Expenses
Expenses capture the out-of-pocket costs your team incurs while working on a project — filing fees, travel, courier charges, software licences, and more. They appear on the Expenses tab of a project detail page alongside your time entries and other project data.
Tracking expenses separately from time ensures your invoices reflect the full cost of an engagement. Billable expenses can be included on invoices with optional markup, while non-billable expenses are recorded for internal cost visibility without being charged to the client.
Key Concepts
Expense Categories
When logging an expense, you choose a category: Filing Fee, Travel, Courier, Software, Subcontractor, Printing, Communication, or Other. Categories help you filter the expense list and spot spending patterns across projects.
Billing Statuses
Each expense has a billing status that determines whether it appears on invoices.
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Unbilled | A billable expense that has not yet been included on an invoice. |
| Billed | Included on an invoice. Billed expenses are locked and cannot be edited or deleted. |
| Non-billable | Marked as non-billable, either when logged or after being written off by an admin. Not included on invoices. |
Billable Amount and Markup
When you set a markup percentage, the billable amount equals the base amount plus the markup (for example, R500 with 15% markup becomes R575). Both the actual cost and the client-facing charge appear as separate columns in the expense list.
Logging an Expense
Step 1 — Navigate to the Expenses tab
Open a project detail page and click the Expenses tab.
Step 2 — Click Log Expense
Click the Log Expense button to open the expense dialog.
Step 3 — Fill in the details
Complete the form fields:
- Date (required) — defaults to today
- Description (required) — for example, “Court filing fee” or “Client site visit — Johannesburg”
- Amount and Currency (required) — the actual cost incurred, in your organisation’s currency
- Category (required) — select from the list of expense categories
- Task (optional) — link to a specific task in the project
- Markup % (optional) — percentage markup applied when billing the client
- Billable (checkbox, on by default) — uncheck for non-billable expenses
- Notes (optional) — additional context or justification
- Receipt (optional) — upload an image, PDF, or document as supporting evidence
Step 4 — Save the expense
Click Save. The expense appears in the list with an Unbilled status (or Non-billable if you unchecked the billable flag).
Including Expenses on Invoices
When generating an invoice, unbilled expenses appear alongside unbilled time entries as selectable line items. Each expense uses the billable amount (with markup applied, if any). Once the invoice is finalised, included expenses move to Billed status and are locked from further editing.
Write-off and Restore
Admins can write off an unbilled expense to move it to Non-billable status. This is useful when a cost was initially flagged as billable but you decide not to charge the client. If a write-off was made in error, admins can restore the expense back to Unbilled status.
Billed expenses cannot be written off, edited, or deleted. To correct a billed expense, you need to adjust the invoice it appears on.
Filtering and Reporting
The expense list supports filters by billing status (All, Unbilled, Billed, or Non-billable), category, and member. Combine filters to find specific cost types or review individual team member spending. Billable expenses also feed into the profitability reports alongside time-based charges.
Tips and Best Practices
- Attach receipts immediately — uploading supporting documents at the time of logging avoids the scramble at invoicing time.
- Use markup consistently — set a standard percentage so clients see predictable charges.
- Review unbilled expenses before invoicing — check for costs that should be written off or recategorised.
- Link expenses to tasks — granular cost tracking makes it easier to explain charges to clients.
Related Features
- Projects — expenses are tracked per project on the Expenses tab
- Invoicing — include billable expenses as line items on invoices
- Time Tracking — track hours alongside expenses for a complete project cost picture
- Rate Cards and Budgets — configure billing rates and budgets that work alongside expense tracking