Finance & Accounting

Expenses (T&E): Snap → Submit → Reimburse

Capture a receipt with AI coding, review against policy, submit an expense report, and run reimbursements that post a balanced journal entry - all native to your ledger.

Updated 6 min read1 labEmployeeAccountant

Travel-and-expense in Fintra is native to the ledger: you snap a receipt, the AI codes the GL account, you submit a report, and an approved reimbursement run posts a balanced journal entry. There is no separate expense tool to reconcile at month-end - the reimbursement entry is the record.

The employee flow

From receipt to report

  1. 1

    Capture

    Upload a receipt photo or PDF; the AI codes the GL account, amount, and vendor. If the AI gateway is down you code it manually - nothing blocks.

  2. 2

    Review

    Confirm the parsed account and amount. Mileage and per-diem use deterministic rules. A policy check flags anything outside policy.

  3. 3

    Submit

    Group expenses into a report and submit - it lands in your approver’s unified inbox.

  4. 4

    Reimburse

    On approval, a reimbursement run posts a balanced journal entry natively.

The admin flow

  • Configure the expense policy (thresholds, auto-approve limits).
  • Clear approvals in the unified inbox - expenses appear beside bill pay, budget, and payroll approvals with SLA tracking.
  • Run reimbursement runs to post the journal entries and export to the ACH/payroll seam.

Hands-on labs

Practice against a realistic scenario. Each lab lists the steps, what you should see, and the checkpoints that confirm you got the same result.

Lab 1

Submit and reimburse a client-dinner expense

Scenario

You expense a $180 client dinner. Capture it, submit a one-line report, and confirm the reimbursement entry posts.

Steps

  1. 1

    Upload the receipt on the Expenses page.

    Expected: The AI fills vendor, amount ($180), and a Meals GL account.

  2. 2

    Confirm the coding and submit a report.

    Expected: The report shows as submitted and appears in the approver’s inbox.

  3. 3

    As approver, approve it, then run a reimbursement run.

    Expected: A balanced journal entry posts for the reimbursement.

Checkpoints - you got it right if…

  • The receipt was AI-coded to a GL account.
  • The policy check passed (or flagged as expected).
  • The reimbursement run posted a balanced entry.

Frequently asked questions

Do expenses need a separate app or import?

No. Expenses are native to the same general ledger as everything else, so there is no sync and no month-end reconciliation between an expense tool and the books. The reimbursement journal entry is the record.

What if the AI misreads a receipt?

Override the parsed fields before submitting. Capture is fail-soft: if the AI gateway is unavailable you code the expense manually, and you always confirm the coding.

How are mileage and per diem handled?

With deterministic rules rather than AI, so the amounts are reproducible and auditable.

Where do expense approvals show up?

In the unified approvals inbox, alongside bill pay, budget, commission, and payroll approvals, with age and SLA tracking. Approving there dispatches the decision back to the expense report.

Ready to try it in your own workspace?

Fintra is the AI Finance Operating System for SMBs - accounting, payroll, planning, HR, and compliance under one login, with governed AI doing the heavy lifting.

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