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Configure expenses forms (regular, per diem & mileage)

Learn how to set up and customize both regular expenses and per diem forms to streamline your expense reporting process.

Why configure the expense form?

By adjusting the Expense form settings, admins and finance teams ensure employees submit expenses with the right data from the start. This reduces back-and-forth, supports compliance, and keeps accounting clean.

 With Regular, Mileage, and Per Diem forms tailored to your company’s needs, employees can submit expenses faster while finance gets accurate data from the start.

You can decide:

  • Which fields employees see when submitting Regular, Mileage, or Per Diem expenses.
  • Which fields are optional or required.
  • Whether important fields such as subcategories, projects, or cost centers are shown.
 

Accessing the expense form settings

  1. On your sidebar, go to Settings and then search for the Expenses settings option.
  2. Once inside, search for the Expenses form section.
  3. Choose the expense type you want to configure: Regular, Mileage, or Per Diem.
  4. For each field, choose one of the following options:
    • Required - employees cannot submit the form without filling this field.
    • Optional - employees may leave the field empty.
    • Hidden - the field does not appear on the form.
  5. Save your changes.

Only admins or users with the right permissions can edit the forms. Employees will immediately see the updated form in the Spending section when creating new expenses.

 

 


Configuring the Regular expense form

In Expense form > Regular, you can enable or require fields such as:

Field Mandatory by default
Budget Optional
Category Optional
Cost center Optional
Description Optional
Document Mandatory
Document currency Mandatory
Document date Mandatory
Document number Mandatory if Document = Invoice; Optional if Document = Receipt
Document total amount Mandatory
Document type Optional
Exchange rate Optional
Internal reference Optional
Payment method Optional
Payment type (reimbursable or not) Mandatory
Project Optional
Provider name Mandatory if Document = Invoice; Optional if Document = Receipt
Provider NIF Mandatory if Document = Invoice; Optional if Document = Receipt
Reimbursable amount Mandatory
Reimbursable currency Optional
Subcategory Optional
Tax (base amount, tax type, tax amount) Mandatory if Document = Invoice; Optional if Document = Receipt

Tip: Factorial’s OCR automatically extracts many of these values when a receipt is uploaded.

 

 


Configuring the Mileage expense form

In Expense form > Mileage, you can manage:

Field Mandatory by default
Budget Optional
Cost center Optional
Currency Mandatory
Date Mandatory
Description Optional
Document Optional
Internal reference Optional
Measuring unit Mandatory
Mileage rate Mandatory
Origin Optional
Project Optional
Reimbursable amount Mandatory
Subcategory Optional
Total distance Mandatory

 

Configuring the Per Diem expense form

In Expense form > Per Diem, you can define the following fields:

Field Mandatory by default
Budget Optional
Description Optional
Destination Optional
Document Optional
End date Mandatory
Internal reference Optional
Origin Optional
Per diem rate Mandatory
Project Optional
Start date Mandatory
Subcategory Optional

Adding subcategories

You can add subcategories to make categories more detailed:

  1. Open the relevant expense form (Regular, Mileage, or Per Diem).
  2. Scroll to Subcategories.
  3. Choose a parent category, then click Add option.

Showing cost centers and projects

  • Enable the Cost center field if you want employees to tag their expenses by cost center.
  • Activate the Project field to link expenses to specific projects and track budget utilization.

OCR & auto-fill behavior

When employees upload a receipt (Regular/Mileage):

  • OCR extracts values like date, merchant, total, and taxes.
  • These are pre-filled in the form.
  • Employees can review and adjust before submitting.

For Per Diems, OCR is not relevant since no receipts are usually required, but you can still allow employees to attach documents if needed.

 

Best practices

  • Start simple: only enable the fields you really need.
  • Make required only what’s essential: e.g. vendor, amount, receipt for Regular; dates and rate for Per Diem.
  • Mirror your accounting needs: if you reclaim VAT, make tax fields required.
  • Keep employees in mind: too many required fields slow submissions and lead to errors.
  • Review periodically: Company needs evolve - revisit your form settings every quarter to ensure alignment.
 

FAQ

  1. Do these settings apply on mobile too?
    Yes, employees see the same form fields on both web and mobile.
     
  2. Can different teams see different forms?
    No, the form is global. Use policies and approval flows for team-specific rules.
     
  3. Can we hide Per Diem if we don’t use it?
    Yes, you can simply avoid enabling the Per Diem form in settings.

 

 

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