Glossary¶
Common terms and abbreviations used in Expensed.
A¶
ACH (Automated Clearing House)¶
The electronic network used for bank-to-bank transfers in the US. Expensed uses ACH via Stripe to deposit reimbursements directly to employee bank accounts.
Admin¶
The highest user role in an organization. Admins can manage users, configure settings, and access all features. See User Roles and User Management.
Approval Queue¶
The list of submitted expenses waiting for a manager, finance user, or admin to review and approve. See Approval Queue.
Approval Workflow¶
The sequence of approvals an expense must go through before payment. Can be single-level (manager only) or multi-level (manager → finance → admin). See Approval Workflows and Status Workflow.
B¶
Batch Approval¶
Approving multiple expenses at once instead of one at a time. Available for managers and finance users in the approval queue.
Budget¶
A spending limit set for a department, category, or time period. Admins can configure budgets in organization settings.
C¶
Category¶
The type of expense (e.g., Fuel, Meals, Lodging, Airfare). Categories help organize expenses and can have different policy limits. See Expense Categories.
Cost Center¶
A department, project, or division code used for accounting allocation. Optional field on expenses.
D¶
Dashboard¶
The home screen showing key metrics, charts, and quick actions. Each role sees a different dashboard tailored to their responsibilities. See Home Dashboard and Finance Dashboard.
Delegation¶
Temporarily assigning approval authority to another user (e.g., when a manager is on vacation).
Draft¶
An expense that has been saved but not yet submitted for approval. Drafts can be edited or deleted.
E¶
Expense¶
A business purchase that an employee requests reimbursement for. Includes details like merchant, amount, date, and category. See Creating Expenses.
Expense Report¶
A collection of expenses grouped together for submission. Reports make it easier to submit and track multiple expenses. See Creating Reports.
F¶
Finance (Role)¶
A user role with permissions to process payouts, export data, and view organization-wide analytics. See User Roles and Finance Dashboard.
Flagged¶
An expense marked with a warning because it may violate company policy (e.g., over the limit, blocked vendor).
G¶
GL Code (General Ledger Code)¶
An accounting code used to categorize expenses for bookkeeping. Maps expense categories to your accounting system.
GPS Tracking¶
Using your device's location services to automatically record a driving route for mileage reimbursement. See GPS Tracking.
I¶
IRS Mileage Rate¶
The standard per-mile reimbursement rate set by the Internal Revenue Service. Updated annually (2024: $0.67/mile for business use).
M¶
Manager (Role)¶
A user role that can approve expenses for their direct reports. See User Roles and Approving Expenses.
Merchant¶
The business, store, or vendor where a purchase was made. Extracted automatically from receipts via OCR.
Micro-Deposits¶
Two small deposits (usually under $1.00) sent to verify bank account ownership. You enter the exact amounts to confirm the account.
Mileage¶
Business driving that qualifies for reimbursement. Tracked either manually (Quick Entry) or automatically (GPS Tracking). See Quick Entry and GPS Tracking.
O¶
OCR (Optical Character Recognition)¶
Technology that reads text from images. Expensed uses OCR to automatically extract merchant, amount, and date from receipt photos.
Organization¶
A company or business entity in Expensed. Each organization has its own users, settings, and data.
P¶
Payout¶
The act of sending money to an employee's bank account as reimbursement for approved expenses. See Processing Payouts.
Per Diem¶
A fixed daily allowance for travel expenses (meals, lodging) instead of itemized receipts. Based on GSA rates by location.
Policy¶
Rules set by the organization for expense submissions (e.g., maximum amounts, required receipts, blocked categories). See Expense Policies.
Policy Violation¶
When an expense breaks a company rule. Flagged expenses can still be submitted but require approver attention.
PWA (Progressive Web App)¶
A website that can be installed on your device and works like a native app. Expensed is a PWA that works offline and can be added to your home screen. See Installing the App and Offline Mode.
Q¶
Quick Entry¶
Manual mileage logging where you enter origin, destination, and distance without GPS tracking. See Quick Entry.
R¶
Receipt¶
Proof of purchase (photo or PDF) attached to an expense. May be required by company policy. See Uploading Receipts.
Rejected¶
An expense that an approver has declined. The employee can edit and resubmit rejected expenses.
Reimbursement¶
Money paid back to an employee for business expenses they paid out of pocket.
Report¶
See Expense Report.
RLS (Row-Level Security)¶
A database security feature ensuring users can only see data they're authorized to access. Used internally by Expensed.
S¶
SmartScan¶
Expensed's receipt processing feature that uses OCR to automatically extract expense data from uploaded receipts.
Status¶
The current state of an expense: Draft, Submitted, Approved, Rejected, or Paid. See Status Workflow and Tracking Status.
Stripe¶
The payment processing service Expensed uses to send ACH reimbursements to employee bank accounts.
Submitted¶
An expense or report that has been sent for approval and is waiting in the approval queue.
T¶
Threshold¶
A dollar amount that triggers additional requirements (e.g., expenses over $500 require Finance approval).
Timeline¶
The history of status changes for an expense, showing who took what action and when.
V¶
Vendor¶
A business or supplier where purchases are made. See Merchant.
Verified (Bank Account)¶
A bank account that has been confirmed via micro-deposits and can receive ACH payouts.
W¶
Workflow¶
See Approval Workflow.
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