The reimbursements feature in Apron streamlines the entire process from receipt capture to reimbursement, making it easy for employees to submit expenses and for you to process them efficiently.
How reimbursements work
The reimbursement workflow handles personal expenses that employees pay from their own money and that need reimbursing.
Apron manages the entire process from initial receipt capture through to final reimbursement payment. When employees submit reimbursement requests, Apron creates the necessary accounting entries and unpaid bills that can then be processed through your normal payment workflow.
Capturing personal expenses
Employees can submit reimbursement requests in several ways:
Mobile app – Tap the + button and choose Request reimbursement, then upload the receipt photo.
WhatsApp or email – Include ‘Reimbursement request’, 'Paid personally' or 'personal expense' in the message body when sending receipts.
Direct upload – After uploading a document, activate the Reimbursement request toggle in the document review form.
Processing reimbursement requests
When an expense is submitted as a reimbursement request, the contact changes to the employee who submitted the receipt (e.g., 'Eric Burn - Expenses'), and the supplier name from the receipt appears in the 'Reference' field for tracking purposes (e.g., 'Expense - Starbucks'). This creates clear attribution whilst maintaining the original supplier information for audit purposes.
Publishing and reimbursement request
Once personal expenses are reviewed and published:
Apron creates unpaid bills in your accounting software for each employee.
These bills appear in the Bill pay section under Bills with a ‘Pay’ status.
You can select multiple employee expenses and process batch reimbursements efficiently.
Setting up approval workflows
Need more control? You can create dedicated expense approval workflows using Apron's workflow features.
Go to Settings > Payment approval workflows, create a new workflow specifically for reimbursement requests, then set appropriate approvers and payers for expense reimbursements.
This creates a controlled process, ensuring proper oversight of employee expenses whilst speeding up legitimate reimbursements.
Benefits of structured reimbursement requests
Automated expense tracking eliminates manual spreadsheets. Clear approval workflows ensure proper oversight. Batch reimbursement processing saves administrative time, and complete audit trails satisfy compliance requirements. Employees appreciate the simple submission process and prompt reimbursements, whilst you maintain full control and visibility.