Information to Prepare Before Submission
Before creating a report, the employee should gather receipts and confirm that each expense meets the organization's reimbursement policy. The required information can vary according to expense type, project assignment, employee role, and company configuration.
- Transaction details: Record the date, merchant, amount, currency, and business purpose.
- Supporting documents: Attach receipts or other documentation required by company policy.
- Accounting information: Select the applicable project, account, organization, charge code, or other required coding fields.
- Expense classification: Choose the appropriate expense category so the transaction can be reviewed and accounted for correctly.
- Policy information: Review applicable limits, required approvals, and documentation requirements before submission.
How to Submit an Expense Report in Costpoint
The exact screen names and navigation steps can differ by Costpoint version and organizational configuration, but the underlying workflow follows several practical stages.
1. Open the expense reporting function: Sign in to Costpoint and navigate to the employee expense reporting area available to your role.
2. Create the report: Start a new report and provide the required report-level information, such as reporting period, purpose, or other organizational fields.
3. Enter expenses: Add each eligible business expense with its date, amount, category, description, and required project or accounting information.
4. Attach documentation: Add receipts and other supporting records to the corresponding transactions when required.
5. Review the report: Check amounts, dates, categories, project assignments, tax information, and attachments before submission.
6. Submit for approval: Use the submission action to route the completed report into the configured approval workflow.
Review, Coding, and Approval
Expense reports should be reviewed for completeness and accurate accounting treatment before reimbursement. Finance teams may validate expense categories, project assignments, tax treatment, supporting documentation, and applicable approval requirements.
For broader invoice workflows, accurate GL coding connects captured financial information with the organization's chart of accounts. Costpoint users should also understand how their expense process fits within the broader ERP environment. When finance teams integrate or extend deltek Costpoint workflows, consistent coding and approval structures help maintain reliable financial records.
After submission, an expense report may pass through one or more approval stages before eligible amounts are processed for reimbursement and accounting. The specific routing depends on organizational rules and the employee's assigned project or department.
Expense Reports and Month-End Accounting
Expense reporting also affects period-end financial reporting because expenses may be incurred before an employee submits the related report. Finance teams therefore need processes for identifying expenses that belong to the current accounting period and recording them appropriately.
Within accounts payable and related accounting workflows, accrual discovery, estimation, booking, reversal, GRNI, and cut-off procedures help ensure expenses are recognized in the appropriate period. Broader accruals processes can support month-end expense recognition when supporting invoices or employee submissions arrive after the reporting period closes.
For recurring expenses that have not yet been submitted, Accruals Discovery For Recurring Expenses Without PO can use historical patterns and other inputs to identify recurring non-PO expenses for accrual planning.
Automation Across Expense and Accrual Workflows
Modern finance workflows can connect expense reporting with intelligent accounting processes. For example, Automated Booking Of Accruals can use Agentic AI to select appropriate GL codes, create journal entries based on expense type, and post accruals to the ERP.
Invoice-related workflows can also apply configurable matching rules. Matching Startegy Configuration supports 3-way, 2-way, or no matching according to vendor or expense-category requirements, helping organizations align automated processing with internal rules.
When goods have been received but the related invoice has not yet arrived, Accruals Discovery For Goods Recieved supports timely expense recognition and invoice matching for month-end reporting.
Common Submission Checks
A final review before submission helps employees identify incomplete or inconsistent information while the transaction details are still available. The most useful checks focus on whether every expense has sufficient business context and appropriate accounting support.
- Confirm that every transaction has the correct date and amount.
- Verify that receipts are attached where required.
- Check project, account, organization, and expense-category coding.
- Review reimbursable and non-reimbursable items according to company policy.
- Confirm that the report contains all required explanations and approvals.
- Review the total reimbursement amount before submitting the report.
Expense Report Filing and Finance Records
The completed submission becomes part of the organization's financial workflow and may support reimbursement, project costing, audit documentation, and financial reporting. An Employee Expense Report provides a structured record of spending incurred by an individual for authorized business purposes.
Expense Report Filing is the broader practice of collecting, organizing, submitting, and retaining expense documentation according to organizational and accounting requirements. Consistent filing helps finance teams trace transactions from employee submission through approval and accounting treatment.
Summary
How to Submit an Expense Report in Costpoint involves creating the report, entering accurate expense details, attaching supporting documentation, reviewing accounting information, and submitting the report for approval. A disciplined process connects employee spending with project accounting, reimbursement, accruals, and financial reporting while giving finance teams a structured record for review and period-end accounting.