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Expenses

How to use Collage's Expenses module to create, approve, and track employee expenses.

Written by Alex Moreira

The Expenses module lets your team submit work-related expenses for reimbursement, attach receipts, and route requests to the right approvers. Approved expenses flow into Collage Payroll so they can be paid out.

This article covers:

  • Setting up an expense policy

  • Submitting an expense request

  • Approving expense requests

  • What happens after approval

Setting up an expense policy

To create a policy, go to Expenses and open the Manage tab, then click New Policy. You will be directed to an expense policy creation flow:

  1. Details — Give the policy a clear name (for example, "Sales Team Expenses").

  2. Approvers — Choose who reviews requests submitted under this policy. You can pick:

    • Specific people (for example, the finance manager)

    • The employee's manager, which automatically routes each request to their direct manager

    • A combination of both — any approver listed receives an email and can action the request

  3. Employees — Choose which employees are enrolled in this policy.

  4. Review — Confirm the details and save.

Once you click Finish, your expense policy will be ready, and employees can submit expense requests.

Submitting an expense request

Employees enrolled in a policy can submit expense requests by going to Expenses, clicking the My Expenses tab, then clicking New Request. From there they'll be sent to the expense request creation page:

  1. Enter a **title** for the request (for example, "Sales Conference — May 2"). You can also add an optional **description** with extra context for your approver.

  2. Add one or more expenses to the request. For each expense, fill in:

    • Title — what the expense was for (for example, "Taxi to airport")

    • Category — pick from the categories your company has set up

    • Date — when the expense happened

    • Amount — how much it cost

    • Receipt (optional) — upload a photo or file of the receipt

    • Notes (optional) — anything else the approver should know

  3. Add as many expenses as you need to a single request. The total updates as you go.

  4. Click Submit when you're ready.

Note: Expense categories must be configured in payroll prior to submitting expense requests. If you do not see any categories in the dropdown, a payroll admin will have to add "Non-Taxable Reimbursement" presets in payroll. Learn more about presets here.

Editing or deleting a request

While a request is still Pending, you can edit or delete it. Once it's been approved or rejected, it's locked and can't be changed.

Approving expense requests

Approvers receive an email each time a request is submitted to them. They can also see all of their pending requests in Collage by going to Expenses and clicking the Expense Requests tab.

To review a request:

  1. By default you'll see requests Assigned to me. Admins can switch to All to see every request across the company.

  2. Use the filters at the top to narrow by status, employee, department, or location.

  3. Click into a request to see the full details — title, description, every expense line, receipts, notes, and the running total.

  4. Click each receipt to view or download it.

  5. When you're ready, click Approve or Reject.

The employee is notified by email as soon as you action the request, and they will be able to review actioned requests from the My Expenses tab.

After approval, a reimbursement will automatically appear on the employee's next paystub.

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