The fields in Payhawk are providing additional information for an expense or request so that it can be categorized - for example, Document date or Service period.
Most fields allow you to define who can see them when opening an expense or request (their visibility), whether the person submitting the expense or request will be required to submit a value in that field (required for submission), and if the person reviewing the expense or request will be required to submit a value in that field (required for review).
Payhawk fields
The Payhawk fields are provided as default expense or request fields by the system in the Settings > Fields library section. Examples of such fields in Payhawk are the expense category, document date, document number, and more.
The information and settings you may apply to these fields vary depending on the field. For example, expense categories require you to set values to define their names (for example, Advertising and marketing), account codes (4501), and tax rates (12%) and tax rates require you to set values to define their names (for example, Standard BG), tax codes (133), and rates (20%).
Types and settings for fields
This section lists the available Payhawk fields and provides an overview of their settings. For more information, see the articles about integrations.
Category
Expense categories help businesses structure their spending better and simplify their spending management process. Depending on the purchased goods or services, each expense or request falls into a specific category - for example, operating or non-operating. Based on the requirements and needs of your organization, categories can be further split into sub-categories that correspond to the internal processes.
In Payhawk, expense categories allow you to set values for their names, account codes, and tax rates. Depending on the visibility you define, you can also decide whether they'll be required for submission and review, and can enable and configure the automatic population of category data.
Note
The Note field is where employees enter the reason or purpose of an expense or request. You can configure whether the field is required for submission and review.
By default, Note is a free-text input field. You can also create a template to define what data it displays, or configure it to generate content automatically based on historical data. For more details, see the article on using the smart note suggestions and templates.
Document
The Document field requires an uploaded file attachment (expense document) and is always visible to all employees. You can decide whether an uploaded document will be required for expense or request submission and review.
Document date
The Document date field displays the issue date of the document, and its data is automatically populated. Depending on the visibility you define, you can decide whether a document date will be required for expense or request submission and review.
Due date
The Due date field displays the last day by which you must pay the bill to avoid late fees or penalties. Due date is only applicable and therefore visible for bill payments. Depending on the visibility you define, you can decide whether a due date will be required for the expense owners to submit expenses and for reviewers to review them.
Document type
The Document type field contains the invoice and receipt note pre-defined options and its data is automatically populated. Depending on the visibility you define, you can decide whether a document type will be required for expense or request submission and review.
Document number
The Document number field displays the number of the document and its data is automatically populated. Depending on the visibility you define, you can decide whether a document number will be required for expense or request submission and review.
Service period
The Service period field indicates the accounting period of the document and its data is manually filled in by the Finance team.
Supplier
The Supplier field is always required for reviewing bill payments and its data is automatically populated. Depending on the visibility you define, you can decide whether the supplier will be required for expense review.
Tax rate
The Tax rate field displays the tax rates imposed by the state on the types of goods or services that have been purchased, for example, VAT. In Payhawk, tax rates allow you to set values to define their names, tax codes, and rates. Depending on the visibility you define, you can decide whether a tax rate will be required for expense or request review.
Discount
The Discount field displays the tax relief provided by the state for specific goods or services that have been purchased by the organization and its data is manually filled in by the Finance team.
Team
Team will be visible as a field if the Settings > Teams > Team organization and management option has been enabled. As a result, whenever an employee who is part of a team creates an expense, the name of their team will be reflected in that expense in the Expenses app.
Also, the team name and external ID will be visible for every expense during export initiated from the Export app. Team managers and Payhawk accountants will still be able to select the team to which this expense relates for expenses submitted by employees who are not part of a team.
Amortization
A composite field for expenses that are deferred over a period of time - for example, a 12-month subscription for a service.
By default, its visibility is set to No one and, therefore, the field is not available in the expenses. If the visibility settings have been updated, expenses and purchase orders will display the following fields related to amortization:
Amortization schedule
Amortization start (date)
Amortization end (date)
Accounting fields
The accounting fields require additional information for an expense or request specific to the needs of your business - for example, Cost center. You can manually create and configure them from Settings > Fields library.
Predefined and dynamic list fields allow you to set their options (values) to define their labels, external IDs, and managers.
Free text input and date fields allow you to set a description that will be displayed as a hint for employees.
Depending on the defined visibility, you can also decide whether they'll be required for expense or request submission and review.
Except for the date field type (as auto-population does not apply to the required data), you can enable and configure the suggestion strategy for that field data.
Payhawk also uses accounting fields to map classes and tracking categories from ERP systems and accounting software integrations.
Types of accounting fields
Depending on the type of accounting field you define, employees will have different options for filling in the required data:
Predefined lists - When filling in an accounting field of the predefined list type, employees will be able to choose from a predefined set of options only.
Dynamic lists - When filling in an accounting field of the dynamic list type, employees can select options from the predefined list or create their own value when submitting their spend.
Free text input - When filling in an accounting field of the free text input type, employees can add some text in the field when submitting their spend.
Date - When filling in an accounting field of the date type, employees can select the required dates from a date picker.
Applying updates to existing fields
For audit considerations, Payhawk doesn't historically update the following fields:
Categories
Accounting fields
Tax rates
Teams
Suppliers
As an example of the way updated accounting field values will be treated by the system, assume you have a Project field with a MyProject value. When you use the MyProject value in 10 expenses, the MyProject value will be saved on the expense or request. However, if from Settings > Fields library you change the Project value from MyProject to MyNEWProject, the new value will be applied to the future Project expenses or requests, but will not be updated historically for the expenses or requests that have already used the MyProject value.