Set up Expense Management

Overview

Set up Expense Management before inviting your team to submit requests. A complete setup gives requesters clear choices and helps finance teams review each expense in the same way.

You will set:

The expense types people can choose.
The budget codes used by your accounting team.
The PayMongo account that will fund approved requests.
The approval workflow, if your business requires approval.

1. Open the settings

Sign in to the PayMongo Dashboard.
Open Product Settings.
Select Expense Management.

You will see settings for Nature of Expense, Budget Code, and Approval.

2. Add expense types

The Nature of Expense setting controls the choices shown when someone creates a request.

Turn on Nature of Expense.
Enter an expense name.
Select Add.
Repeat for each expense type your business uses.

Use short names that people already know. Examples include:

Local travel
International travel
Training
Software
Meals
Taxes

Avoid adding two names that mean the same thing. A shorter list is easier to use and gives finance teams cleaner reports.

You can remove an expense type that your business no longer uses. Removing it does not change requests that were already submitted.

3. Add budget codes

Budget codes help your accounting team connect a request to the correct team, project, or cost center.

Turn on Budget Code.
Enter a clear label, such as Marketing.
Enter the code used by your accounting system, such as MKT-001.
Select Add.
Repeat for the codes your requesters need.

The request form shows both the label and code. For example, it may show Marketing · MKT-001.

Tip

Use the same codes found in your accounting records. This makes review and month-end checks easier.

4. Confirm the payment source

Every approved request is paid from a configured PayMongo account. Before your team submits a request, confirm that:

The correct source account is linked to Expense Management.
The account is active.
It has enough available balance for expected reimbursements.
Its sending limits can cover the request amount.

If no source account is set, PayMongo cannot create the transfer after approval.

Important

Keep enough balance in the source account while requests are waiting for approval. Approval can finish at any time, and the transfer is created immediately after the final approval.

5. Choose whether approval is required

Use the Approval setting to decide whether requests need review before payment.

When approval is on

Turn on Approval.
Select the workflow template for expense requests.
Check the stages and approvers in the template.
Save the setting.

A workflow can contain one or more stages. Depending on the template, a stage may require:

One named approver.
Any one person from a group.
Every person in a group.

PayMongo completes the stages in order. A request remains pending until the required decision is made at the current stage.

When approval is off

A valid request is approved as soon as it is submitted. PayMongo then creates the transfer without waiting for an approver.

Only turn approval off when your business is comfortable paying requests immediately.

6. Check who can use Expense Management

Give Dashboard access only to the people who need it.

Requesters need access to create and view expense requests.
Approvers need access to review requests assigned to them.
Finance users may need access to view all requests, totals, and approval progress.

Review access when a person changes team or leaves your business.

Test your setup

Before using Expense Management with your whole team, submit one small request.

Check that:

The expected expense types appear.
The expected budget codes appear.
The correct source account is used.
The request goes to the expected approval stage.
The correct approvers can open it.
Approval creates a transfer to the test destination.
The request status changes to Approved.

Use a destination account that your team controls, and keep the test amount small.

Setup checklist

Expense types are enabled and up to date.
Budget codes match your accounting records.
The payment source is active and funded.
Approval is set to the right choice.
The correct workflow template is selected.
Approvers and finance users have the correct access.
A small test request completed successfully.