Simplifying Expense Management in Acumatica

Managing employee expenses can easily become a time-consuming task, especially when juggling receipts, reimbursements, and approvals across different departments.

Fortunately, Acumatica offers a modern, integrated expense management solution designed to simplify and speed up the entire process from receipt capture to reimbursement.

Read on to learn how Acumatica handles expense reporting using its mobile app, AI-powered data capture, approval workflows, and seamless integration with accounts payable and bank reconciliation tools.

Whether you're dealing with corporate or personal credit cards, Acumatica brings flexibility and automation to make your processes smoother and more accurate.

Mobile Expense Capture on the Go

The process begins right from an employee’s smartphone. Using the Acumatica mobile app, employees can capture images of their receipts on the spot. Once the photo is taken, Acumatica's built-in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology scans and reads the receipt, automatically pulling in key details like the vendor, amount, and date.

From there, the employee can confirm or edit any of the populated fields, select an appropriate expense category (e.g., business dinner), and note whether the purchase was made with a personal or company card. If it’s a personal expense, it will eventually flow through the reimbursement process. If it was charged to a corporate card, it can be matched with bank feed data for streamlined reconciliation.

The mobile app also supports filtering and reviewing past receipts, so employees can easily track what’s been submitted, what’s still pending, and what’s been rejected or approved.

Insight: Unlock the Power of the Acumatica Mobile App

Approval Workflows That Fit Your Organization

Once receipts are submitted, they’re grouped into expense claims for approval. For example, an employee can gather several receipts from the month and submit them as one consolidated claim.

Acumatica’s approval workflows are configurable based on your company’s needs. You can set rules by department, amount thresholds, or specific employees. Once submitted, the claim is automatically routed to the appropriate manager for review and approval. If someone’s out of the office, you can assign delegates to review and approve on their behalf.

Approvers can access claims via the desktop or mobile app, review attached receipts, leave comments, approve or reject items, and move the process along efficiently.

Integration with Accounts Payable and Reimbursements

After an expense claim is approved, Acumatica automatically generates an AP bill for reimbursement. The system connects the employee’s record to a vendor profile and uses the preferred payment method to process the payment.

This saves time and reduces manual data entry and the likelihood of errors. The AP bill can be placed on hold for further review if needed, especially when expense categorization isn’t clear (such as a restaurant charge that might be part of an event rather than a meal). Your accounts payable team can take a closer look and reclassify if necessary before releasing the payment.

Insight: Embrace the Future: What's New in Acumatica's 2025 R1 Release

Handling Corporate Credit Cards and Bank Feeds

Acumatica also makes it easy to manage corporate credit cards. You can assign cards to individual employees or allow multiple employees to use the same card. The bank feeds feature allows for direct integration with your financial institution, automatically pulling in transactions and creating expense receipts based on those transactions.

Rules can be set up to categorize transactions automatically. For example, if the transaction description contains "Delta," it can be auto-coded to travel expenses. Once the receipt is created, the system can notify employees to upload a copy of the actual receipt and confirm the details.

This automation significantly reduces the burden on employees and accounting staff, helping keep expense reports timely and accurate.

Delegates, Notifications, and Customization

Acumatica supports flexible delegation features. If someone is unavailable, another user can be designated to submit or approve expenses on their behalf. Delegation can be temporary or ongoing, and the system keeps track of who did what, maintaining visibility and accountability.

The system also supports automatic notifications, so employees are reminded when action is needed, whether it's submitting receipts or reviewing claims.

Additionally, the mobile interface can be customized to simplify the user experience. Unnecessary fields can be hidden based on your organization’s needs, making it easier for employees to complete their tasks without confusion.

Insight: 5 Ways Acumatica Software Can Be Tailored to Fit Your Business Needs

Wrapping It All Up

From mobile receipt capture to automatic reimbursement processing, Acumatica’s expense management tools offer a streamlined, flexible approach to handling business expenses.

Whether your team uses personal or corporate credit cards, the built-in automation, approvals, and integration with accounts payable make expense reporting easier and more efficient.

If you're looking to reduce the hassle of expense tracking and improve accuracy across the board, exploring Acumatica’s expense management features may be a smart next step.