Create spending policies
Create an expense policy with spending limits, a receipt requirement, category restrictions and quotas. Out-of-policy expenses need a justification or stop.
An expense policy turns your spending rules into checks that run on every expense — before it’s submitted, not weeks later at month-end. Set spending limits and receipt rules once; people see them while they fill in the expense, and approvers see every out-of-policy expense and why.
Before you start
Owners, admins and people with the Finance duty create and change policies. Everyone can see them under Policies.
Create a policy
Go to Policies and click Create policy. Start from a Blank policy or From travel template.
Choose who it applies to
Pick the Whole company or Selected departments.
Add limits
Add one or more limits and, for each, choose what happens When exceeded.
Save and publish
Click Save policy to keep a draft, then Publish. The policy applies to expenses submitted from then on.
Limit types
| Limit | What it does |
|---|---|
| Amount cap | A maximum amount per expense, optionally for particular categories |
| Receipt requirement | A receipt on every expense, or above an amount |
| Category restriction | Who may spend in a category: Nobody may spend, Only these departments, or Everyone except these departments |
| Period quota | A per-person total over a day, week, month, quarter or year |
When a limit is exceeded
- Ask for justification — the person can still submit, with a short explanation. The approver sees it.
- Stop submission — the expense can’t be submitted until it’s within the limit.
A Receipt requirement always stops submission until the receipt is attached.
What people see
While filling in an expense, people see a preview of any limit it would exceed. When they submit, they either add a justification with Submit with justification, or see Can’t be submitted as it is with the reason.
Approvers find these expenses under Needs review in their queue, with the policy and the justification shown on the expense. Every overrun also appears in Reports → Out of policy.
When several policies apply to an expense, all of them are checked and every overrun is recorded.
Per-person exceptions
Someone needs a higher limit — a sales director who travels more, for example? After publishing, open the policy and click Add exception under Per-person exceptions. Set a new amount, leave it empty for no limit, or allow them to spend in a restricted category. Add a last day if the exception is temporary.
Change, pause or review a policy
- Edit a published policy to create a new draft; the version in force keeps working until you publish.
- Disable pauses a policy; Enable again turns it back on.
- Version history shows every published version. Expenses keep the result of the version they were checked against.
Troubleshooting
“A policy without limits cannot be published”. Add at least one limit.
“Choose at least one category for the category restriction.” A category restriction needs the categories it restricts — and, unless it’s Nobody may spend, the departments.