How Employees Can Report Expenses in Odoo 18: Complete Guide
By Braincuber Team
Published on December 14, 2025
Managing expenses in an organization can be tricky without a clear process. Odoo 18 makes expense reporting quick, transparent, and paperless. Employees can submit expense claims, attach receipts, and track approval status—all from a single dashboard.
What You'll Learn:
- Two methods to create expenses (Upload vs Manual)
- Understanding all expense form fields
- Using the Split Expense feature
- Complete expense workflow from draft to done
- Tracking expense report status
Accessing the Expenses Module
From the Odoo main menu, go to the Expenses application. This takes you to the main expense dashboard where you can see draft expenses, reports, and submission history.
Creating an Expense: Two Methods
📤 Method 1: Upload Receipt
- Click the Upload button
- Attach a bill or receipt
- Odoo uses OCR to extract key details automatically
- Draft expense is created with extracted data
- Attached receipt visible on right side for reference
✏️ Method 2: Manual Entry
- Click the New button
- Create expense from scratch
- Enter all details manually
- Useful when no document is available
- Same draft form as upload method
Understanding Expense Form Fields
Description
Enter a clear summary of the expense. Example: "Client Lunch at Oceanview Restaurant"
Category
Select the appropriate expense category. Example: For a restaurant bill, choose "Meals" or "Travel & Meals"
Total & Taxes
OCR detects total amount and applicable taxes. Enter manually if OCR credits unavailable. Example: Total $45.80, Tax 15% = $5.97
Employee
Automatically shows the employee creating the expense (auto-filled)
Paid By
Employee (To Reimburse): Employee paid with own money | Company: Company card was used
Expense Date
Confirm the date shown on the receipt
Account
Odoo assigns default expense account based on category (e.g., 600000 Expenses)
Customer to Reinvoice
Use when expense should be billed to a customer—useful in consulting and project-based businesses
Analytic Distribution
Distribute expense across different analytic accounts or projects for cost tracking
Using the Split Expense Feature
Sometimes a single bill covers multiple expense types—for example, a restaurant bill split between Meals and Entertainment. Odoo 18 makes this easy with the Split Expense feature.
- Click Split Expense button
- Pop-up opens where total can be divided into multiple lines
- Each line has its own description, category, employee, tax, and amount
- Odoo automatically recalculates taxes to ensure total consistency
Expense Report Workflow
Workflow Actions
- Create Report: Groups expense into a report, moves to "To Submit"
- Submit to Manager: Moves to "Submitted" for approval
- Approve/Refuse: Manager approves or rejects
- Report in Next Payslip: Include in employee's next salary
- Post Journal Entries: Generate accounting entries
- Pay: Record reimbursement, moves to "Done"
Conclusion
Managing expenses doesn't have to be messy or time-consuming. With Odoo 18, employees can easily upload receipts, split costs, and submit claims—all from a single dashboard. Managers get a clear approval workflow, finance teams have complete visibility, and employees are reimbursed quickly without paper forms or manual tracking.
Need Help Setting Up Expense Reporting?
Our Odoo experts can help you configure expense categories, approval workflows, and OCR settings for seamless expense management.