Post expenses to the ledger
What Expense Management posts to the general ledger when finance verifies a claim or a retirement, what you post yourself, and how to post journals that are waiting.
Before you start
- Set up expensesGL mapping (staff advances, reimbursements payable, default expense account) and the Accounting integration decide whether and where journals post.
- Set up expense categories and typesEach category's GL expense account is the account each line is debited to.
- Set up the chart of accountsThe mapped accounts must exist as posting accounts in the chart of accounts.
In this article
Expense Management posts a journal to your general ledger at one moment only: when finance verifies a claim or a retirement. It doesn't post when an employee submits or a manager approves, and it doesn't post the payment itself. This page shows each journal, taken from the Expense Management code, and how to deal with journals that are waiting.
Claim verified
Posted when finance confirms verification of a claim with something allowed. The journal is called "Expense accrual" plus the expense number, and its reference is the expense number.
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Each line's category GL expense account (or the Default expense account if the category has none) | Amount allowed on that line, in the base currency | |
| Employee reimbursements payable | Total allowed |
If every line was disallowed, nothing is posted.
Retirement verified
Posted when finance verifies a retirement. The journal is called "Retirement" plus the expense number.
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Each line's category GL expense account (or the default expense account) | Amount allowed on that line | |
| Staff advances | The part of the spend the advance covered | |
| Employee reimbursements payable | Any overspend the company now owes the employee |
Requisition (advance) verified
Nothing is posted when a requisition is verified. The advance only reaches the ledger when it's paid.
Payments and refunds
Expense Management doesn't post the movement of money:
| What happened | What to post | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Claim or overspend paid through Next payroll | Carried by the payroll that pays it | Payroll |
| Claim or overspend paid Manually | Dr Employee reimbursements payable, Cr the bank or cash account you paid from | Post a journal entry |
| Advance paid Manually | Dr Staff advances, Cr the bank or cash account | Post a journal entry |
| Employee refunded an unspent balance | Dr the bank or cash account, Cr Staff advances | Post a journal entry |
Reopening a verified document
If finance selects Reopen for correction (in the ⋯ menu on a verified document), the journal already posted is reversed and the document goes back to the verification queue. When it's verified again, a fresh journal posts with "-R1" (then "-R2" and so on) after the expense number, so the two never clash.
Post journals that are waiting
Open the Posting tab
In Human Resources › Expense › Finance Workspace, select Posting.
- Posting.
- While Accounting isn't connected you'll see Accounting isn't connected: verifications are recorded with posting deferred.
- Integration settings opens the Integrations section, where you can turn Accounting on.
Run a batch
With Accounting connected, the tab shows Ledger posting status (all documents verified this year) and Post waiting journals.
- Run batch retries failed, deferred and stuck postings, 50 at a time. Select Post next batch while documents remain. Posting uses your own Accounting access, so it only runs while you're on the page.
- Post deferred journals (for people who can change expense settings) posts documents verified while Accounting was off, oldest first.
The results show Attempted, Posted, Failed, Remaining and Needs config.
Fix anything that needs configuration
Needs configuration, not a retry lists documents that can't post because a GL account isn't mapped. Select GL mapping, fill in the missing account (claims need Employee reimbursements payable; retirements need Staff advances), save, and run the batch again.
For a single document, open it and choose Retry ledger posting from the ⋯ menu. A red Ledger posting failed notice on a document shows the error from Accounting.
Without Accounting
If your company keeps its books in another system, use the Journal Export report in Expense reports. It lists the deferred journals with exactly the lines shown above, so you can post them elsewhere.
What employees and managers see
Nothing changes for staff or managers: posting happens in the background after finance verifies. Employees see their document's status and payment only: see Track your expenses.