Check expense claims against policy before they reach a manager
Receipts are read, matched to claim lines and tested against your travel and expense policy. Compliant claims go straight to manager approval. Claims with a missing receipt, an over-limit meal or a duplicated item come back to the employee with a specific fix. For finance teams reviewing claims by hand.
Function: Finance · Industry: Any industry
Check expense claims against policy before they reach a manager
6 steps
At a glance
- Trigger
- An employee submits an expense claim with receipts.
- Typical inputs
- Expense claims and receipt images
- Travel and expense policy with limits by category
- Corporate card transaction feed
- Employee grade and cost center
- Systems it usually connects to
- Expensify
- Xero
- Gmail
- Slack
- How the work splits
3 rules, 2 model, 1 person steps
How it runs, step by step
6 steps, each tagged by what does the work. Rules are fixed logic, a model reads or drafts, and a person decides.
- Rules Fixed logic in code
- Model AI reads or drafts, with a confidence score
- Person A named person decides
- 1
Read the receipts
ModelA model extracts merchant, date, currency, tax and total from each image and compares them with what the employee entered.
- 2
Test against the policy
RulesCode applies limits, allowed categories, receipt-required thresholds and the submission window.
- 3
Check for duplicates
RulesReceipts are compared with earlier claims and with card transactions to catch the same item claimed twice.
- 4
Write the fix request
ModelFor each failed check, a model writes a short message to the employee that names the line and what is needed.
- 5
Approve the claim
PersonThe manager approves business purpose, and finance handles exceptions to policy.
- 6
Export for reimbursement
RulesApproved claims are coded and exported to accounting and the next reimbursement run.
Where people approve
The decisions that stay with your team, whatever the confidence score says.
- Managers approve business purpose for each claim.
- Finance approves any exception to the policy limits.
- Claims above a set amount need a second approver.
KPIs to track
What to measure, before and after. Targets come from your own baseline.
- 01Share of claims approved without a back-and-forth
- 02Days from submission to reimbursement
- 03Policy exceptions per hundred claims
- 04Finance hours spent reviewing receipts
Questions about this workflow
Does it accuse employees of fraud?
No, and we word the messages that way on purpose. It asks for a missing receipt or points at an over-limit line. Anything that looks like deliberate abuse goes to finance with the evidence, and a person decides what to do.
What about receipts in other languages or currencies?
Models read most languages well, but handwriting and thermal paper that has faded are weak spots. Low-confidence reads are sent back to the employee for a better photo rather than guessed.
Which steps use rules, a model and a person?
Rules: test against the policy; check for duplicates; export for reimbursement. Model: read the receipts; write the fix request. Person: approve the claim. Rules are fixed logic in code. A model reads or drafts and reports its confidence. A named person decides.
What do we need to start?
Typically: expense claims and receipt images; travel and expense policy with limits by category; corporate card transaction feed; employee grade and cost center. You also need read access to Expensify, Xero, Gmail and Slack, or the equivalents you use. A workflow audit measures your volumes and past cases first, then gives a fixed price for the build, so you can decide with real numbers.