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Step 05 - Expense categories

Purpose​

Expense Categories are what employees see and select when submitting an expense. They control which Posting Group is applied to the posting, whether guests must be recorded, whether a project is required, and which Additional Fields appear. Good category design reduces employee errors and automates GL mapping.

→ Concept: Posting and GL | SmartExtract

Before you start​

Steps​

  1. From Truvio Expense Management - Overview, select Expense Categories
  2. Select New

For each category:

General tab

  • Code - short identifier shown in the app (e.g. MEALS, TRAVEL, HOTEL)
  • Description - displayed to the employee
  • Input Guests - enable for entertainment/meals categories where guest names are required for compliance
  • Guests mandatory - enable to block submission without guest details
  • Project Mandatory - enable if expenses in this category must always be linked to a Business Central project

Posting Setup - create at least one posting setup line per category:

  • Click New in the Posting Setup section
  • Assign a Posting Group - this determines the GL account
  • Use as Default - designates the fallback if no other posting setup criteria matches
  • Optional criteria: Domestic (home country only), Region Codes, Has Project, With Guests - these let one category post to different GL accounts depending on context

SmartExtract (optional) - configure AI-driven splitting or classification. See SmartExtract and Designing expense categories before enabling.

Additional Fields (optional) - from the category's action bar, select Additional Fields and enable any dimension fields that should appear for this category.

Decisions that matter here​

How many categories? - fewer categories with SmartExtract Classify is simpler for employees (one "Travel" category instead of seven). More categories gives finance more control without AI. See Designing expense categories.

Domestic vs international split - if domestic and international expenses post to different GL accounts, create two Posting Setup lines for the same category (one with Domestic checked, one without) rather than two separate categories.

Guest requirements - enabling Guests mandatory on entertainment categories supports compliance with local entertainment reporting rules. Combine with Require Company Name for Guests if your rules require it.

Validate​

Log in to the TEM web portal or mobile app as a test employee and confirm the categories you created appear in the expense entry form. Submit a test expense in each category and verify it posts to the correct GL account.

Next​

→ Step 06 - Approval policies

Field detail​

→ Reference: Expense categories | Reference: Regions | Reference: Additional fields