Record an expense

An expense is anything the business pays for. Record it when it happens and Sebenza does the bookkeeping: the amount lands in your Financial Summary and your accounting, and anything you paid on a client's behalf can go straight onto their invoice.

Test it yourself

Record something small you actually bought this week.

1. 1

   Open Expenses

   In the menu, My Finance → My Expenses, then tap Add Expense.

2. 2

   What and how much

   Expense Title (e.g. Printer paper) and Amount. Enter the amount before VAT; the tax line below adds it.
3. 3

   When and what kind

   Date (today is filled in) and a Category such as Office Supplies, Travel, Software & Subscriptions or Utilities.
4. 4

   Who you paid

   Vendor. If a client should pay for this, pick them under Client and leave Billable to Client ticked; otherwise untick it.
5. 5

   VAT and payment

   Tax Rate (%) shows your business's VAT rate, or 0 if you're not VAT-registered. Payment Method: card, cash, bank transfer or petty cash.
6. 6

   Attach the receipt

   Upload receipt file (photo or PDF, under 2 MB).
7. 7

   Save

   Tap Create. You'll see Expense Created.

   ✓ It's in your list as pending, with the amount, tax and total. My Finance → Financial Summary → Expenses now includes it.

The fast way: photograph the receipt

On your phone, tap Scan Receipt on the Expenses page. It opens the camera; take the photo and Sebenza reads the amount, vendor, date and category off the receipt and opens the form filled in. Check it, tap Create.

Good to know

• Approving expenses — owners and admins can mark an expense Approved or Rejected from its menu. Staff-recorded expenses wait as pending until then.
• Passing a cost on to a client — on a billable expense, Convert to Invoice from its menu makes an invoice for it in one step.
• Same expense every month — switch on Make this a recurring expense to flag it as recurring so it's easy to find. It doesn't create the next month's copy — record that when it happens.
• A monthly limit — the General tab on the Expenses page has a Monthly Expense Budget. Sebenza warns you at 80%.
• Your own categories — same General tab, Custom Expense Categories.

If something's off

• "Please fill in title and amount." — both are required; everything else is optional.
• "File too large" — the receipt is over 2 MB. Take the photo again at a lower size, or crop it.
• The tax line shows 15% but you aren't VAT-registered — set Tax Rate (%) to 0 on that expense. VAT is switched on for the business under Settings → VAT.