When expenses are sent to you for approval, you have the option to:

• Approve and pay the expenses.
• Hold the expenses if payment needs to be delayed or if the expenses require additional information before they can be approved.

If your workspace does not require expense approvals, or if the expense is sent to you by a friend, you will not need to approve the expense and instead can immediately pay the expense when you are ready.

Approve expenses

When someone sends an expense or a group of expenses to you for approval, you’ll receive the expense in Expensify Chat for the related workspace. Chats with new updates appear with a green dot to the right of the chat message. Concierge also sends you an email notification for the new expense.

To approve an expense,

1. Open the Expensify Chat thread for the expense.
2. Click the expense or group of expenses.
3. Review the expense details to ensure they are correct. Look at each receipt, the amount, the description, and any additional details.
4. Determine the next steps.
   • Approve: When you’re satisfied with the expense, click Approve.
   • Handle holds: If any of the expenses are on hold, you can choose to either approve only the expenses that are not on hold or approve the full amount, including any held expenses.
   • Request changes: You can add a comment to the expense’s chat thread in your Expensify Chat inbox to request changes to the expense details.

Admins can modify an expense, if needed.

You’re now ready to pay the expense.

Hold an expense

If you need to delay a payment or if you need more information on the expense before it can be approved, you can hold the expense.

To hold an expense,

1. Open the Expensify Chat thread for the expense.
2. Click the expense or group of expenses.
3. Click the three dot menu at the top right of the expense and select Hold.
4. Enter a reason for the delay.
5. Review the Hold Overview page and click Got It.

When you’re ready, you can choose to:

• Remove the hold: Complete the steps above and select Unhold.
• Approve the expense: Complete the steps above for “Approve expenses.” Once the expense has been approved, you can now pay the expense.

Held expenses will not be available for payment until they have been approved.

Pay expenses

Once you’ve approved an expense—or if the expense does not require approval—you’ll be able to pay it.

To pay expenses within Expensify, you’ll need to set up your Expensify Wallet.

To pay an expense,

1. Open the Expensify Chat thread for the expense.
2. Click the expense or group of expenses.
3. Select a payment option.
   • Click Pay to pay the full expense within Expensify. If the expenses contain one that has been held, the pay amount will only include the expenses that have not been held. Then you’ll select your payment method.
   • Click Pay Elsewhere to indicate that a payment has been sent using a method outside of Expensify, such as cash or a check. This will label the expense as Paid.