This article is part of the Commercial Rewards Card free plan guide or Commercial Rewards Card paid plan guide, or both. You can navigate back to each guide with the previous links and take the next onboarding steps.
Purpose
This article explains how to get started with managing expenses using TravelBank.
Audience
This article is directed toward employees with a free TravelBank expense and travel management account who need to submit expense reports.
Overview
The following videos show walkthroughs and highlights of how to manage expenses and card transactions in the TravelBank web app:
Create your account
To get started with TravelBank expenses, check your email for a message from TravelBank asking you to activate your account. If you don't see the email, check your spam folder; if you didn’t receive the email, ask your company admin to invite you to join the account and they can send you an invitation.
Use the activation email to create your user profile and password. Once you are logged in, update your profile by selecting “'My Account'” in the bottom-left corner of the menu.
Add your first expense
To add expenses in TravelBank, you add your receipts. You can add receipts in several ways:
Use the TravelBank mobile app
Open the in-app camera by selecting the camera icon at the bottom of the screen. Take a photo of a receipt and enter the receipt amount. The app automatically fills in the merchant for you. You can also add a receipt manually to a new or existing expense on the app.
Alternatively, you can create a new expense by selecting the "+" (plus) icon.
Use the web app
On your TravelBank dashboard, select “Add an expense” (see Figure 1), or, if you’ve already added at least one expense, then the blue plus sign at the top-right of the My Expenses & Reports section (see Figure 2).
Figure 1. “Add an Expense” button in the My Expenses & Reports section of the dashboard/home page
Figure 2. “Add an Expense” button in the My Expenses & Reports section of the dashboard/home page
Or, select “Expenses & Transactions” from the left menu, and then select “Add”.
Submit an expense manually
Forward email receipts or invoices to receipts@travelbank.com from your company email address and TravelBank automatically adds them to your Expenses & Transactions list. You can also submit an expense report.
Manage your expenses and transactions
Your list of expenses and transactions is organized by date with icons to help you differentiate between receipts, card transactions, bookings, and more. Each icon is defined in the following list and is shown with its definition in the subsequent Figure 3.
Receipt icon: Receipt or manual expense
Card icon: Card transaction
Receipt icon with card in front of it: Merged expense and transaction
Suitcase icon: Travel booking
Odometer icon: Mileage
Right and left arrows icon: Refund to company
Figure 3. Expense and transaction icons and definitions
The color of each icon indicates the status of the receipt, card transaction, booking, or other item—the icon is red if the action is missing required information and blue when the item is completed and ready to be submitted. Also, when the item is missing required information, an error message icon (shown in Figure 4) appears by the item.
Figure 4. Error message icon
Search for a specific transaction
You can look for a specific expense or transaction by using the search bar or filtering by status, type, date, or the card used to make that transaction.
Deleted expenses are hidden from view, but you can make them visible by selecting “Filter” > “Status” > “Deleted” > “Apply”.
Edit a transaction
On your Expenses & Transactions list, you can take the following quick actions: add a description, add a receipt, and add a category.
Choose to Merge your manual expense with a card transaction (or vice versa) to quickly complete missing data. Learn how to merge an expense & transaction on the web app.
You can also select an individual row to open the expense or transaction detail. This is where you can make more comprehensive updates, including splitting the expense. (Learn how to add splits to an expense on the web app.)
Track your mileage
Review the Create Mileage Expense Walkthrough video to learn how to log a mileage expense.
Take the following steps to track your reimbursable mileage using the TravelBank web or mobile app:
Create a new expense by selecting the plus icon on the mobile app, or "Add Expense" on the web app.
Select "Mileage" and enter your start and end destinations. The TravelBank system then automatically calculates the miles driven. If you need to manually adjust the miles, enter a new number in the “Miles” field, and select “Save”.
Your mileage will be reimbursed* at the rate determined by your company administrator.
*Note about reimbursements: With the free plan, you can use TravelBank for reimbursement reporting. For instance, you can use TravelBank to submit your mileage for reimbursement, but your company needs the paid plan in order to reimburse you through the TravelBank platform.
Create and submit an expense report
Review the “Submit an Expense Report Walkthrough” video to learn how to submit an expense report, edit the report name, check the status of the report, and confirm your reimbursement (see previous note about reimbursements).
You can use reports to organize expenses and transactions to fit your needs, and there are two ways to create and submit an expense report: 1) through the Expenses & Transactions tab in the left menu or 2) through the Reports tab in the left menu.
Create and submit a report through the Expenses & Transactions tab:
On the Expenses & Transactions page, check the boxes for the expenses you want to include in your report.
Select “Submit”. This opens a “Submit New Expense Report'' window. By default, your newly created report is named “General Report <today’s date>”. Change the name of the report, if desired, and select “Submit”.
Create and submit a report through the Reports tab:
On the Reports page, select “Create Report”. This opens a “New Expense Report'' window.
Add a report name in the “Report Name” field and select “Add”. This creates the report, and now you can add expenses to it.
Select the report to open it, and at the bottom of the page, select “Add Expenses”.
Add your expenses as needed.
Each expense you add now appears on the report page.
When you are ready to submit the report, select “Submit” at the bottom of the page.
Regardless of which way you create and submit an expense report, if you have expenses or transactions in it that are missing information, you will be prompted to complete them before submitting the report. You can also add comments to the report before or after submitting for context if necessary. These are visible to your approvers and they can respond as well.
Assign expenses and transactions to an existing report
You can also assign expenses and transactions to a report that you’ve already created:
Create an expense. In your expense details, select “Assign to Expense Report” (see Figure 5) and select from a list of your open reports.
Figure 5. “Assign to Expense Report” field on the Expense Details screen
From the Expenses & Transactions page, select one or more rows, select “Assign to Report” from the bottom menu, and select from a list of your open reports.
Open a report and at the bottom of the page, select “Add Expenses”. Add your expenses as needed. Each expense you add now appears on the report page.
(Mobile-only) You have the option of adding ‘From Existing' expense in the ‘Add’ menu. This will present a list of unassigned expenses & transactions where you can choose one or many to assign to your report.
Edit your report
Once you’ve created a report, but before submitting it, you can take the following actions:
Change the title: Open the report and select “Edit Report”.
Add, edit, or remove expenses and transactions:
Add expense or transaction: See the previous section of this article.
Edit expenses and transactions: Open the report and select an expense or transaction. Edit the fields as needed and then select “Save Expense”.
Remove expenses and transactions from a report: Open the report and select the expense or transaction you want to remove. In the “Assign to Expense Report” field, change the report to a different report.
Add or respond to comments: Open the report and select the “Add Comment” field on the right side of the page. After you add your comment, select “Send”.
Check your report status
To view the status of your expense report, select “Reports” from the left menu:
Reports in the “Open” tab have not been submitted or are pending manager approval.
Reports in the “Paid” tab have been approved, and you can expect your corporate card to be paid.
Need help?
If you need help, contact the TravelBank support team:
Email support@travelbank.com.
From the website or mobile app: Open the left-hand menu and select “Chat with us”.
Publish date: NA
Last update: January 22, 2024