# Approve and reimburse expenses

Approve or refuse the expenses waiting for you, post the approved ones to accounting, and pay the employee back from the receipt the posting creates.

A submitted expense goes through two hands: the approver says yes or no, then the accountant posts it to the books. An expense the employee paid becomes a receipt in the employee's name, and paying that receipt is the reimbursement.

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- To approve or refuse, you need an access right on **Expenses**: **Team Approver** for the people you manage, **All Approver** for everyone, **Administrator** for everyone and for your own expenses too. Nobody else approves their own expense.
- To post, you need the **Invoicing** access right on **Accounting**, for all documents.

## Approve or refuse {#approve}

1. Open **Expenses/My Expenses/Expenses to Process**. The list starts with the **Submitted** status ticked in the panel on the left; type in the search bar to find an expense or an employee.

![The submitted expenses waiting for an approver.](https://jaah.app/web/image/10372-6150ff16/vendor-bills-approve-expense-expenses_to_process-en.png)

On a phone, the list opens below the search panel: scroll down to reach the expenses.

2. Open the expense and check the category, the amount and the receipt.
3. In **Actions**, choose **Approve**. The status turns to **Approved** and the approval activity is marked as done.

![The Actions menu of a submitted expense, with Approve and Refuse.](https://jaah.app/web/image/10374-5cd5f798/vendor-bills-approve-expense-approve_menu-en.png)

On a phone, **Actions** is the cog button at the top of the form.

To say no, choose **Refuse** in **Actions** instead, type the **Reason** in the **Refuse Expense** dialog and click **Refuse**: the status turns to **Refused** and the reason is posted on the expense for the employee. On a computer, several expenses can also be ticked in the list and approved with **Approve** above it.

## Post the entry {#post}

4. In **Actions**, choose **Post Journal Entries**. The dialog takes the **Journal**, a purchase journal (the one of [Expenses settings](expenses-settings), or the first purchase journal when none is set), and the **Accounting date**, which becomes the date of the receipt. Click **Post Expenses**.

![The purchase journal and the accounting date of the entry.](https://jaah.app/web/image/10376-9504d537/vendor-bills-approve-expense-post_dialog-en.png)

5. The **Purchase Receipt** opens, already posted: the employee is its vendor, and it is numbered and listed with the bills of that journal.

![The posted receipt names the employee as the one to pay.](https://jaah.app/web/image/10380-8c58e12e/vendor-bills-approve-expense-expense_receipt_posted-en.png)

An expense the company paid needs no receipt: posting it creates and posts its payment at once, and its status goes straight to **Paid**.

## Reimburse the employee {#reimburse}

6. On the receipt, choose **Pay** in **Actions** and click **Create Payment**, as for any bill. The receipt carries the **Paid** ribbon.

![The payment to the employee is the reimbursement.](https://jaah.app/web/image/10384-9d04414f/vendor-bills-approve-expense-receipt_paid-en.png)

7. Go back to the expense with the link at the top: its status is **Paid**.

![Back on the expense, the status reads Paid.](https://jaah.app/web/image/10388-e271a8d9/vendor-bills-approve-expense-expense_paid-en.png)

Accountants who also have **All Approver** on **Expenses** have their own entry point, **Accounting/Vendors/Employee Expenses**, which opens with the expenses to post and to pay; several receipts can be paid at once from the bills list, as in [Pay vendor bills](pay-vendor-bills).

## FAQ {#faq}

### Approve is not in the Actions menu. {#no-approve}

Your access right does not cover this expense: it is your own, or the employee is not one you manage. Someone with **All Approver** or **Administrator** can approve it.

### Can I undo an approval? {#undo}

**Reset** in **Actions** takes the expense back to draft, and the employee submits it again. Once the receipt is posted and not yet paid, set the receipt back to draft first with **Reset to Draft**; **Reset** on the expense then deletes that draft.

### Where do I find the entry of an expense? {#entry}

The **Journal Entry** button at the top of the expense opens it.

### Do approvers get reminders? {#reminders}

Yes, a weekly e-mail tells each approver that expenses wait, with a link to them; see [Vendor bills and expenses automations](vendor-bills-automations).

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/vendor-bills/approve-and-reimburse-expenses
- Updated: 2026-10-23
- Version: Vendor bills and expenses 19.0.2.1
- Verified: 2026-10-23