Recording Expenses
Creating an expense
- Go to the Purchases tab on the home panel of Zoho Invoice, and click on Expenses.
- Click on the + button.
- Enter the expense details such as the date, the category the expense falls under, and the expense amount.
- You can also click a picture of the expense receipt and upload it to Zoho Invoice. Click on the Attach receipt option inside an expense to do this. The receipt acts as a validation of the expense incurred.
The expenses you record will show up on your Zoho Invoice dashboard, offering you constant updates on your spending patterns. When you want to sit down and review the financial health of your company however, a detailed assessment of your expenses is required and this is provided for you in the form of comprehensive expense reports.
Recording a Mileage expense
Zoho Invoice allows you to record your organization’s mileage expense. Let’s take an example where you or one of your employees had to go on a business trip. If you would like to record the expense towards your trip for your accounting purposes, you can do so by recording the mileage expenses by selecting the Default Account as Fuel/Mileage Expenses.
The first step in recording your mileage expense is setting up your mileage preferences. You can access mileage preferences from More Settings -> Preferences -> Expenses.
Setting up your Vehicle profile
If you wish to assign different mileage rates for the vehicles used in your organization, you can make use of the Vehicle tab under Expense Preferences . This can be applicable even if the vehicles belong to the same vehicle type.
Let’s take an example where your company uses two cars, and you wish to set a different mileage rate for each car due to various reasons. You can create a profile for your vehicle and add a mileage rate for that. You can also choose the vehicle while recording a mileage expense.
To set up a profile for your vehicle, follow the instructions below:
- Click on the Gear icon on the top-right corner, and select More Settings.
- Select Expenses tab under Purchases.
- Click on the Vehicle tab and click on + New Vehicle.
- Enter the vehicle name and click Save to add the vehicle profile.
Now, click on the Preferences tab under Expenses and click on + Add Mileage Rate.
- Select a date, choose the vehicle profile, and enter mileage rate.
Insight: The provision to choose Vehicle while recording mileage expense will appear only if you enter a mileage rate for that particular vehicle.
- Once done, click Save.
To record a mileage expense:
- Select Expenses from the home page of Zoho Invoice.
- Click on the New drop-down present on the top right corner and select the Record Mileage option.
- When you record a mileage expense for the first time, you will be prompted with a setup screen to set your mileage preferences.
- Choose the default mileage unit (Km or Mile), and select a default category for your mileage expenses.
- Enter a start date and a corresponding mileage rate. This mileage rate will be used to calculate the mileage expense based on the distance traveled.
- Now, click on Save button to save your mileage preferences.
- You will now see a Record mileage form on the screen. You may also navigate to Expenses module, click on the + New drop-down and select Record Mileage.
- Enter the date on which the expense was made, and select a method through which you wish to record the distance traveled.
- If you know the exact distance traveled, select the Distance traveled option and fill the Distance field. If you wish to calculate your distance traveled based on the odometer reading, select the Odometer reading option.
- If you’ve chosen the Odometer reading option, enter the start reading and end reading from the odometer and the distance traveled will be calculated automatically.
- If your mileage expense involves tax, pick one from the drop-down.
- You can associate your vendor details from the Vendor drop-down.
- Choose a customer and check on the Billable option to bill the expense to your customer. This will allow you to create an invoice from the mileage expense.
- Click Save to save your newly recorded mileage expense.
Adding Expenses in Bulk
Zoho Invoice allows you to add expenses in bulk.
To add expenses in bulk:
- Click on the Purchases drop-down on the left sidebar and select Expenses.
- Click on the + New Expense drop-down from the top-right corner and select Bulk Add Expenses
- You will see the Bulk Add Expenses page.
- Enter essential information such as date, category, amount, etc.
- Check the Billable option if your expenses are billable.
- After entering the details of all the expenses, click on the Save button.
- This will save all your newly created expenses to the Expenses section.