This article is for: employees, approvers and finance teams.
Sent an expense with the wrong amount, project or receipt? While it's waiting for approval you can take it back yourself, fix it and send it again, without asking your approver to reject it.
Take back a pending expense
Overview
While an expense is Pending, its owner or whoever reported it can take it back with Reset to draft. It goes back to Draft, approvals already given are cleared, and when you send it again it goes through your company's current approval flow from the first step.
How to use
On the web
- Go to My spending > My expenses and open the pending expense.
- Click Reset to draft, then Reset. You'll see "Expense saved as draft".
- Click Edit, make your changes and click Save.
- Click Send for approval.
On the mobile app: open the expense from Expenses, tap Reset to draft > Reset, edit it and tap Send for approval.
With One: ask One to take the expense back. It resets it to draft if it's still pending.
Edit a draft or an expense sent back to you
How to use
You can edit an expense you own or reported while it's Draft or Changes requested.
- Open the expense and click Edit.
- Make your changes and click Save. If you try to leave without saving, choose Continue editing or Discard.
- Click Send for approval.
What can be changed in each status
| Status | Edit | Delete | Take back or restart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draft, Changes requested | Owner or reporter | Owner or reporter | — |
| Pending | Only with Can edit expenses with pending status | No | Owner or reporter: Reset to draft. Admins: Reset approval flow |
| Rejected | No | Only with Can delete rejected manual expenses | Admins: Reset approval flow |
| Approved | No | No | Admins: Reset approval flow |
| In payroll | No | No | Finance: Delete from payslip (back to Approved). It needs the same permission as adding the expense to the payslip, and a closed payroll period may refuse it |
| Sent to pay | No | No | Finance: delete its payment request in Treasury (back to Approved) |
| Paid | No | No | Finance: Undo paid status, only if it was set as paid by hand |
| Payment reversed | No | No | — |
Tips and Best Practices
- Use Reset to draft instead of deleting a pending expense: you keep the receipt and the details.
- Tell your approver in a comment if you take back an expense they were about to review.
- Related: Expense statuses and alerts · How do I delete an expense? · How do I set up the approval flow?
Troubleshooting and FAQ
Troubleshooting
I don't see Reset to draft.
The expense isn't Pending anymore (for example it's already approved), or it isn't yours: only its owner or the person who reported it can take it back. On the web, look for it in My spending > My expenses.
"This expense can no longer be moved back to draft".
Its status changed in the meantime, for example it was just approved or rejected.
"This expense belongs to a group and must be submitted through the group".
A draft in an expense group is sent together with the group, not on its own. Open the group and send it from there.
FAQ
1. How do I resubmit a rejected expense?
You can't send the same expense again. Create a new one with the corrections (you can reuse the receipt). If the rejection was a mistake, ask your admin or finance team to reset its approval flow. See How do I fix an expense that was sent back or rejected?.
2. Can I take back an expense that's already approved?
No. Ask your admin or finance team: they can use Reset approval flow.
3. Can I change who the expense belongs to?
Usually not: the owner is set when the expense is created. See How do I add an expense for someone else?.
4. Will my approver see that I took it back?
It leaves their pending list, and it comes back to them when you send it again, if they're still in the approval flow.
5. What does the Reset to draft window say?
"This action resets the approval flow. You can edit your expense and send it for approval again." Click Reset to confirm; the expense goes back to Draft.
6. What happens if I take back an expense that's part of an expense group?
It's taken out of the group when you use Reset to draft. The rest of the group carries on.
7. Can I take back several pending expenses at once?
Yes. In My spending > My expenses, you can reset one or several pending expenses to draft from the list.
8. After Reset to draft, can I delete the expense instead of sending it again?
Yes. Once it's a Draft, you can edit it, send it again or delete it.
9. What happens if I leave the edit form without saving?
Factorial asks first: "Unsaved changes. Your changes will be lost if you leave this page." Click Continue editing to go back, or Discard to leave without saving.
10. Can an approver or finance edit a pending expense?
Yes, with the Can edit expenses with pending status permission: open the pending expense and edit it. It stays Pending and its approval doesn't restart.
11. How do admins send an expense through approval again?
With the Reset the expense approval flow permission, open a pending, approved or rejected expense and use Reset approval flow. It goes back to Pending at the first step of the approval flow. This doesn't let the employee edit it.
12. How do I ask One to take back an expense?
Ask One, for example, "I sent the taxi expense with the wrong description, can you take it back?". One resets it to draft if it's still pending, and can then help you fix it.
13. Where can I take back a pending expense?
On the web, on the mobile app, or by asking One. In all three, the expense goes back to Draft.
14. Which budgets, projects and cost centres can One set on my expense?
Only budgets and projects the expense's owner is assigned to and that are valid on the expense's Document date. One sets one cost centre per expense: it can't split an expense across several cost centres.
15. What can I ask One to do when a draft can't be sent?
If a draft can't be sent because something is missing, tell One how to fix it, for example "Put it on the Leeds office project", "Charge it to the Marketing budget" or "Add the cost centre Sales". One also fills in a missing required field you give it. One only sets budgets and projects the expense's owner is assigned to, and one cost centre per expense.
16. Can I edit or delete a Factorial card expense?
You can't delete it, and its amount, vendor name and currency can't be changed in any status. You can edit the other fields, such as category, description or project, while it's a Draft.
17. Can finance remove an expense from the payslip?
Yes. On an expense that is In payroll, finance uses Delete from payslip and the expense goes back to Approved. It needs the same permission as adding the expense to the payslip, and a closed payroll period may refuse it.