Expense categories let you tag spending with the nature of the cost (e.g. "Travel", "Software") so you can track it alongside cost centers and budgets.
For: Account Owners and Admins (setup); Controllers and Requesters (selection on requests and payments).
Before you start
Requirement | Detail |
Role to create/edit/delete categories | Account Owner or Admin |
Role to select a category | Requester, Approver, Controller (on requests and payments) |
Feature dependency | Expense categories are a special type of analytical field and work alongside the Budgets feature |
Setup location | Settings > Organisation > Analytical fields |
To make the field optional or mandatory | Contact Support or your Customer Success Manager |
👥 Roles: Only Account Owners and Admins can add, edit, or delete expense category values. Controllers can reassign categories on existing payments but cannot create new values.
Add an expense category
Navigate to Settings > Organisation > Analytical fields
Click Add new value
Enter the name of your expense category and Select visibility (between All cost centers and Some cost centers)
Click Create expense category
Once at least one value exists, the Expense category field appears on requests, expense claims, and payments. By default, requesters must fill it in.
Edit or delete an expense category
Navigate to Settings > Organisation > Analytical fields
Click on the 3 dots at the end of the row and then on "Edit" to change the name, or on the trash can icon to delete it.
⚠️ Warning: Renaming a value updates the name on payables that were already exported. If you don't want to affect exported payables, delete the old value and create a new one instead of renaming it.
Note:
Payments still in the Prepare tab (not yet exported) lose the expense category value if you delete it.
Payments that have already been exported keep the value that was assigned at export time.
Link expense categories to cost centers
You can limit which expense categories appear based on the cost center a requester selects.
By default, every expense category is visible for every cost center. To restrict a category to specific cost centers:
Click Create a new category
Enter the category name
Select visibility > Some cost centers
Choose the relevant cost centers
This restriction only applies when requesters create a request. Controllers can still assign any expense category to a payable from the Payments, All Payables, and Prepare tabs.
💡 Tip: If a cost center has no expense category restricted to it, all categories appear as options for that cost center. This is expected behavior, not a bug.
Change the display order
Expense category values are sorted alphabetically by default. To set a custom order, add a number at the start of each value's name (e.g. "1 - Travel", "2 - Software").
Edit an expense category on a payment
Navigate to Expenditures > All payments
Select the relevant payment
Update the Expense category field in Payment information
Export expense categories
Expense categories are included in exports alongside payables. Access them from the Export tab or download them from the All Payables page.
Troubleshooting
Symptom: A user can see all expenses in a cost center, even ones outside the expense category they're responsible for.
Cause: Visibility permissions in Spendesk are managed at the cost center level, not at the expense category level.
Resolution: Anyone with access to a cost center sees all expenses within it, regardless of category. To restrict visibility to a single category, create a separate cost center for that category, or share a custom export limited to the relevant data.
Symptom: I can't select more than one expense category on a payment.
Cause: Spendesk only supports one expense category value per payment.
Resolution: Create a combined value (e.g. "NYC-Paris") if you need to represent two categories at once, or use a custom field for the second dimension.
Symptom: The expense category field doesn't appear on a request.
Cause: No value has been created yet for this expense category, or the category is restricted to other cost centers.
Resolution: Add at least one value in Settings > Organisation > Analytical fields, and check the cost center restrictions on each value.
FAQ
Are expense categories mandatory for requesters?
Yes, by default. Contact Support or your Customer Success Manager to make the field optional.
Can I link expense categories to specific cost centers?
Yes. Configure each category to appear only for selected cost centers during the request workflow.
Do expense categories appear in exports?
Yes. They're exported with payables and available in the Export tab or the All Payables page.
Can I edit an expense category after it's been assigned to a payment?
Yes. Go to Expenditures > All payments, select the payment, and update the Expense category field.
Can I grant visibility to just one expense category instead of a whole cost center?
No. Visibility is managed at the cost center level only.