Expense Report Templates

What Is an Expense Report?

For any manager in a small business or a big corporation, there are plenty of factors to consider in reaching specific goals. Considerations include employee management, work development, marketing, and more. And one of the essential factors is how to manage expense reporting. The expense report, which often comes in a printed document or a spreadsheet, notes how companies and their workers spend on a business trip, special event, or any factor reimbursed by the business. Aside from reporting how much was spent, the sheet is also useful for tax management and accounting information.

Studies show that employee expense fraud among businesses in the US costs about $2.8 billion each year.

On another note, Statista reported that the global business travel expense reached $1.33 trillion in 2017.

Also, via the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Chron stated that the wages or salaries per hour are responsible for 70.4% of employer expenses for workers’ compensation.

Why Is an Expense Report Important?

Expense reports are mainly business reports that track spending. So any form of purchase that runs a business is documented. It is essential to record business expenses because of reimbursement. If an employee bought meals for visitors, equipment for an event, or plane tickets for a business trip, expense reports show how much was spent. The same goes for determining how much to reimburse the expenditures. And instead of guessing the amount of spending, detailed reports prevent inaccurate calculations and lies, especially when receipts are required.

On the other hand, expense reports are vital for tracking and recording any expenditure in general. For example, you might need to note your weekly spending on personal items. The report contains all the info regarding how much savings were used, what items were purchased, and others. Nonetheless, you no longer question why your budget increased or decreased when all data is recorded under the report—your reliable evidence.

What Are Common Examples of Expense Reports?

Indeed, expense reports are essential. But what exactly makes them useful? To determine their uses, be introduced with the typical examples of how expense reports are applied. In this section, we outlined seven of the notable applications of expense reports and how they work.

Basic Expense: The basic expense report applies to general expenses. It is the most common example and an easy option for starters. Anything you need to note about finances can be applied here. This statement means that recording the specific date, payment method, payment amount, expense description, and name of vendors is expected to happen. And startup or small businesses often rely on the basic expense sheet for financial statements or accounting purposes.Travel Expense: Another typical application is using an expense report for travel. This application is quite common since around $1.33 trillion was spent on business travel expenses globally. That is, according to Statista’s 2017 research survey. Employees use travel expense reports when they head out to certain destinations, and the company covers their travel fees. Fees involving plane tickets, transportation, hotels, and restaurants are among those covered. And receipts are needed to prove that the report is true.Event Expense: A formal gathering, business meeting, birthday party, Christmas party, or any other event’s expenses are also under event expense report sheets. In most cases, this type of report is necessary for comparing the estimated costs of an event to its actual costs. Hence, expense reports are helpful budget plans as well. It will be vital to calculate the costs like the venue, rental, insurance, public relations, and others. Thankfully, budgeting is under control in using this report.Project Expense: Aside from calculating event expenses, companies also have their form of expense report for projects. But before making the report, the project planners and organizers will have to deal with the management team first. Once the official business budget is approved, then the expenses specified for the project will be outlined in the project expense report. This example is also considered a hybrid of the expense sheet’s different examples aside from noting the project fees. Why so? The report includes travel expenses, business mileage expenses, and more.Business Mileage: We recently mentioned business mileage expenses, but what exactly are they? These expenses refer to the mileage of how far employees have driven in driving their vehicles. An example is when a worker must drive for business purposes, yet that same person needs to use his or her car to do it. But, a company may promise to pay back for the gas or transportation cost according to the mileage. So when a worker spent on any auto service or transportation, driving lets him or her receive compensation with the amount depending on the driving time.Contractor Expense: In addition to project expenses, there are times when projects get bigger in size or scope. Businesses need to hire more people, but it is not always that easy because of the underlying costs. According to a survey, wages or salaries per hour are responsible for approximately 70.4% of employer expenses for workers’ compensation. Since there are already employee expenses in business, the contractor expenses must be separated from it. This way, a contractor expense report helps in determining who contributed to the budget. The same goes for recognizing what or how finances were distributed. The report should also note if contractors are working part-time or full-time since the amount varies too.Timed Expense: While expense reports track company spending, they are also filed weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. And when noting the time or schedule is crucial for expense reporting, use the timed expense report instead. Thus, it will be easy to track expenses according to their specific time and date. Be sure to review the expenses according to their dates or the whole report is already wrong.

How to Make an Excellent Expense Report

As human as we are, remembering and notetaking expenses may have errors. That is why there should be a thorough plan on how to write expense-driven data, which is by drafting an expense report. And with many expenses to track, do not be overwhelmed. Instead, learn to familiarize the basic steps on how to create an excellent expense report. To do that, please follow these simple steps:

Step 1: Select Your Preferred Template

From our sample expense report templates, you no longer start from nothing. Explore and choose which template you desire to fulfill your expense report needs. In choosing, always remember to recognize your report’s purpose. Indeed, you track expenses. But are you making an expense report for travel, an event, a project, or any other example? Specify that. With a clear purpose, everything inputted in your report would be relevant. Also, the templates you can choose are already pre-formatted. You only need to fill out what’s missing to complete the document.

Step 2: Familiarize and Tweak the Different Columns

What columns and elements to input in the report are up to you and your expense form’s purpose. And if you are confused with what elements to incorporate, there are generally eight elements. The date, vendor, client, project, account, author, notes, and amount. For example, you indicate when you bought a product under “Date,” and from who or where you bought the product under “Vendor.” And after identifying what answers to provide in each element, be sure to update every column with the answers.

Step 3: Itemize Your Data and Improve the Format

Do not just provide answers without an organized presentation. Of course, data should be itemized for clarity. An example is to present the listed dates in chronological order for your timed expense report. Anything which helps in arranging the details of your document is recommended. Also, tweak the format according to how you want the presentation looks. And why is organizing important? It enables everyone who views the expense report to understand the content easily.

Step 4: Add the Total and Calculate What’s Needed

It is expected among expense reports to add the total amount of expenses. You may calculate for the total costs of office supplies, meals, and other expenses that are relevant to your concern. Aside from the overall expenses, you could input the subtotal of every category incorporated in the sheet. Do not forget other calculations to record in the report too like the tax deductions, profits, income statements, and more. Moreover, mention the over and underpayments if involved, which typically happens in reimbursing employees.

Step 5: Include Receipts if Necessary

Anyone who files for reimbursement must attach printable receipts in justifying claims. Otherwise, employers could easily reject someone’s claim to be reimbursed, especially without proof of where expenses went or how they were utilized. Aside from printed receipts, submitting e-receipts is standard as well wherein receipts are merely scanned or attached as files. Nonetheless, always put it in your head to keep important receipts in case those will be needed for evidence, like reimbursements.

FAQs

What is inside expense reports?

What an expense report contains will depend on who created it and how it was formatted. But generally, these reports include the company name, employee name, date, list of expenses, expense columns (description, code, mileage, etc.), subtotal, total, and signature blocks.

What is a monthly expense report?

It was already mentioned that expense reports could be generated per week, month, and so forth. So, a monthly expense report outlines all the purchases or transactions of any business at a particular month.

What is an expense statement?

The expense statement refers to a detailed report that outlines financial transactions or general expenses. And such statements are also useful in reimbursing workers who spent personal funds for business trips and the like.

At the end of the day, you cannot deny that spending time and effort on managing personal or business expenses can affect you or the business in many ways. Without expense reports, you cannot tell if employees are merely making stories about company expenses. Or perhaps, some workers inflated the price so that they get reimbursed with more money. But, an expense report is not as basic as listing the amount of every expense only. The process also deals with strategic plans on how to record and track expense-driven data—which is how your final expense report should turn out.