In many organisations, the expense claim gets built at the end of the month. The employee empties their wallet, digs out the receipts, tries to remember which client that lunch was for, then fills in a spreadsheet that goes off by email. Finance discovers the spend three weeks after it was committed, and the controller allocates it by hand.

The cost of that process never shows up as a line item: it sits in the time spent rebuilding claims, in lost receipts and in rebillable expenses nobody remembers to rebill. AlibeeZ tackles the problem at its root, which is the moment of entry.

The panel above shows a March expense claim on a “Core rebuild” project: four lines (train, hotel, client meal, taxi), each with its receipt attached, its amount and its rebillable or internal status, for a total claimed of €490.50. The claim is attached to the project and the cost centre at entry. This article walks through that mechanism.

A line that carries everything the next steps need

In AlibeeZ, you do not enter a bare amount for someone to complete later. Each expense is entered with:

  • its category (travel, accommodation, meals…), used later for approval and accounting;
  • its project and activity, so the spend lands on the right engagement;
  • its cost centre, so analytical allocation happens at the source;
  • its currency, the one the expense was actually paid in;
  • its receipt, attached to the line itself.

That last point matters more than it seems. The receipt does not live in an envelope or a separate shared folder: it is attached to the expense it proves. The manager who approves, the accountant who checks and, where relevant, the client being rebilled all look at the same line with the same document.

Administrators can also allow or block expense entry project by project, so spend cannot land on an engagement that does not provide for it.

The receipt photographed, then read automatically

The fastest entry is the one you do not have to type. AlibeeZ works with Mindee, a French API for automatic document reading: the receipt photographed by the employee is read, and the amount, VAT, date and supplier pre-fill the line. All that is left is to check it and pick the project.

Because AlibeeZ is available on desktop, tablet and mobile, the expense can be entered where it happens: getting out of the taxi, at the hotel desk, on client site. The receipt has no time to get lost.

Any currency, with no conversion redone later

One employee on assignment in London pays in pounds, another in Montreal pays in Canadian dollars. AlibeeZ accepts entry in whatever currency the spend was made. Tracking then happens in the original or converted currency, with historised rates.

Historisation has a concrete consequence: a conversion redone later cannot change an amount that has already been approved. The figure the manager approved is the one accounting receives and the one that enters the project margin.

Rebillable or internal: decided at entry

On the panel, three lines are marked “Rebill” and the taxi is marked “Internal”. That distinction is made at the moment of entry, not at billing time. It is what allows a rebillable expense to reach the client invoice on its own later, instead of waiting for somebody to remember it.

What happens next, from the margin rule held on the contract to the line added to the invoice, has its own article: how AlibeeZ rebills expenses to the client.

From submission to reimbursement, a visible status

Once the claim is submitted, the employee no longer needs to email accounting to find out where it stands. Processing status is tracked in real time, from submission to reimbursement.

Reimbursement itself is covered: AlibeeZ produces the SEPA transfer files for expense reimbursements. The claim does not leave the system to get paid.

Between submission and reimbursement comes approval. It has its own rules (thresholds, second approver, accounting export), which we cover in expense approval in AlibeeZ.

What entry changes for each person involved

Because everything is captured at the source, each person gains something specific:

  • The employee enters expenses as they go, with the receipt read automatically, and follows the claim through to reimbursement.
  • The manager sees the line, the receipt and the project together, and decides in seconds.
  • Finance sees committed spend on the day it is committed, by person and by project, not at month-end close.
  • Accounting receives spend already allocated by project, activity and cost centre.
  • The project manager finds approved expenses in the engagement margin, next to consumed time.

That is where the productivity gain of going paperless comes from: nobody rebuilds a claim from a pile of receipts, and nobody re-keys what has already been entered.

To go further, see how approved expenses reach the invoice in fast billing with AlibeeZ, and why a clean data repository (projects, cost centres, categories) is what makes entry reliable.

Frequently asked questions

Do amounts and dates have to be typed in by hand?

Not necessarily. Through the Mindee integration, the photographed receipt is read automatically: amount, VAT, date and supplier pre-fill the line. The employee checks it and picks the project.

Can an expense paid in a foreign currency be entered?

Yes, whatever currency was spent. Tracking is in the original or converted currency, with historised rates, so a conversion redone later cannot change an already-approved amount.

What is the expense attached to?

The relevant project, activity and cost centre, from the moment it is entered. The spend therefore flows straight into project reporting and, once approved, into the engagement margin.

Can employees see where their claim stands?

Yes. Processing status is tracked in real time, from submission to reimbursement, without having to ask accounting.