Setting Up Expense Approval via Bitrix24
We often see a familiar picture: a manager pays for a taxi to a client out of their own pocket, takes a photo of the receipt, and sends it to the accountant in chat with a note 'reimburse me'. The accountant loses the message among dozens of others. Two weeks later, the manager reminds them; the accountant searches for the receipt in the conversation, doesn't find it, and asks to send it again. Expenses without a system mean lost documents, an opaque budget, and constant conflicts. In companies with 20+ employees, manual expense processing takes up to 5 hours per week — time that could be spent on business development.
Our experience shows: automating expense approval in Bitrix24 solves this problem in 2–3 days of setup. We have implemented such projects for 50+ companies — from retail to IT. In this article, we'll break down how to build a transparent process: from request submission to accounting report.
Structure of the Approval Process
Expense approval in Bitrix24 is built on a smart process or a list with a business process. Each expense is a separate card with fields:
-
Amount— numeric field with limit checking -
Expense Category— directory: transport, entertainment, office supplies, subscriptions, equipment -
Description— text field with justification -
Receipt/Invoice— file field for attaching scans -
Expense Date -
Project/Department— link for analytics
How to Set Up Approval Routes?
The route depends on the amount and expense category. Below is a table of basic rules:
| Amount | Route |
|---|---|
| Low | Department head → Accounting |
| Medium | Department head → Financial director → Accounting |
| High | Department head → Financial director → CEO → Accounting |
Threshold amounts and routes are configured in the business process designer. Conditional branches determine who receives the request at each step. Each approver sees the expense card with the receipt and can: approve (the request moves to the next), reject (return to author with a comment), or return for revision (author corrects and resubmits). For more on designing business processes, see helpdesk.bitrix24.ru.
Why Is It Important to Set Budget Limits?
For each department or project, a monthly budget is set by expense category. When a request is submitted, the business process checks whether the limit for the category in the current month is exceeded. If exceeded, the request still goes for approval but with a note 'Budget exceeded'. The approver makes a decision with this information in mind. The current expense budget is visible to the manager in the report: spent / remaining for each category.
| Category | Typical Budget | Exceeding Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Transport | Varies | 15% of requests |
| Office supplies | Varies | 5% |
| Entertainment | Varies | 20% |
Attaching Documents
The employee attaches a photo of the receipt or invoice scan directly into the expense card. The file is saved on Bitrix24 Drive in a structured folder: Expenses / Current Year / Month / Last Name. Accounting receives all documents in one place — no need to collect from chats and email.
Reporting
Management and accounting see:
- Expense summary — by period, department, category.
- Request status — how many are pending, approved, rejected.
- Budget — actual vs. plan for each department and category.
- Average approval time — to identify bottlenecks.
What Is Included in the Work
We provide a complete package:
- Setting up a smart process with custom fields.
- Designing approval routes with conditional branches.
- Budget limits with automatic checking.
- Drive integration for receipt storage.
- Notifications, deadlines, escalations.
- Ready-made expense and budget reports.
- Employee training (1 hour).
- Written process documentation.
We guarantee setup within 3 business days. Experience: 10+ years, over 100 projects.
How We Do It: Step by Step
- Analyze current process and expense types.
- Design smart process and business process scheme.
- Configure fields, routes, budgets.
- Test on sample requests.
- Train the team.
- Hand over for operation with support.
Comparison: approval via Bitrix24 processes requests 3 times faster than manual correspondence, and the number of lost receipts approaches zero.
Case Study: Setup for a Coffee Chain
For one chain of 20 locations, we set up a hybrid route: operational expenses (coffee, milk) were approved by location managers with a fixed budget, while entertainment expenses were approved by the central office. The problem was that baristas often purchased inventory without approval. After implementing a smart process with a mandatory 'Receipt' field and a limit per category, the number of unapproved purchases dropped by 90%. The solution took 2 days, including training 20 employees.How to Evaluate Automation Efficiency?
Implementing an expense approval system in Bitrix24 yields measurable results. In a company with 50 employees, manual expense processing took 2 hours per day. After setting up the process, the time dropped to 15 minutes — 8 times faster. After a month, accounting noted a complete disappearance of lost receipts. Such indicators are achieved through clear routes and automatic notifications.
If you want to establish transparent expense accounting and eliminate chaos — according to Bitrix24 documentation, setup is available via REST API. Contact us for a consultation. Request a detailed implementation plan, and we will assess your process in one day.