---
title: "Expense Management"
slug: "expense-management"
updated: 2026-04-10T22:49:51Z
published: 2026-04-10T22:49:51Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://knowledge.technolutions.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Expense Management

The Expenses tool allows you to associate an expense (or expenses) with:

- Forms
- Events
- Interviews
- Trips
- Stops

Each expense has multiple properties, such as type, status, total, and user. You can either upload or photograph a receipt for an expense, which Slate can scan, interpret (using optical character recognition; OCR), and use to set the aforementioned expense properties.

Currently, it's not possible to adjust the currency from USD (e.g., entering an expense in EUR).

## Configuring Expense Types and Statuses

### Expense Types

Expense types characterize expenses, and you can customize them by creating/updating prompts using the "expense_type" prompt key. It is possible to group like expense types by setting a category value for the corresponding prompts. These are the default expense types:

| Value | Category |
| --- | --- |
| Lodging | Costs |
| Meal | Costs |
| Registration Fees | Costs |
| Car Rental | Transportation |
| Mileage | Transportation |
| Plane Ticket | Transportation |
| Train Ticket | Transportation |

### Expense Statuses

Expense statuses characterize the current reimbursable status of an expense, and you can customize them by creating/updating prompts using the "expense_status" prompt key. These are the default expense statuses:

- Awaiting Reimbursement
- Non-Reimbursable
- Paid - Corporate Card
- Paid - Personal Card
- Reimbursed

## Adding an Expense

To add an expense to an event, trip, slot, etc., take the following steps:

1. Navigate to the object associated with an expense, such as a trip
2. Navigate to the "New Expense" page appropriately:
  - **For Trips**: Click "New Expense." You can also specify an expense for any stops, events, or interviews associated with that trip here, too
  - **For Forms**, Events, or Interviews: Click "Edit," then click the "Expenses" tab, and finally click "New Expense."
3. **Optionally**, scan or upload an image of a receipt (this process is covered in-depth below)
4. Enter information from the receipt, and then click "Save."

To assist with adding expenses, you can click "Scan Receipt" to scan/upload a receipt on either a mobile or desktop device. Slate will utilize OCR to:

- Retrieve values from the receipt, such as name, date, total, subtotal, tax, and metadata about the business (e.g., address, phone number). Gratuity is not currently captured.
- Assign a confidence level for the total and subtotal values' validity; consequently, confident values are retained while non-confident values are rejected.

The following steps outline how to use this functionality:

1. Click **Scan Receipt**
2. Scan/upload the receipt
3. Wait for Slate to complete the OCR process
4. Verify the entered values
5. Enter any missing values

## Printing Expenses

The "Print Expenses" tool will output a PDF enumerating all expenses associated with a specific trip. This PDF will include:

- When the PDF was prepared/created
- Information about each expense, such as the user, date, and total
- Highlighted totals
- An image of the receipt, if applicable

The following steps outline how to use this functionality:

1. Navigate to the trip
2. Click **Print Expenses**
3. Print or save the PDF

It is not currently possible to modify how Slate outputs this PDF.

## Querying on Expense Data

To query on expenses:

1. Select **Queries / Reports**on the top navigation bar
2. Create the query.
3. Select the Expense Base [![Quick query using expense base](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/ymlegdiphkgrmlx1sxmhaqmceclip0.png)](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/ymlegdiphkgrmlx1sxmhaqmceclip0.png)

### Expenses per Trip

To query on the expenses from a single trip (one row per expense), join to "Trip" and filter by the relevant trip:

[![Query for expenses from a single trip](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/xyltoq0mluah08f4elkfaamceclip1.png)](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/xyltoq0mluah08f4elkfaamceclip1.png)

### Sum of all Expenses per Trip

You might be interested in a more nuanced look at expenses, for instance:

1. How many total expenses were there?
2. What is the sum of all expenses?

To query on the total expenses from a single trip (one row per trip):

1. Select **Queries / Reports**on the top navigation bar
2. Create the query.
3. Select the Trip Base [![Quick query using trip base](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/pybius25w0e7hbqznhgvwqmceclip7.png)](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/pybius25w0e7hbqznhgvwqmceclip7.png)

The returned results should look something like this (depending on your end goal):

[![Expense Query results](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/mi7smw1l906elfen5is8qmceclip8.png)](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/mi7smw1l906elfen5is8qmceclip8.png)

This example includes three subquery exports:

| **Subquery Export** | **Example** |
| --- | --- |
| **Total # of Expenses** | [![Subquery export](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/m2h6fbwkzkoy7c74jicmqmceclip3.png)](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/m2h6fbwkzkoy7c74jicmqmceclip3.png) |
| **Total $ Expenses** | [![Subquery export](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/xa6doe2zoeeapwvsus8yxgmceclip4.png)](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/xa6doe2zoeeapwvsus8yxgmceclip4.png) |
| **Expenses (Line by line Breakdown of expenses)** | [![Subquery export](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/j7r5ob6xfkcizuieiwfs9gmceclip5.png)](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/j7r5ob6xfkcizuieiwfs9gmceclip5.png) |