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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2024-09-20
Create Expense Items

Create Expense Items

  • Review setup considerations for expense items.
  • Security:
    Set Up: Expense Item
     domain in the Expenses functional area.
Expense items enable payees to provide specific information on expense reports and spend authorizations, such as meals, office supplies, and team events.
You can configure attributes to add to your expense items, which enables you to gather additional information from payees.
You can create and link rate tables to expense items, enabling Workday to calculate reimbursement amounts automatically for greater spend control.
To meet specific business needs, you can configure expense items such as:
  • Distance-based expense items, which calculate reimbursement amounts automatically for the distances that payees travel.
  • Per diem expense items, which enable payees to provide detailed daily cost breakdowns for business trips.
  1. Access the
    Create Expense Item
     or
    Edit Expense Item
     task.
  2. As you complete the
    Summary
     section, consider:
    Option Description
    Search Keywords
    Enter alternate words that payees can use to search for expense items. Ensure that you separate each word with a comma.
    Expense Policy Group
    Select from the expense policy groups that you create on the
    Maintain Expense Policy Groups
     task to associate expense items with specific travel and expense policies. You can then assign policy groups and their items to security segments to restrict expense item availability to specific payees.
    Expense Item Group
    Select from the expense item groups that you create on the
    Maintain Expense Item Group
     task to display subcategories on the
    Expense Item
     prompt on:
    • Expense reports.
    • Spend authorizations.
    You can also use expense item groups to:
    • Post expense lines to specific ledger accounts.
    • Report on groups of similar expense items.
    Default Tax Applicability
    Select which default tax applicability to associate with the expense item when Workday can't find matching tax rules for it. See Steps: Set Up Taxes for Expense Reports.
    Hide Itemization
    Select to exclude itemization for an expense item. This selection hides the itemization section in the expense report line for the associated expense item. Workday recommends not selecting
    Hide Itemization
     on:
    • Expense items that have itemizations mapped or configured
    • Hotel Expense Item
    • Travel Journals
    Inactive
    Select to prevent payees from selecting the expense item on future expense reports and spend authorizations. When you inactivate expense items, Workday doesn't remove them from existing expense reports and spend authorizations. Example: Inactivate your
    Mileage
     expense item from last year so that payees don't use it on future expense transactions.
    If you configure per diem expense items, consider:
    Option Description
    Per Diem
    Select to identify expense items as per diem expense items in your custom reports. When you select this check box, you can use custom validations to notify payees that they're using the same date multiple times on a per diem item.
    Workday selects this check box automatically when you enable travel journal functionality, and you can't clear it.
    Enable Travel Journal
    Select to enable travel journal functionality when payees select the expense item on expense reports.
    When you enable this functionality, the expense item that you're creating becomes a parent expense item. See Concept: Parent and Child Expense Items.
    When payees select the parent item and enter departure and arrival dates, Workday displays a travel journal on the expense line. Payees can enter per diem expenses on their travel journal, which Workday uses to calculate daily reimbursement amounts.
    Travel Journal Item
    Select which child expense item to associate with the parent expense item. Workday then displays all attributes from the child expense item on the travel journal, but doesn't display the child item itself.
    Travel Journal Configured as
    24-Hour Periods
    : Calculates per diem reimbursements over a 24-hour period, beginning from the trip start time. Example: A trip beginning at 11:00 populates the first travel journal line, and ends at 10:59 the next day.
    Calendar Days
    : Calculates per diem reimbursements from midnight of the calendar date that you select, until midnight of the next calendar date.
    Rounding Option for Hours
    Specify whether to round minutes up or down to the closest hour or half hour so that Workday can calculate per diem reimbursement amounts.
    Non Editable Number of Hours
    Select to prevent payees from editing the
    Number of Hours
     field on travel journal lines.
    Don't select this check box when you want to enable payees to edit the number of hours for their trip. Example: Payees who take half a day off in the middle of their trip.
  3. As you complete the
    Processing
     section, consider:
    Option Description
    Expense Item Amount Type
    Actual Amount
    : Enables payees to enter amounts on expense lines manually.
    Based on Allowance Plan
    : Enables you to associate expense items with an employee allowance plan. See Steps: Manage Reimbursable Accounts.
    Maximum Line Amount
     and
    Maximum Daily Amount
    : Set a maximum allowable amount against the expense item on each expense line, or set a maximum allowable amount for an entire calendar date. When you select these options with the:
    • Use Fixed/Max Expense Amount
       option, the maximum line, or daily amount applies to all payees in all scenarios.
    • Use Expense Rate Table
       option, Workday uses rules and criteria from the associated rate table to calculate amounts. Example: You enter 100 EUR on a travel-related expense item and select Italy as your travel destination. However, the associated rate table permits a maximum of 80 EUR for payees who travel to Italy.
    Fixed Amount
    : Sets a fixed and noneditable amount against the expense item when payees select the item on expense lines. When you use this option with the:
    • Use Fixed/Max Expense Amount
       option, the fixed line amount always remains the same.
    • Use Expense Rate Table
       option, Workday uses rules from the associated rate table to calculate the noneditable amount.
    Expense Item Calculation
    Select a method by which to calculate the amount types that you select in the
    Expense Item Amount Type
     section.
    You can use the
    Use Expense Rate Table
     and
    Use Fixed/Max Expense Amount
     options only with these options:
    • Fixed Amount
    • Maximum Daily Amount
    • Maximum Line Amount
    You can use the
    None of the above
     option only with these options:
    • Actual Amount
    • Based on Allowance Plan
    Enable Rate Tables for Spend Authorizations
    Select to enable the rate table associated with the expense item when payees select the item on spend authorizations.
    When you select this check box, you might restrict the amount that payees can submit on their spend authorizations. Example: You set a maximum of 800 USD on your rate table, but the payee estimates an expense of 1000 USD on their spend authorization.
    Select the
    Allow Overage
     check box to enable payees to submit spend authorization amounts exceeding the maximum amounts you define.
    Multiply Per Diem by Number of Days on Spend Authorization
    Select this check box only when instructed to do so by Professional Services.
    Quantity and Per Unit Amount Not Enterable
    Select to inactivate the
    Quantity
     and
    Per Unit Amount
     fields on the expense item, which can help ensure accurate expense data.
    Example: Select this check box on your
    Conference
     expense item to prevent payees from entering costs for multiple conferences on 1 expense line.
    Allow Overage
    Select to enable payees to submit amounts exceeding the maximum amount that you set on the expense item.
  4. As you complete the
    Expense Item Attributes
     section, see Concept: Expense Item Attributes, and also consider:
    Option Description
    Display Arrival Date before Departure Date
    Select to ensure that payees enter their trip start date in the
    Arrival Date
     field, and their trip end date in the
    Departure Date
     field.
    Non Editable Number of Days
    Select to prevent payees from editing the
    Number of Days
     field on travel journal lines.
    Don't select this check box when you want to enable payees to edit the number of days for their trip. Example: Payees who travel on multiday business trips and take time off in the middle of their trip.
    Expense Report: Required
    Spend Authorization: Required
    Select these check boxes to ensure that payees provide information on your expense item attributes.
    Don't select these check boxes for configurable boolean attributes.
  5. On the
    Related Worktags
     tab, you can add worktags on expense items to capture additional data at expense line level.
  6. On the
    Rate Tables
     tab, you can add rate tables and accumulators on expense items to calculate reimbursement amounts using rates.
    We reset the accumulated amount on an expense item when you change the attribute to evaluate on its associated rate table. When you want to change the attribute to evaluate, we recommend creating a new expense item instead of editing an existing item that's using an accumulator.
  7. On the
    Itemization Mapping
     tab, you can configure itemization for expense items for more detailed cost breakdowns.
  8. As you complete the
    Distance Calculation
     tab, consider:
    You might need to take additional steps to enable this feature depending on your organization's subscription service agreement. For more information, see this Community article.
    Option Description
    Origin Address
    Destination Address
    Estimated Distance of Driving Route
    Select to enable payees to enter origin and destination addresses for their driving routes on expense reports and spend authorizations. To help ensure that distance-based expense data is complete and accurate, you can only enable these attributes as a set.
    When payees enter addresses, Workday uses Google Maps to provide an estimated distance on the expense line. Workday then uses the estimated distance and rates from the associated rate table to calculate reimbursement amounts.
    You can use only
    Amount
     and
    Graduated Amount
     rate table types with distance-based expense items.
    Trip Distance Including Diversions
    Select to enable payees to enter distances different from the estimated distances that Google Maps provides. Examples: When payees take alternate routes because of traffic diversions, or to avoid toll roads.
    When you enable this attribute alongside other distance-based attributes, Workday automatically populates this attribute with the estimated distance on expense lines, but payees can edit the field.
    If you don't opt in to distance-based expense items, you can still enable
    Trip Distance Including Diversions
     as a standalone attribute so that payees can enter trip distances manually.
    One-Way Daily Commute Distance
    Select to subtract commute distances from trip distances or estimated distances.
    You can use this attribute only when you enable 1 or both of these attributes:
    • Estimated Distance of Driving Route
    • Trip Distance Including Diversions
    Round Trip
    Select to designate trips as round trips on a single expense line, which doubles the distance to expense.
    You can use this attribute only when you enable 1 or both of these attributes:
    • Estimated Distance of Driving Route
    • Trip Distance Including Diversions
    Distance to Expense
    Calculates the distance to expense after subtracting the daily commute distance. When you designate a trip as a round trip, Workday doubles the distance to expense automatically.
    You can't enable this attribute manually. Workdays adds the attribute on your expense item when you select 1 or both of these attributes:
    • One-Way Daily Commute Distance
    • Round Trip
Configure security permissions for your expense items.