Sage Expense Management simplifies expense tracking and reporting, making it easy for you to manage your business expenses. This article provides an overview of key concepts and the different ways you can interact with Sage Expense Management.
Key concepts
Expenses: These are individual records of every business-related purchase you make, whether by corporate card, personal card, or cash. Each expense includes details like the amount, date, merchant, and category.
Corporate cards: If your company provides you with a corporate card, you can connect it to Sage Expense Management for automatic transaction syncing and simplified reconciliation.
Personal cards: You can also link your personal cards to Sage Expense Management to track reimbursable expenses paid out-of-pocket.
Receipts: Receipts are proof of your expenses. Sage Expense Management allows you to attach digital images or PDFs of your receipts to your expense entries.
Expense reports: Expense reports group multiple expenses together for submission and approval. They provide a summarized view of your spending over a specific period.
Expense policies: Your company sets expense policies to define spending limits and guidelines. Sage Expense Management helps you stay compliant with these policies.
Approvals: Once you submit an expense report, it goes through an approval workflow, usually involving your manager and potentially other approvers.
Reimbursements: After your expense reports are approved, you'll receive reimbursements for any out-of-pocket expenses.
Advances: Request advances through Sage Expense Management for upcoming expenses, and then reconcile them against your actual spending.
Expense workflows
Out-of-pocket expenses
Incur the expense: You pay for a business-related expense using your personal funds (cash or personal card).
Capture the receipt: Obtain a physical or digital receipt as proof of purchase.
Create an expense in Sage Expense Management: Use the Sage Expense Management web app, mobile app, email integration, or text messaging to create a new expense entry.
Attach the receipt: Upload an image or PDF of your receipt to the expense entry.
Add expense details: Enter all necessary information, including the amount, date, merchant, category, and any other required fields (e.g., project, cost center).
Add to expense report: Include the expense in a new or existing expense report.
Submit the expense report: Submit the report for approval.
Approval process: Your expense report goes through the designated approval workflow.
Reimbursement: Once approved, the expense is processed for reimbursement, and you receive the funds via your chosen reimbursement method (e.g., direct deposit).
Closure: The expense report is marked as closed, indicating completion of the reimbursement process.
Corporate card expenses
Incur the expense: You make a purchase using your company-issued corporate card.
Transaction syncs to Sage Expense Management: Sage Expense Management automatically imports the transaction details from your corporate card feed (this may be a real-time feed or a periodic import).
Receipt capture (if required): If your company requires receipts for corporate card expenses, you'll receive a notification (email, text, or in-app) to attach the receipt. You can then upload the receipt image or PDF.
Review and code the expense: Review the automatically imported transaction details and add any missing information, such as category, project, or cost center. You might also need to split the expense if it covers multiple categories.
Add to expense report: The expense is typically automatically added to an expense report, or you may need to manually add it.
Submit the expense report: Submit the report for approval.
Approval process: The expense report goes through the approval workflow.
Reconciliation: Sage Expense Management reconciles the approved corporate card expenses against the card statement.
Closure: The expense report is marked as closed, completing the reconciliation process. No reimbursement is issued to you directly since the expense was paid with the corporate card.
Ways to Use Sage Expense Management
Sage Expense Management offers several convenient ways to track and manage expenses.
Web Application: The web app is the central hub for managing your expenses. Here, you can:
Create and edit expenses manually.
Create and submit expense reports.
Manage your corporate cards and transactions.
Request and reconcile advances.
Configure your account settings and preferences.
Set up recurring expenses.
Access detailed reports and analytics.
Mobile Application: The Sage Expense Management mobile app (available on iOS and Android) allows you to:
Create and edit expenses on the go.
Add receipts using your phone's camera.
Submit expense reports.
Manage your corporate cards.
Receive real-time notifications.
Email Forwarding: Simply forward receipts from your inbox to Sage Expense Management so that they are attached to the right expense if a matching expense is found. If not, Sage Expense Management will auto-create a new expense for you.
Text Messaging: Sage Expense Management's text messaging feature lets you:
Submit receipts by sending a text message.
Code expenses by replying to text prompts.
Gmail and Outlook Integrations: Integrate Sage Expense Management with your Gmail or Outlook account to:
Create expenses directly from email receipts.
Automatically attach receipts to expenses.
Slack Integration: Connect Sage Expense Management to Slack to:
Create and submit expenses within Slack.
Receive expense-related notifications.