How to itemize reimbursement requests (aka expenses) and card charges?

What is itemization?

In the Mesh platfrom, itemization refers to a feature that allows users to convert a single parent expense (i.e., Reimbursement request or card charge) into multiple child expenses.

Why is it needed? 

Consider a hotel folio receipt with multiple line items such as room charges, minibar, breakfast, parking, and taxes. Without itemization, users would need to:

• Manually explain the breakdown of charges.
• Submit multiple expenses using the same receipt, and possibly creating confusion in the review process.
• Risk compliance issues or incorrect categorization, affecting reporting and ERP syncs.

What are the benefits of itemization? 

With the option to itemize automatically, the process consumes less time, processed accurately, reduces errors, and becomes easier for finance teams to manage and audit.

What happens during itemization?

• Users split a parent expense into child-expenses based on the receipt’s line items.
• Each child-expense is independent (i.e., can be tagged with a specific spend category, budget, or marked as personal) and, as a result, be part of a unique approval flow.
• The original parent expense is replaced by its child-expenses with a link to the parent expense.
• The parent record retains a reference to all child-expenses and displays their statuses.

Can reimbursement requests and card charges be itemized?  

Users can itemize both reimbursement requests expenses and card transactions. 

Who can itemize and when? 

Mesh users, regardless of profile, can itemize their own expenses, while strong users (e.g., users with an Admin profile) can also itemize expenses on behalf of others.

How to itemize an expense as a user with an Employee profile?

Note: Although the section below outlines the steps required to itemize a reimbursement request, the process of itemizing a card charge is very similar.

1. Log in to the Mesh platform.

2. Navigate to the 'Expenses' page.

3. Click an expense with a multi-line item receipt and in status 'In review' or 'Pending'.

4. Click the 3-dots on the upper right part and then 'Itemize expense'.

5. Allow the AI to extract the receipt details and present the results (i.e., line items). If items are missing details, use step 6 to correct the entries. Otherwise, skip to step 7. 

6. Click the pencil of a line item to introduce changes. 

6.1 Change the date, amount, budget, spend category, memo, and relevant expense tags (aka Custom Fields).

6.2 If relevant, turn on the personal toggle of a line item deemed a personal spend. 

6.3 Click 'Save' to store the changes. 

6.4 You can click the '+Add item' to add a line item. 

6.5 Make sure that the itemized amount matches the total amount on your receipt and that the 'Remaining' balance is 0. 

7. Click Submit and then the 'Itemize expenses' button. 

8. To track your expenses, navigate to the 'Expenses' page and use the filters (e.g., 'Review Status' = Itemized) to locate specific items.  

Notes:

• To allow itemization, the relevant setting should be enabled on the Mesh backend.
• The original expense (also known as the parent expense) is no longer relevant once itemized and becomes locked.
• The child expenses remain linked to the parent expense, and the parent expense includes references to its associated child expenses.
• It is possible to itemize a locked expense.
• It is not possible to itemize an expense that is already a child of a parent expense (i.e., you cannot itemize an already itemized item).
• Itemized expenses (i.e., child expenses) are labeled with 'Item' and include a tooltip showing their portion of the total (e.g., '$25 out of $225').
• The AI itemization service requires a receipt to function, but users can itemize manually even if no receipt is attached. When a receipt is missing, the user interface will display the message 'Unable to itemize the receipt by AI' and present the option to 'Itemize manually.'
• The expense may be trip-related, non-trip related, or a result of a charge on an external card (e.g., AMEX) or a Mesh card that is subject to post approval.
• The expense approval flow supports a condition to route an expense to a specific review branch if it is marked as personal.
• To itemize a card charge, select the relevant charge and follow similar steps to the ones recommended above.
• To save time and avoid the two-step process (that is, submitting an expense and then itemizing it), users can itemize an expense directly within the expense modal.