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Planned company paid expenses are designed to support a flexible lifecycle that can be entered at any point. Regardless of status you can see all your planned expenses in one place in Expenses > Planned Expenses.
Steps: Creating a planned expense
Steps: Export planned expenses as a bill to pay (Xero and QuickBooks customers only)
Facts at a glance
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What this does: Using planned expenses offers better visibility of anticipated project costs and budget burn, an “approval to spend” on a project, and the ability to export these as bills to pay.
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Where it lives: From any screen → + New → Expense; view all planned items in Expenses > Planned Expenses.
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Who can do it: Anyone that can create an expense (company paid or reimbursable) can set them as planned. Ability to create expenses for a project is set at an access level in Settings > Users > Access Levels.
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Menu path: + New → Expense → select Planned or unpaid expense.
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What you need first: (Xero and QuickBooks customers only) Supplier field enabled by the Projectworks administrator; special permissions to see/edit Ready to export as a bill to pay in Xero; (optional) permissions to mark Approved to spend (off by default).
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What you’ll change/use: Project; Budget; Type of Expense; Comment; Price/Currency/Sales Tax; To be paid for with my own money first / Company to pay directly; Status; Expected Date / Date; Supplier (Xero/QuickBooks customers only); Supplier Invoice Reference; Payment Due Date; Ready to export as a bill to pay in Xero; Receipts or documentation.
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Limits & gotchas: Status is only for planned expenses to be paid directly by the company; not all statuses are available for everyone; expected date passing does not auto-mark paid; unless voided, all expenses impact budget burn and margin; Supplier field only shows for Xero/QuickBooks when enabled; reimbursable expenses always require an attachment.
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What success looks like: Planned expense appears in Expenses > Planned Expenses; expected date factors into projected burn and projected margin (if billable); when exported and paid in Xero/QuickBooks, the expense moves from planned to paid in Projectworks.
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Related tasks: Read more about exporting planned expenses as a bill to pay suppliers →; Read more about permissions for approval to spend →; Read more about using planned expenses for purchase orders →; Read more about approving reimbursable expenses →; Read more about adding a supplier field to expenses →; Read more about exporting planned expenses →.
Before you begin
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Anyone that can create an expense can set them as planned. Ability to create expenses for a project is controlled per access level and can be restricted by:
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projects the user is assigned to,
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is the project manager for,
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any project in their organisation,
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or any project in the system.
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This is set up by the Projectworks administrator in Settings > Users > Access Levels.
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(Optional) Enable permissions to mark planned expenses as Approved to spend (off by default).
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(Xero and QuickBooks customers only) Supplier field must be enabled by the Projectworks administrator; special permissions are required to see and edit Ready to export as a bill to pay in Xero.
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Your Projectworks administrator can make attachments optional for company paid expenses (with control dependent on status). Reimbursable expenses always require an attachment.
Steps: Creating a planned expense
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From any screen, click + New and choose Expense.
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In the first option, change Already paid for to Planned or unpaid expense if the expense is to be paid in the future.
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Complete the form fields as needed: Project, Budget, Type of Expense, Comment, Price, Currency, Sales Tax, and choose To be paid for with my own money first or Company to pay directly.
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If the expense is company to pay directly, set Status (options may vary): Draft, Approved to spend, Supplier invoice received, Paid, Void.
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Set Expected Date / Date. This date will factor into projected burn (if billable to the customer) as well as projected margin.
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(Xero and QuickBooks customers only) If Status = Supplier invoice received, enter Supplier Invoice Reference and Payment Due Date.
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(Xero and QuickBooks customers only) If in Supplier invoice received, and you have special permissions, use Ready to export as a bill to pay in Xero when applicable.
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Attach Receipts or documentation per your administrator’s rules (reimbursable expenses always require an attachment).
Whilst the majority of the fields are the similar to company paid or reimbursable expense there are few fields which are worth drawing your attention too.
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Field |
Description |
|---|---|
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Status |
The status field is specific to (and will only show for) planned expenses that are to be paid for directly by the company. Not all these statuses will be available all the time for everyone; read more about statuses and how these can support purchase orders. The status field can be set to: • Draft • Approved to spend • Supplier invoice received • Paid • Void |
|
Expected Date / Date |
This date will factor into projected burn (if billable to the customer) as well as projected margin. If a planned expense passes it’s expected payment date it is not automatically updated to paid - this process is entirely in your hands where you can manually mark them as paid, or bring back the paid status from Xero if they have been exported as a bill to pay. You might also push out the expected payment date, or mark them as void (or delete them). Unless voided, all expenses will impact the budget burn and margin. |
|
Supplier |
Xero and QuickBooks customers only |
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Supplier Invoice Reference |
This field becomes visible when the planned expense status is set to ‘Supplier invoice received’. If the expense is marked as ‘Ready for export as a bill to pay’ this becomes a mandatory field. |
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Payment Due Date |
This field becomes visible when the planned expense status is set to ‘Supplier invoice received’. If the expense is marked as “Ready for export as a bill to pay” this becomes mandatory field. |
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Ready to export as a bill to pay in Xero |
The checkbox is specific to (and will only show for) planned expenses that are to be paid for directly by the company and in the ‘Supplier invoice received’ state. Special permissions are required to see and edit this checkbox (read more). |
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Receipts or documentation |
Your Projectworks administrator can make attachments optional for company paid expenses, with control over requiring them dependent on the status (e.g. draft or paid). This might be useful if you have nothing to upload while still planning out your expense as a draft, but must upload something once a supplier invoice has been received. Reimbursable expenses always require an attachment. |
Steps: Manage the lifecycle
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See all planned expenses in Expenses > Planned Expenses.
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Draft → anticipate an expense.
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Draft → Approved to spend (if permissions enabled) to stamp an approved amount to spend (details remain editable; approver and amount remain visible).
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Approved to spend → Supplier invoice received when the supplier invoice arrives (add payment due date and exact details).
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Supplier invoice received → Paid once paid; it is no longer a planned expense and becomes a normal expense that has been already paid for.
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Draft / Approved to spend / Supplier invoice received → Void if it never eventuates (void expenses no longer impact project costs and budget burn; still editable).
Use Status to communicate and control the lifecycle:
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If a planned expense passes its expected payment date, update manually (e.g., mark as paid, adjust the date, or mark as void/delete). Projectworks does not automatically change status.
Steps: Export planned expenses as a bill to pay (Xero and QuickBooks customers only)
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Create the planned expense as company to pay directly.
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Set Status = Supplier invoice received.
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Enter Supplier Invoice Reference and Payment Due Date (mandatory if marked Ready for export as a bill to pay).
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Use Ready to export as a bill to pay in Xero (special permissions required).
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Once the supplier has been paid in your accounting system, the paid status is pulled back and the expense in Projectworks moves from planned to paid.
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Read more about exporting planned expenses as a bill to pay suppliers →.
Validation / Expected result
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You should see the planned expense listed under Expenses > Planned Expenses.
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You should see the Expected Date / Date factoring into projected burn (if billable to the customer) and projected margin.
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The record now shows Paid in Projectworks once the supplier has been paid in your accounting system (for exported expenses to Xero or QuickBooks).
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The record now shows Void if you voided an item; void expenses no longer impact project costs and budget burn.
FAQ
Q. What happens to planned expenses once the expected date is passed?
Nothing. Projectworks does not automatically change the status of planned expenses that pass their expected date. This is a manual process in your hands: mark as paid, push out the date, or mark as void (or delete). Unless voided, all expenses will impact the budget burn and margin.
Q. I’ve accidentally set my planned expense to paid, but need to change it back—what do I do?
Change the expense to Planned or unpaid expense, and if it’s company paid, set Status to Draft, Approved to spend, or Supplier invoice received.
Q. I’ve accidentally created a planned expense instead of one that’s already been paid for—what do I do?
Change the Status to Paid using the Status dropdown.
Q. Why is there no ‘Draft / Approved to spend / Supplier invoice received’ status for planned reimbursable expenses?
Reimbursable expenses already have an inbuilt approval process.
Read more about approving reimbursable expenses →
Q. Why is there no “Supplier” field?
The supplier field is only available if you are integrated with Xero or QuickBooks and must first be enabled by the Projectworks administrator. It will only show on company paid expenses.
Read more about adding a supplier field to expenses →
Q. Why can’t I export my planned expense as a bill to pay in Xero?
There are few things required before you can export a planned expense to Xero.
Read more about exporting planned expenses as a bill to pay suppliers →
Links
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Read more about permissions for approval to spend →
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Read more about using planned expenses for purchase orders →
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Read more about approving reimbursable expenses →