FoxCLM

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Tracking Business Expenses ​

FoxCLM tracks your business expenses alongside bookings and invoices so you get one financial picture. Log expenses by scanning a receipt photo (OCR auto-fills vendor, date, amount) or entering them manually. Categorise by purpose, optionally attach receipt images, and route through an approval workflow.

Takes about 4 minutes.

1. Open the Expenses page ​

Click Expenses in the sidebar (under BILLING).

Expenses list

Page overview:

  • Title bar - "Expenses" heading
  • Search bar - filter by vendor, category, description
  • Show Deleted - toggle to reveal soft-deleted entries
  • Total - running sum of visible expenses with count (e.g. "Total: $2488.50 (37)")
  • Scan Receipt button - upload a receipt image to auto-create an expense
  • Filters / Columns - narrow by category/date; toggle visible columns

The table shows:

  • Date - when the expense was incurred
  • Vendor - who you paid (e.g. Uber, Amazon, Vista Print)
  • Category - Travel, Materials, Marketing, etc. (configurable)
  • Amount - cost with currency
  • Status - workflow state (Draft, Submitted, Approved, Rejected)
  • Receipt - thumbnail of the uploaded image
  • Actions - Edit, Designer, Submit (for approval), Delete

2. Scan a receipt ​

The fastest way to log an expense is to photograph the receipt. Click Scan Receipt at the top. A file picker opens - select a photo from your computer.

FoxCLM runs OCR on the image and auto-extracts:

  • Vendor - business name
  • Date - receipt date
  • Amount - total
  • Currency - USD, MYR, etc.

The extracted data appears pre-filled in a new expense row. Review, correct any OCR errors, and save.

Attach the receipt image itself - FoxCLM stores it so you have proof for accounting or tax purposes.

3. Enter an expense manually ​

Click Edit on an existing row to see the edit modal:

Edit expense modal

Fields:

  • Vendor (required) - who you paid
  • Date (required) - expense date
  • Amount - cost as a number
  • Currency - 3-letter code (USD, EUR, GBP, MYR, etc.)
  • Category - pick from the built-in list (Food / Transport / Office / Supplies / Entertainment / Utilities / Other), or leave as None.
  • Description - free-form notes (e.g. "Travel to summer venue setup")

Click Save.

4. Attach a receipt image ​

From the edit modal, scroll down to find the image upload control. Click to select a photo. FoxCLM stores it alongside the expense; the Receipt column on the list shows a thumbnail.

Click any receipt thumbnail on the list to view the full image in a lightbox.

5. Categorise spending ​

Categories let you group expenses for reporting. The built-in set:

  • Food - meals, coffee, client lunches
  • Transport - fuel, parking, rideshare, flights
  • Office - rent, workspace costs
  • Supplies - textbooks, art supplies, stationery, equipment
  • Entertainment - client events, team outings
  • Utilities - electricity, internet, phone
  • Other - anything else

Consistent categorisation makes year-end reporting and tax filing much easier. Note that older expenses (created via earlier versions, or imported) may show categories outside this list - they display as-is but new expenses are restricted to the options above.

6. Submit for approval ​

If your business has multiple spenders (e.g. staff submitting reimbursement claims), use the approval workflow:

  1. The submitter creates an expense and clicks Submit on the row
  2. Status moves from Draft to Submitted
  3. An admin sees it in the list with Approve / Reject buttons
  4. On approval, status moves to Approved; on rejection, with a prompted reason, to Rejected

For solo operators, skip the submit step - expenses stay as Draft and you just use them for reporting.

7. Generate an expense report ​

Click Designer on any expense to open the document designer with the expense as its data source. Lay out a reimbursement statement with:

  • Submitter name
  • Expense list (date, vendor, amount)
  • Total
  • Receipt thumbnails
  • Signature block

Save as a template to reuse for every expense report.

8. Filtering and sorting ​

The list defaults to date-descending (newest first). Click any column header to sort. Use the search bar for text search across vendor, category, and description.

Click Filters to narrow by:

  • Date range
  • Category
  • Status
  • Vendor substring
  • Amount range

Filters stack - applied together they narrow the list.

9. Deleting and restoring ​

Click Delete to soft-delete an expense. It's hidden but recoverable via Show Deleted -> Restore. Permanent deletion is only via the Recycle Bin (Settings -> Recycle Bin).

Soft-delete preserves historical totals - deleted expenses don't appear in active reports but remain in the audit log.

10. Monthly / yearly totals ​

The toolbar shows the running total of currently-visible expenses. Combine with filters to see:

  • This month - filter by date range
  • All marketing - filter by category
  • Above $500 - filter by amount range

For full reporting beyond simple totals, export the list to CSV via the browser's print/export (not built-in; use developer tools or the REST API).

Tips ​

  • Photograph receipts immediately. Paper receipts fade and get lost. Scan the moment you get one.
  • Use descriptive vendor names. "Uber" is better than "Transport"; the category tracks the purpose, the vendor tracks who got paid.
  • Fill in the description - you'll thank yourself in 6 months when you're looking at "Amazon $245" trying to remember why.
  • Set up an approval workflow for businesses with 2+ people spending money. It prevents budget leaks.
  • Match expenses to events/clients when relevant via the description (e.g. "Client lunch - Aiden Brown / 4/24 session"). There's no direct link in the DB but searchable notes work.

What's next ​

FoxCLM Documentation