---
title: "Overview of expenses for accountants"
slug: "overview-of-expenses-for-accountants"
description: "Learn about the expense types in Payhawk, the expense lifecycle from submission to payment, data extraction with OCR, duplicate checks and color codes."
updated: 2026-10-26T12:33:49Z
published: 2026-10-26T12:33:49Z
canonical: "payhawk.com/overview-of-expenses-for-accountants"
---

> ## 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 expenses for accountants

Payhawk provides powerful options for monitoring and reporting on your company expenses and seamlessly utilizes its optical character recognition (OCR) functionality to extract expense information from attached receipt notes and invoices automatically.

> [!TIP]
> - Every employee at your company can [create and submit expenses](/help/creating-and-submitting-bills-reimbursements-and-company-cash) in Payhawk.
> - Only Payhawk administrators can define the settings for the [spend types](/help/expense-types) at your company and the [workflows](/help/workflow-conditions-and-custom-workflows) for approving expense requests and payments.

## Types of expenses in Payhawk

Employees at your company can create the following [types of expenses](/help/overview-of-company-expenses-for-employees):

- Card expense
- Bill payment
- Company cash
- Reimbursement
- Mileage
- Per diem

## Lifecycle of expenses

The following table lists the available tabs under which an expense is positioned depending on its status and based on the approval workflows required by the organization.

| **Tab** | **Status details** |
| --- | --- |
| **Submit** | The **Spend** > **Submit** tab contains expenses that have the **Submit** option for the spend type in **Workflows** switched on and have not been submitted yet. These expenses await employees (or the authorized people on their behalf) to explicitly confirm the [expense submission one by one or in bulk](/help/creating-and-submitting-card-expenses) by clicking on the **Submit** button. If the **Submit** option for all spend types in **Workflows** is switched off, the **Submit** tab will be automatically hidden. From here, the authorized people or roles at the company can also: - [Review expenses](/help/reviewing-expenses) - [Merge expenses](/help/merging-expenses) - [Split expenses into multiple items](/help/splitting-expenses-into-line-items-in-the-portal) - [Split card transactions into multiple expenses](/help/splitting-card-expenses-into-multiple-expenses) - [Add or remove expenses from subscriptions](/help/creating-and-deleting-subscriptions) - [(For paid amounts) Download the payment confirmation](/help/downloading-payment-confirmations-for-expenses) - [View expense history](/help/viewing-expense-activity) - [Delete expenses](/help/managing-expenses-in-the-portal) Once submitted, the expense will automatically: - Move under the **Approve** tab if the expense requires approval. - Move under the **Review** tab if the expense doesn't require approval. |
| **Approve** | The **Spend** > **Approve** tab contains all expenses that have the **Submit** option of the spend type in **Workflows** switched on and are [pending approval](/help/approving-and-declining-expenses-from-the-expenses-app). - If you are an approver, you can approve them directly in **Spend**, either one by one or in bulk. - If you are not an approver or if an approval process for all spend types is not required, the **Approve** tab will be automatically hidden. From here, the authorized people or roles at the company can also: - [Review expenses](/help/reviewing-expenses) - [Merge expenses](/help/merging-expenses) - [Return expenses to employees](/help/approving-and-declining-expenses-from-the-expenses-app). - [Split expenses into multiple items](/help/splitting-expenses-into-line-items-in-the-portal) - [Split card transactions into multiple expenses](/help/splitting-card-expenses-into-multiple-expenses) - [Create subscriptions or remove expenses from subscriptions](/help/creating-subscriptions) - [(For paid amounts) Download the payment confirmation](/help/downloading-payment-confirmations-for-expenses) - [View expense history](/help/viewing-expense-activity) - [Reject expenses](/help/approving-and-declining-expenses-from-the-expenses-app) - [Delete expenses](/help/deleting-expenses) Once an expense is approved, it will automatically move under the **Review** tab. |
| **Review** | The **Spend** > **Review** tab contains all expenses that are ready for review. These include the expenses that do not require the submission and, therefore, the approval step when they are created. From here, the authorized people or roles at the company can also: - [Review expenses in bulk](/help/reviewing-expenses) - [Merge expenses](/help/merging-expenses) - [Return expenses to employees](/help/approving-and-declining-expenses-from-the-expenses-app) - [Create subscriptions or remove expenses from subscriptions](/help/creating-subscriptions) - [(For paid amounts) Download the payment confirmation](/help/downloading-payment-confirmations-for-expenses) - [Split expenses into multiple items](/help/splitting-expenses-into-line-items-in-the-portal) - [Split card transactions into multiple expenses](/help/splitting-card-expenses-into-multiple-expenses) - [View expense history](/help/viewing-expense-activity) - [Reject expenses](/help/approving-and-declining-expenses-from-the-expenses-app) - [Delete expenses](/help/deleting-expenses) Once the expense has been reviewed, it automatically moves under the **Pay** tab. In case of a card expense, it will directly move under **All**. |
| **Pay** > **Confirm details** | The expenses under the **Spend** > **Pay** > **Confirm** **details** tab require confirmation of their payment details before the payment is initiated. From here, the authorized people at your company can: - [Return expenses for review](/help/returning-expenses-for-review) - [Create subscriptions or remove expenses from subscriptions](/help/creating-subscriptions) - [Specify whether a bill needs to be paid immediately after authorization or will be scheduled for payment for a specific or due date](/help/scheduling-payments-for-bills-and-reimbursables) - [Mark expenses as paid one by one or in bulk](/help/marking-expenses-as-paid) - [View expense history](/help/viewing-expense-activity) - [Delete expenses](/help/deleting-expenses) Once done, click on **Confirm details** and the expense will move under the **Pay** > **Authorize** tab. |
| **Pay** > **Authorize** | The expenses under the **Spend** > **Pay** > **Authorize** tab are all that require authorization for their immediate or scheduled payment. From here, the authorized people at your company can: - [Return expenses for review](/help/returning-expenses-for-review) - [Authorize bills for immediate payment or for payment on their scheduled specific or due date](/help/managing-scheduled-payments) - [Override scheduled payments and pay them immediately](/help/managing-scheduled-payments) - [Reschedule scheduled or immediate payments](/help/managing-scheduled-payments) - [Mark expenses as paid one by one or in bulk](/help/marking-expenses-as-paid) - [Create subscriptions or remove expenses from subscriptions](/help/creating-subscriptions) - [View expense history](/help/viewing-expense-activity) - [Delete expenses](/help/deleting-expenses) |
| **Pay** > **Scheduled** | The **Scheduled** tab contains all bills that have been [scheduled for a specific date or their due date](/help/scheduling-payments-for-bills-and-reimbursables). From here, the authorized people at your company can: - [Return expenses for review](/help/returning-expenses-for-review) - [Override scheduled payments and pay them immediately](/help/managing-scheduled-payments) - [Reschedule scheduled or immediate payments](/help/managing-scheduled-payments) - [Mark expenses as paid one by one or in bulk](/help/marking-expenses-as-paid) - [Create subscriptions or remove expenses from subscriptions](/help/creating-subscriptions) - [View expense history](/help/viewing-expense-activity) - [Delete expenses](/help/deleting-expenses) |
| **All** | The **Spend** > **All** tab contains all expenses regardless of their above-mentioned statuses. From here, for paid expenses, the authorized people at your company can: - [(For paid amounts) Download the payment confirmation](/help/downloading-payment-confirmations-for-expenses) - [Create subscriptions or remove expenses from subscriptions](/help/creating-subscriptions) - [View expense history](/help/viewing-expense-activity) |

## Automatic data extraction with OCR

As part of its expense management solution, Payhawk has developed a native OCR tool, which automatically extracts the relevant information from uploaded invoices and receipt notes, and transfers it to the Payhawk system.

See the article on the [automatic population of expense field data in Payhawk](/help/automatic-population-of-expense-field-data) for more information about:

- Which expense data is automatically read and populated by the OCR tool.
- The suggestion strategies Payhawk Administrators can configure to automatically populate the Category field and custom fields.

For more information about creating a **Note** field template based on expense data, automatic population from historical expense data, or both, see the article on [using smart note suggestions and templates](/help/enabling-the-smart-expense-note).

## Checking for duplicate expenses

Payhawk automatically detects duplicate expenses. For example, if an employee submits the same invoice twice - once for a Payhawk card transaction and again as a reimbursement request - the system will flag it.

Duplicate checks are based on all of the following criteria:

- Amount
- Supplier
- Document date
- Document number

If the Supplier and Document Number are the same, or if three of these criteria are the same, the system will display a soft flag - for example, if there is one expense with the same supplier, amount, and document date.

![Notification about potential duplicate expense with same supplier and amount details.](https://storage.googleapis.com/payhawk-cdn/Acc%3AExpenses/duplication%20criteria.png)

If all four of these criteria are the same, the system will allow the submission but will display a hard flag warning for the reviewer during the [review step](/help/reviewing-expenses).

![](https://cdn.payhawk.com/Help%20desk%20images%20moved/Overview_of_expenses_for_accountants_20250507_manual.jpg)

If the submitter edits any of the checked fields, the reviewer will be notified, provided the [warning in the review assistant is enabled](/help/enabling-and-disabling-warnings-for-expenses).

![](https://cdn.payhawk.com/Help%20desk%20images%20moved/Overview_of_expenses_for_accountants_2_20250507_manual.jpg)

## Icons and navigation

For faster and more intuitive navigation, the current state of an expense in Payhawk is indicated with an icon and can be any of the listed in the following table.

| **Icon** | **Indication** | **Details** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ![](https://cdn.payhawk.com/Help%20desk%20images%20moved/Overview_of_expenses_for_accountants_20250507_manual.png) | The expense is missing a document. | Often, expenses without uploaded documents are card payments waiting for the cardholder to add a receipt note or an invoice. |
| ![](https://cdn.payhawk.com/Help%20desk%20images%20moved/Overview_of_expenses_for_accountants_20231129_manual.png) | The expense has an attached document or is reviewed. | - Expenses marked with this icon and having a payment document uploaded also have the required accounting data automatically extracted from the receipt or the invoice. - Expenses marked with this icon may have already been reviewed by an accountant even if they don't have an uploaded document. |
| ![](https://cdn.payhawk.com/Help%20desk%20images%20moved/Overview_of_expenses_for_accountants_2_20250507_manual.png) | The expense is archived. | Archived expenses are read-only and cannot be edited. However, they can be viewed and exported, their payment documents downloaded and their history traced. |

## Color codes

You can have a quick overview of the expense status based on the following color codes the system utilizes:

- Red - Overdue payments. The due date on the attached expense document is past.

![](https://cdn.payhawk.com/Help%20desk%20images%20moved/Overview_of_expenses_for_accountants_20181210_manual.jpg)
- Orange - Due payments. The due date on the attached expense document shows the payment is expected at or planned for a specific date.

![](https://cdn.payhawk.com/Help%20desk%20images%20moved/Overview_of_expenses_for_accountants_2_20181210_manual.jpg)
- Black - Paid expenses.

![](https://cdn.payhawk.com/Help%20desk%20images%20moved/Overview_of_expenses_for_accountants_3_20181210_manual.jpg)

## Useful resources

- [Spend types](/help/expense-types)
- [Defining custom approval workflows in Payhawk](/help/workflow-conditions-and-custom-workflows)
- [Overview of expenses for employees](/help/overview-of-company-expenses-for-employees)
- [Exporting expense data](/help/exporting-expenses-and-payments-on-demand)
- [Saving and managing filtered views](/help/saving-and-managing-expense-views)