Expense claim to reimbursement

The journey at a glance

An expense claim is money an employee spent from their own pocket and now wants back. It is one expense record. Its status changes as each person acts on it.

1. Step 1New ExpenseEmployeeSaved as Draft.Does not post
2. Step 2Submit for ApprovalEmployeeStatus: Awaiting Approval.Does not post
3. Step 3ApprovalApproverStatus: Approved.Posts stage 1
4. Step 4Process ExpensesFinanceStatus: Paid.Posts stage 2

Two variants change the path:

• Below the threshold. If the claim total is at or below the amount in Auto-Approve Below (Expense Settings), the claim is approved the moment the employee submits it. No approver sees it. Stage 1 posts at once. See Shortcut: auto-approve.
• Outside contractors and staff without a login. They file the claim on the public link. A reviewer turns it into a draft claim, and from there the journey is the same, with an external payee account in the ledger. See Variant: claims from the public link.

Step by step

Step	Document	Status after	Posts to ledger
1. Create	Expense (type Claim)	Draft	No
2. Submit	Same expense	Awaiting Approval	No
3. Approve	Same expense	Approved	Yes, stage 1 of 2
4. Process Reimbursement	Same expense and a reimbursement record	Paid	Yes, stage 2 of 2

Rejected, recalled and auto-approved claims branch off this table. They are explained below.

Step 1. The employee creates the claim

• Screen: My Expenses, then New Expense opens the New Expense form.
• What the employee does: Set Expense Type to Claim, give the claim a Title, add one row per item in Expense Lines, attach a receipt on each row that needs one, and select Save Draft.
• Status afterwards: Draft. The claim gets a number such as EXP-001.
• Who takes over: Nobody yet. The employee can edit, delete or submit.
• Ledger effect: None. Creating, editing and deleting a draft never post.

Winlium picks the expense policy for you. You cannot choose it. The policy limits (receipt threshold, per-line cap, allowed categories) are checked when you save.

Step 2. The employee submits the claim

• Screen: The same New Expense form.
• What the employee does: Select Submit for Approval, then Submit in the confirmation box. If the claim would go over a budget and your company has turned on the budget warning, a box titled "This expense exceeds budget" lists the lines. Select Submit Anyway to continue, or Cancel.
• Status afterwards: Awaiting Approval. The form is locked. The employee can only wait, answer an approver's question with Send Response, or take the claim back with Recall.
• Who takes over: The approver or approvers chosen by the approval workflow. Winlium matches the claim to a workflow template. If none matches, it uses the Default Claim Workflow from Expense Settings.
• Ledger effect: None.

Winlium checks two more things at this moment: the monthly limit in the employee's policy, and the budget rules. See Submitting for approval.

Screenshot pending

New Expense form with the Submit for Approval confirmation box open over a claim with one hotel line

1. 1Submit for Approval sends the claim to the approver.
2. 2Submit confirms. Cancel keeps the claim as a draft.

Step 3. The approver approves

• Screen: The approver acts in the Approvals inbox, not in the Expense module. See Approving expenses and Working with approvals.
• What the approver does: Approves or rejects. The approver can also ask the employee a question first.
• Status afterwards: Approved when the last approver approves. The employee sees a green banner on the claim: Finance will pay from the Process Expenses queue.
• Who takes over: Finance.
• Ledger effect: Stage 1 posts when the last approval is given.

Ledger impact: Approval of a claim

Stage 1 of 2

Debit and credit entries for Approval of a claim

Side	Account	Where the account comes from	Amount
Dr	Category expense account	Expense Categories > Expense Account, as saved on the draft	Net amount of each line (before tax)
Dr	VAT input account	Purchase account of each tax on the line (Accounting > Taxes)	Tax amount of each tax entry
Cr	Employee Payable	Expense Settings > Employee Payable Account	Net plus tax, the whole claim

Each line posts on its own date, so a claim with lines in two months posts into two accounting periods. The period must be open. See financial years and periods.

Example only. A hotel line of 1 night at ₦200,000.00 with 7.5% VAT of ₦15,000.00 posts: debit Travel Expense ₦200,000.00, debit VAT Input ₦15,000.00, credit Employee Payable ₦215,000.00. The full ledger picture is on Ledger impact.

If the approver rejects. The claim becomes Rejected with the reason shown in a red banner. The employee edits it (it returns to Draft on the first edit) and selects Submit for Approval again. Nothing was posted, so there is nothing to undo.

If the employee recalls. While the claim is Awaiting Approval, the employee can select Recall. It returns to Draft. Recall only works until an approver has acted on it.

Step 4. Finance processes the reimbursement

• Screen: Process Expenses. Only approved claims of type Claim appear here.
• What Finance does: Select Process on one row, or tick several rows and select Process Selected. In the Process Reimbursement box set Payment Method to Bank Transfer, choose the Bank Account, add a Payment Reference if you have one, and select Confirm.
• Status afterwards: Paid.
• Who takes over: Nobody. The claim is complete.
• Ledger effect: Stage 2 posts with today's date.

Ledger impact: Process Reimbursement

Stage 2 of 2

Debit and credit entries for Process Reimbursement

Side	Account	Where the account comes from	Amount
Dr	Employee Payable	Expense Settings > Employee Payable Account (the same account stage 1 credited)	Net plus tax, the whole claim
Cr	Bank or cash account	The account Finance picks in Bank Account	Net plus tax, the whole claim

After stage 2, Employee Payable for this claim is back to nil. Winlium does not send the employee a message when they are paid. The employee sees the status change to Paid in My Expenses.

Screenshot pending

Process Reimbursement box with Payment Method set to Bank Transfer, a bank account chosen and a payment reference typed

1. 1Choose Bank Transfer. Cash and Salary Deduction cannot be completed today.
2. 2Choose the bank account you pay from.
3. 3Confirm posts stage 2.

Shortcut: auto-approve

• When it applies: The claim total (net plus tax) is at or below the amount in Auto-Approve Below, and that setting is not blank.
• What happens: On Submit, Winlium skips the approval workflow, posts stage 1 straight away and sets the claim to Approved. No approver is asked. The success message still reads "Submitted for approval".
• Then: Finance pays it in Process Expenses as in step 4.
• If stage 1 cannot post (for example, no open period), you see the error as a message on the Submit action and the claim stays as it was. See Posting problems.

An administrator sets the threshold in Expense Settings.

Variant: claims from the public link

This variant is for outside contractors and for employees who have no Winlium login. The public submission link is switched on by an administrator.

1. The claimant fills in the public form and gets a reference code that starts with PUB. Nothing reaches approval or the ledger.
2. A reviewer opens Review Public Submissions, selects Review, and either matches an employee (Match Employee) or attaches an outside payee (External Payee).
3. The reviewer selects Convert to Draft Expense. The result is an ordinary Draft claim. The reviewer opens it, checks it, and selects Submit for Approval.
4. From here the journey is steps 2 to 4. For an outside payee, approval uses the External-Payee Workflow (fallback) if no workflow template matches, and the ledger uses External Payee Payable instead of Employee Payable. Winlium takes no withholding tax on these claims: the whole amount is paid.

What can go wrong

Where	Problem	Fix
Step 1	A receipt, category or policy rule blocks the save	Saving and editing an expense
Step 2	Monthly limit or budget block	Submitting for approval
Step 2	"No approval workflow matches..."	Approvals (an administrator creates or selects a workflow)
Step 3	The approver cannot find the task, or the claim was recalled	Approvals
Auto-approve or step 4	A ledger account is missing or the period is closed	Posting problems
Step 4	Cash or Salary Deduction is refused, or the claim is not in the queue	Paying a claim from Process Expenses
Public variant	Converting or matching fails	Public submission

Roles and handoffs

Step	Who	What they need
1 to 2	Employee	A custom role with the Expense create, update and submit permissions
3	Approver	To be named on the workflow step. Approving needs no Expense permission
4	Finance	A role that can open Process Expenses and read the Chart of Accounts
Public variant	Reviewer (Finance)	The Public Submissions permissions

Today only the Owner role holds Expense permissions. Everyone else needs a custom role. See Roles and permissions for the exact list.

Related

ConceptWorkflows and approvals ConceptFinancial years and periods ConceptWHT and VAT ConceptAdvance to clearance ConceptPetty cash imprest