02
Creating an Expense
Employees record individual expenses as they occur — each expense is one cost item that will be grouped into an expense report for submission.
Process lifecycle
1
Create an expense
Expenses
▸
My Expenses
▸
NEW
Click New to record a new expense.
Expense fields
Expense Name
*
Brief description — e.g. "Client lunch — ABC meeting" or "Grab to KLIA".
Category
*
The expense product category — e.g. Meals, Travel, Accommodation.
Total
*
Amount spent in the transaction currency.
Expense Date
*
Date the expense was incurred — not today's date unless the same.
Account
*
Auto-filled from the expense category. Override only if posting to a different account.
Customer to Reinvoice
If this expense should be billed to a customer, select them here. The amount will appear on their next invoice.
Analytic Account
Link to a project or cost centre for analytical tracking.
Company
Relevant in multi-company setups.
2
Attach a receipt
Click Attach Receipt to upload a photo or scan of the receipt. This is required for categories configured as "Require Receipt". On mobile, you can take a photo directly from the Odoo app. Receipts are stored against the expense and visible to approvers.
Scan receipts with AI
In Odoo 19, you can upload a receipt image and Odoo will attempt to auto-fill the expense details using OCR (Optical Character Recognition). Upload the receipt first and let Odoo suggest the category and amount before editing.
3
Expenses paid by company card
If the expense was paid using a company credit card (not personal funds), change the Paid By field from Employee (to reimburse) to Company. Company-paid expenses are posted to accounting without creating a reimbursement entry — the cost is recorded but no money is owed to the employee.