How to Log Expenses and Attach Receipts
Capture job expenses and receipts from the field, tag them to the right project and cost line, and keep project costing accurate.
- Who can use this
- Field crew can submit receipts; admins, PMs, and office staff can approve and edit them.
- What the client sees
- Expenses and receipts are internal and never shown to clients.
Before you start
- A project to log against
Log an expense
- Open the project and click the Project Costing tab.
- Click Add expense on the cost line it belongs to (or Add cost line for unplanned spend).
- Enter the amount, vendor, and date, plus a short description.
- Attach a photo of the receipt from your phone, or upload a PDF.
- Save. The expense rolls into Actual and into your reports.
From the field
For: Field Crew
- Use Submit Receipt to snap a receipt before you lose it — the office finishes the coding.
- Mark personal-card spend as reimbursable so it shows correctly in expense reports.
How an expense becomes an actual cost
An expense only affects project costing once it is tied to a project and to a cost line. That link is what makes it roll into Actuals to date on that line and in the totals bar.
- No cost line, no actual — a project-only expense sits outside the line it belongs to.
- Approved labor hours roll into actuals the same way expenses do.
- Expense amounts are pre-tax spend, matching the pre-tax costing view.
- Payment status (pending or paid) is about paying the vendor; it does not change what the job has cost you.
The Expenses tab versus the Expenses screen
- The project's Expenses tab shows just that project, with a running total.
- The Expenses screen in the sidebar shows every project plus receipts submitted from the field waiting on review.
Troubleshooting
A submitted receipt hasn't appeared on the project.
Check Pending Receipts — it stays there until someone assigns it to a project and cost line.
The receipt photo is unreadable.
Re-upload a flat, well-lit photo; the amount still has to be typed in manually if the scan can't read it.
An expense shows on the project but not on any cost line.
Open the expense and pick the cost line it belongs to; until then it isn't in that line's actuals.
You spent on work that was never in the contract.
Add a cost line for it, or put the work on a change order if the client is paying for it.
Related guides
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Verified against the shipped product on August 24, 2026.