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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://grantmaster.dev/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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Expense Management Workflow

This guide covers submitting, approving, and tracking expenses in GrantMaster.

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Overview

Create Expense → Attach Receipt → Submit → Manager Review → Approve/Reject/Flag → Compliance Check → Recorded

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Submitting an Expense

Who: All Members, Managers, Admins Where: Expenses > New Expense

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Steps

  1. Click New Expense or use the Command Palette (Cmd+K > “Create Expense”)
  2. Fill in the required fields:
    • Amount and currency
    • Category (Travel, Supplies, Personnel, Consultants, Equipment, etc.)
    • Project — which project this expense is charged to
    • Grant (optional) — which grant allocation to draw from
    • Date of the expense
    • Description — brief explanation of the expenditure
  3. Upload receipt — attach a photo or scan of the receipt
    • The AI Vision service can auto-extract amount, vendor, and date from receipt images
  4. Click Submit to send for approval

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Expense Statuses

StatusMeaning
DraftCreated but not yet submitted
PendingSubmitted and awaiting manager approval
ApprovedApproved by a manager or admin
RejectedRejected with a reason — can be revised and resubmitted
FlaggedFlagged for compliance review before final approval

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Approving Expenses

Who: Managers, Admins Where: Expenses > Pending Approvals

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Steps

  1. Navigate to the Pending Approvals view
  2. Review expense details including receipt, amount, category, and project allocation
  3. Choose an action:
    • Approve — confirms the expense and records it against the budget
    • Reject — returns to the submitter with a reason for rejection
    • Flag — escalates for compliance review (e.g., unusual amount, missing documentation)
  4. For high-value expenses, a multi-stage approval workflow may apply (configured by your Admin)

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Bulk Approval

Managers can select multiple expenses and approve them in bulk from the Pending view. Only expenses within your project scope and approval authority are eligible for bulk actions.

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Compliance Checks

GrantMaster automatically checks expenses against:
  • Budget limits — warns if the expense would push a budget category over its allocation
  • Grant rules — validates that the expense category is allowable under the linked grant
  • Policy engine — applies organization-level compliance policies (e.g., travel per-diem limits, procurement thresholds)
When a compliance violation is detected, the expense is automatically flagged with a description of the rule that was triggered.

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Tracking & Reporting

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Filtering

Use the Expense dashboard filters to view expenses by:
  • Project — all expenses for a specific project
  • Status — pending, approved, flagged, or rejected
  • Date range — custom time periods
  • Category — specific expense types
  • Submitter — expenses by a specific team member

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Budget Impact

Each approved expense updates the real-time budget utilization on:
  • The Project Budget tab
  • The Active Grant spending tracker
  • The Compliance Dashboard (overall financial health)

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Export

Expenses can be exported for donor reporting via Reports > Exports in PDF, Excel, or CSV formats.

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Best Practices

  • Submit promptly — log expenses within 48 hours to maintain accurate budget tracking
  • Attach receipts always — even for small amounts; this is a common audit requirement
  • Use the correct project and grant — misallocated expenses create compliance issues downstream
  • Check budget before large purchases — use the Budget Monitoring view to verify available funds
  • Add clear descriptions — auditors and managers rely on descriptions to understand expenditures

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Limitations

  • Receipt OCR extraction is AI-assisted and may require manual correction for handwritten or low-quality receipts
  • Multi-stage approval workflows require Admin configuration — they are not enabled by default
  • Expenses cannot be deleted after approval; they must be offset with adjustment entries
  • Currency conversion uses the exchange rate at submission time, not at approval time