Overview

This guide explains how expenses move through Custodia—from the initial purchase to approval and export to your accounting system.

The expense approval process at a glance

Most expenses follow this path:

Purchase → Posted → Issues resolved → For Review → Reviewed → Exported

There are two exceptions:

• A card purchase that does not go through appears under Declined.
• An expense with missing information appears under Issues until it is corrected.

Before an expense can be approved

An expense must be complete and ready for review. This generally means:

• The charge has settled and its status is Posted.
• A category has been selected.
• Any required budget, cost center, GL code, or receipt has been added.
• If the expense is connected to an activity, a line item has been selected.
• The employee has marked the expense as ready, if your company requires employee review.

Until these requirements are met, the expense may remain Pending or appear under Issues.

Some routine expenses may be approved automatically based on your company’s rules. These expenses do not require manual review.

Reviewing an expense

Expenses that are ready for approval appear under For Review. This is the main to-do list for finance reviewers and expense approvers.

A reviewer can take one of the following actions:

Approve the expense

Approval confirms that the expense and its accounting details are correct.

A reviewer can update fields such as the category, budget, or cost center before approving. Custodia records those changes, and the expense is still considered reviewed.

Once approved, the expense moves to Reviewed.

Ask the employee a question

If information is missing or unclear, the reviewer can send the employee a message.

The expense remains under For Review while the conversation is open. After the employee responds and any necessary corrections are made, the reviewer can approve it.

Investigate the expense

A reviewer can mark an expense for further investigation when it requires additional checking. It remains in the review process until the issue is resolved.

Track reimbursement

For an out-of-pocket expense, the reviewer can mark it as Paid or Not Paid.

This tracks whether the employee has been reimbursed. It is separate from expense approval, so an expense can be fully reviewed while the reimbursement is still unpaid.

What happens after approval?

Approved expenses appear under Reviewed. This means their coding and supporting information have been checked and they are ready to be sent to accounting.

After an expense is sent to the accounting system, it moves to Exported. Most fields are then locked to keep Custodia and the accounting records in sync.

If someone outside finance changes an already reviewed expense before export, it returns to For Review so the changes can be checked.

Understanding the Expenses tabs

All

The complete list of expenses for the selected date range.

This is useful for searching and general expense management. Declined card charges and temporary card verifications, such as small hotel or gas-station holds, are hidden from this view by default.

For Review

Expenses that require attention from finance.

This includes:

• Expenses ready for approval
• Expenses awaiting a response from an employee
• Expenses under investigation
• Previously reviewed expenses that were changed

The number displayed on the tab shows how many expenses still need attention.

Issues

Expenses that cannot yet be approved because something is missing or has failed a check.

Common issues include:

• A missing category, budget, cost center, or GL code
• An activity without a line item
• A missing or unreadable receipt
• Other required information that has not been completed

Once the problem is corrected, the expense can move into For Review.

Reviewed

Expenses that have been approved by a reviewer or cleared by an automatic rule.

These expenses are ready to be exported to accounting. A reimbursable expense may still show as Not Paid, but its approval is complete.

Exported

Expenses that have already been sent to the accounting system.

Most details are locked after export to prevent differences between the two systems.

Declined

Card purchases that were not authorized by the card network.

A charge may be declined because of insufficient funds, a blocked merchant, an expired authorization, or a canceled transaction.

A declined charge is not an expense rejected by finance. The purchase did not go through, so it does not require expense approval.

Payment status versus approval status

Payment status and approval status answer different questions:

• Pending means the card charge has not fully settled. It usually cannot be approved yet.
• Posted means the charge has settled and can move through the approval process.
• For Review means finance still needs to check the expense.
• Reviewed means the expense has been approved.
• Not Paid usually means an employee has not yet been reimbursed for an out-of-pocket expense.
• Exported means the expense has been sent to accounting.

An expense can be posted but still awaiting approval. It can also be approved but not yet exported—or approved while the employee is still waiting to be reimbursed.