Expenses

Expenses are the fastest way to record money going out against an account in the chart of accounts. When you record it, Mosce ERP creates the accounting entry and the payment atomically.

Reading time: ~5 min

When to use this

Use Expenses when you already paid for something (or are going to pay for it on the spot) and want to record it against an expense account. If what you received is a formal invoice from the supplier that you will pay later, record a supplier invoice instead - that flow generates the account payable.

Typical examples: fuel, office supplies, bank fees, team lunches, tips, minor cash expenses.

Before you start

• You need the expense:manage permission to create or post expenses. expense:read alone lets you view them.
• The chart of accounts must have at least:
  • An EXPENSE account that you will debit.
  • An ASSET account (cash, bank) that you will credit as the payment account.
• There must be an open fiscal period covering the expense date.
• If you are going to attribute it to a cost center, create it first.

Step by step

1. Go to Expenses from the side menu.

2. Click New expense. A form opens with the following fields:

   • Date (required) - the date the expense occurred.
   • Amount (required) - in Dominican pesos. The system stores it in cents internally.
   • Description (required, max. 500 characters) - what the expense was.
   • Expense account (required) - selector that only shows EXPENSE class accounts.
   • Payment account (required) - selector that only shows ASSET class accounts (cash or bank).
   • Payment method (required) - Cash, Card, Transfer, Check or Other.
   • Cost center (optional) - for profitability reports by business unit.
   • Reference / Voucher no. (optional, max. 100 characters) - the receipt number or the supplier's physical invoice.
   • Notes (optional, max. 1000 characters) - internal comments.

3. Click Create. The expense stays in Draft status and is assigned a sequential number (format EXP-000001).

4. Review the data in the list. If you need to correct anything, open the expense and edit it - it can only be edited while in draft.

5. When it is ready, click Post. Confirm in the dialog.

Alerts about expenses worth a second look

When an expense is posted, the system reviews it and, if it finds something, flags it on the Expenses screen, above the list. It never blocks the entry: the expense is posted either way. The system points, and the person who knows the business decides.

When there is nothing to review, the alert takes up no space on the screen.

The two reasons

Possible duplicate. The same document captured twice. What identifies a repeat is the reference, meaning the supplier's own invoice or receipt number: two expenses quoting the same reference against the same account are almost certainly one piece of paper entered twice. That is the strong criterion, because rent is the same amount every month but its invoice number is not.

If the expense carries no reference, the system falls back to a weaker criterion: same account and exactly the same amount. Exact rather than approximate on purpose, because a tolerance turns "this is the same receipt twice" into "these look alike", which is a different and worse claim, fires far more often, and ends with the feature switched off.

The window looks backwards and forwards from the expense date, not just backwards. Re-capturing an old invoice that was already recorded is a common way to duplicate one, and the second entry carries the earlier date: a look-back-only window would never see it.

Over budget. Posting the expense took its account past the budget in force for that period and cost center.

With no budget defined, the system has no opinion. If no budget covers that account, this alert never fires. The limit is set by the business, not by the application, and warning without an agreed limit would mean inventing one.

The two ways to close it, and why they are not the same

• It is fine means the expense is correct as recorded. The alert was right to flag it, and you are confirming there is no problem.
• Does not apply means the alert itself was wrong: that was not a duplicate, or that budget was not relevant here.

The difference matters because they are two different statements about the same fact. Either way, who reviewed it and when is recorded.

An alert that has been reviewed does not reopen on its own: if the expense is touched again, the decision of the person who looked at it stands.

Expected result

When you post the expense, Mosce ERP runs three operations in a single transaction:

• Creates a payment (direction OUT, type EXPENSE) with its own sequential number PAY-000001.
• Generates an accounting entry that debits the expense account and credits the payment account.
• Changes the expense status to Posted.

From that moment the expense appears in the general ledger and adds to the income statement. If you need to reverse it, open the posted expense and click Void - an automatic reversal entry is generated and the expense moves to Voided status. Draft expenses can be permanently deleted; posted or voided ones cannot.

Common errors

• EXPENSE_INVALID_STATUS - you tried to edit, post or delete an expense that is not in the correct status (for example, posting one already posted, or editing a voided one). Only drafts are edited; only drafts are posted; only posted ones are voided.
• The expense account does not appear in the selector - check that the account has the EXPENSE class in the chart of accounts and is active.
• The payment account does not appear in the selector - it must be ASSET class (cash or bank). Equity, revenue or liability accounts are not accepted as payment accounts.
• There is no open fiscal period - open or create the fiscal period matching the expense date before posting it.

Related

• Supplier invoices - when you receive a formal invoice with a payment term.
• Chart of accounts - to create or adjust expense accounts.
• Cost centers - to attribute expenses to business units.
• Journal entries - to review the generated entry.
• Fiscal periods - management of open and closed periods.