the Expense Item is not editable when overriding an expense - and the Expense Sheet is also (open), this may be due to the project being inactive in the system. In other words, if the "Bill To" option was enabled and a Project was selected when the Expense Item was created - but later the Project was made inactivate in the system, you will see an error when looking at the 'eyeball' icon on the Expense Review page:
So this can be resolved by reactivating the Project on the Company>Projects page.
Once the Expenses are accurate, you'll need to re-submit the Expense Sheet before it can be reviewed. This can be done when viewing the Expense Sheet in Override Panel:
Click the "Submit Expense Sheet" tab and Submit on behalf of the Expense Sheet Owner.
An Expense Type provides a method of categorizing expenses. Expense types can be added or edited, but not deleted. The ClickTime Expense Module pre-populates certain default values for Expense Types. These default values are editable or can be made inactive. You also have the ability to create new expense types for your company (e.g., airline tickets, client lunches, rental car).
Adding an Expense Type
Expense Type Properties
Editing Expense Types
Deleting Expense Types
The following steps will allow you to Add a new Expense Type:
- Go to the Company --> Expenses page.
- Click the “Expense Types” link.
- Click “Add Expense Type” in the upper right corner.
- Enter the Expense Type name and select Standard or Mileage type.
- Click “Save” once you are finished.
Each Expense Type has the following fields:
Name: A General description of an expense (e.g. cab ride, hotel, etc.). Each expense type must have a unique name. This field is required
Type: Standard (default) or mileage. For a Mileage expense type, you must fill out the Rate (amount per mile / kilometer unit). If you change the mileage unit, the new rate can apply to new expenses or to all non-approved expenses (even in the past). The mileage unit that your company is using can be found under Company Preferences > Timesheet and Expense Information.
Description: A description entered by admin/Manager with a maximum of 2000 characters. (optional)
Active status: Only active types appear in pop-down lists. This is required.
Rate: This is only used for mileage Expense Types. Corresponds to the rate used to calculate the reimbursable amount to the employee. This is required when using a Mileage Expense Types.
NOTE: if you run into a scenario where some employees submitted Expenses based on an incorrect mileage unit, or mileage rates changed after Expenses were approved, you can use the following approach to correct it:
- Create a new Expense Type to reflect the (current/correct) mileage rate, using the instructions above. You may even want to name the Expense Type something like "Mileage (updated 8/1/2022") so that staff know it is a newly revised rate
- Use the Expense Override method to edit employees' past Expense Items, so that you can select the correct Mileage rate for the employee
- Re-submit/re-approve the Expense Sheet
- Going forward, you can ask employees to select the correct Mileage rate (Expense Type) on their Expense Items under the "Type" dropdown menu
To edit an Expense Type, go to the Expense Type list page and click on the edit pencil icon for a particular Expense Type. Be sure to save your changes.
An Expense Type cannot be deleted. We suggest that you inactivate expense types that are no longer applicable.
Payment Types provide a way to categorize expenses with regard to how a person paid for the expense. The ClickTime Expenses Module pre-populates certain default values (Visa, MasterCard, Cash, etc) for payment types. A company may edit the default values and also create new payment types.
Adding a Payment Type
Payment Type Properties
Editing a Payment Type
Deleting a Payment Type
To add a new Payment Type, go to the Company --> Expenses page and click the "Payment Types" link:
Then click “Add Payment Type” link in the upper right corner:
On the next page you will be required to enter a unique name for the Payment Type. The Description text field is used to add any notes or comments.
Click “Save” once you are finished.
Each Payment Type has the following properties, which you can edit at any time:
Name: A general description of a payment method (e.g. credit card, check, cash, etc.). Each payment type must have a unique name.
Accounting package payment type ID: This is an optional field that can be used if you are synchronizing ClickTime Expense data with another program. These details will display when expenses are exported.
Reimbursable: This status is used to identify if an Expense is reimbursable and determine the amount that the employee should be reimbursed.
Status: Only active Payment Types will appear in pop-down lists.
Description: A description entered by an Administrator or Manager with a maximum of 2000 characters.
To edit a payment type, go to the Payment Type list page and click on the edit pencil icon for a particular payment type.
A Payment Type cannot be deleted. We suggest that you inactivate expense types that are no longer applicable. This is done by changing the "status" to "inactive" and clicking "Save".
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