--- title: "Overview of fields for Administrators - Payhawk Help Center" slug: "overview-of-expense-fields" description: "Understand the default and custom expense fields in Payhawk, from which step they are required, and how to collect the right data for reporting and accounting." updated: 2026-10-26T08:49:07Z published: 2026-10-26T08:49:07Z canonical: "payhawk.com/overview-of-expense-fields" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://payhawk.com/help/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Overview of fields 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) and from which step a value in that field is required: before the expense or request is submitted, or before it is reviewed. You can also make a field required only when a condition is met, for example, only for expenses above a certain amount. ## 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](/help/managing-the-settings-of-built-in-expense-fields). For more information, see the articles about [integrations](/help/erp-systems). ### 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](/help/creating-editing-and-deleting-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](/help/enabling-the-smart-expense-note). ### 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 shows the type of the uploaded document: **Invoice** or **Receipt**, and for bills also **Proforma** or **Credit note**. 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. You can also show other fields only for specific document types. For example, you can show the **Tax rate** field only for invoices. For more information, see the article about [managing the field settings](/help/managing-the-settings-of-built-in-expense-fields). ### 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**](/help/creating-editing-and-deleting-default-tax-rates) 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 early-payment discount (Skonto) stated on the supplier invoice. Payhawk extracts the discount from the invoice automatically, either as an amount or by calculating it from the stated percentage. While the bill is within its discount period, the due amount is reduced by the discount. ### 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 **Spend**. 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](/help/overview-of-expense-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. ![A list field with the Select Cost center drop-down showing its values.](https://cdn.payhawk.com/Help%20desk%20images%20moved/Overview_of_fields_20240920_manual.jpg) - 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. ![A text field for a project, with the option to create a new value.](https://cdn.payhawk.com/Help%20desk%20images%20moved/Overview_of_fields_2_20240920_manual.jpg) - 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. ![A text field for a location with a hint below it.](https://cdn.payhawk.com/Help%20desk%20images%20moved/Overview_of_fields_3_20240920_manual.jpg) - Date - When filling in an accounting field of the date type, employees can select the required dates from a date picker. ![A date field with the date picker open.](https://cdn.payhawk.com/Help%20desk%20images%20moved/Overview_of_fields_4_20240920_manual.jpg) ## 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. ## Useful resources - [Automatic population of field data](/help/automatic-population-of-expense-field-data) - [Using the accounting fields in Payhawk](/help/overview-of-expense-fields) - [Creating, editing, and deleting expense categories](/help/creating-editing-and-deleting-expense-categories)