Expense categories are the spend taxonomy — Travel, Hotel, Meals, Fuel — and the unit that policy rules, GL account determination and spend analysis all hang off. Grades band employees for policy purposes. This page is the field-level reference for both, and it is explicit about a distinction that trips people up: which settings are defaults a category declares, and which are enforced checks.
Expense category fields
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name, Code | Identify the category; the code is what imports and integrations key on |
| Description | Free text shown to authors picking a category |
| Default GL account | The expense account a line in this category posts to, unless overridden on the line |
| GST eligible default | Whether lines in this category default to claiming input tax credit |
| Receipt required | Declares that this category expects receipts — enforced through a receipt policy rule |
| Approval required | Declares that this category expects sign-off — routing itself is the approval process |
| Daily limit, Monthly limit | Declared spending guidance for the category |
| Reimbursable | Whether spend in this category is normally paid back to the employee |
| Billable default | Whether lines in this category default to billable-to-customer |
| Active | Whether the category can be used on new claim lines |
Where enforcement actually lives. The declared limits and the receipt/approval flags on the category master are documentation of intent; the checks that stop or trim a claim are policy rules — a category-scoped limit rule enforces a cap, a receipt rule enforces attachments. Configure the rule, not just the master field, or the limit will never fire. The one master field with direct teeth is Active: a deactivated category is a blocking violation on any new claim line, and posting refuses it independently.
Grades
A grade is a band on the employee record — the same record claims are anchored on. Grades exist for policy scoping: a policy header pinned to a grade applies only to claimants in that grade, which is how per-seniority caps (the classic hotel limit ladder) are modeled. Evaluation reads the claimant's grade automatically; nothing is chosen at claim time.
Per-category rules at a glance
A policy rule carries a rule type, an optional category scope, a threshold, and an action. The threshold's meaning follows the type:
| Rule type | Scope | Threshold means |
|---|---|---|
| Category limit | one category, or all when blank | maximum line amount, tax inclusive |
| Grade hotel limit | the hotel category, inside a grade-pinned policy | maximum line amount for that grade |
| Receipt mandatory above | one category or all | amount above which a receipt is required |
| Late submission | all lines | days between expense date and claim date |
| Blocked category | the forbidden category | not used |
| Duplicate detection | all lines | not used |
Actions and their outcomes — hard block, auto-disallow, higher approval, warn — are covered in Expense policies.
Building the taxonomy well
- Fewer, broader categories beat many narrow ones. Policy rules, GL mapping and spend reports all multiply by category count; a dozen categories serve most organizations.
- Set the default GL account on every category. Lines inherit it, which keeps account determination out of claimants' hands; a line can still carry its own GL account for the exceptions.
- Retire by deactivating, never deleting. Deactivation blocks new use while history, reports and posted journals stay intact.
- Mirror the paper policy. Every cap in your written expense policy should exist as a rule; a cap that lives only in a PDF is a cap nobody enforces.
Common questions
Why didn't the category's daily limit stop a claim?
Because the limit fields on the category master are declared guidance, not an enforced check. Enforcement is a category-scoped limit rule inside an active policy. Create the rule with the cap as its threshold and the action you want — auto-disallow the excess or block outright — and it will fire from the next evaluation.
Can the same category post to different GL accounts?
Yes. The category's default GL account seeds the line, but the line's own expense account is what posts — so an exceptional line can be pointed elsewhere without a new category. If you find yourself overriding constantly, the taxonomy is too coarse; split the category.
What happens to old claims when I deactivate a category?
Nothing. Existing claims, violations and posted journals keep the category; only new claim lines are blocked from using it, and unposted claims still carrying it will refuse to post until the line is recategorized.