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Introduction

Submitting an expense report sends it to your manager or designated approver for review. Once submitted, the report is locked and you cannot edit the expenses or report details unless you recall it first. This guide walks you through the submission process and what to check before submitting.

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Submit Your Report

1

Open Your Draft Report

Navigate to My Expense Reports in the sidebar and click on the report you want to submit. The report must be in Draft status and contain at least one expense.
2

Review All Expenses and Total Amount

Before submitting, review the report summary:
  • Expenses list: Verify all intended expenses are included
  • Total amount: Confirm the sum is correct
  • Receipts: Check that every expense has an attached receipt
  • Categories: Ensure expenses are properly categorized
3

Ensure All Required Fields Are Complete

Smartbills checks for completeness before allowing submission. If any expenses are missing required fields, you will see a warning icon next to them. Common issues include:
  • Missing receipt image
  • Blank category
  • Missing business purpose (if required by company policy)
  • Incomplete amount or date
Resolve all warnings before proceeding. Click on a flagged expense to open it and fill in the missing information.
4

Click Submit for Approval

When everything is in order, click the Submit for Approval button at the top of the report page.
5

Confirm Submission

A confirmation dialog appears summarizing the report:
  • Report title
  • Number of expenses
  • Total amount
  • Approver name
Click Confirm to submit the report.
6

Report Moves to Submitted Status

After confirmation, the report status changes to Submitted. Your approver receives a notification and the report appears in their approval queue. You can track the status from your expense reports list.

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Pre-Submission Checklist

Once submitted, you cannot edit expenses or report details. If you need to make changes after submission, you must recall the report first, which returns it to Draft status. You can only recall a report before it has been approved.

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After Submission

After submitting your report:
  • You receive a confirmation notification
  • The report appears as Submitted in your reports list
  • Your approver is notified and can begin reviewing
  • You can view the report in read-only mode
  • The report timeline tracks all activity, including when it was submitted and who received it

Recall a Report

Withdraw a submitted report to make changes

Add Expenses

Add more expenses before submitting

Approval Workflows

Understand how the approval process works

Export a Report

Download your report for your records