How to Record Your Expenses in Fiskl

Effective expense management is crucial for your business accounting. This tutorial walks you through two methods of recording and managing your expenses in Fiskl.

Watch a video walkthrough on recording expenses

Two Methods of Recording Expenses

Method 1: Direct Accounting Entry

Use this method when:

• You're working directly with your bank, credit card, or cash transactions
• You want the expense to immediately reflect in your accounting

Steps:

1. Navigate to the appropriate account in your Chart of Accounts:
   • Bank accounts: Assets > Cash & Cash Equivalence > [Your Bank Name]
   • Credit card accounts: Liabilities > Credit Card > [Your Credit Card Name]
   • Cash accounts: Assets > Cash & Cash Equivalence > Cash on Hand
2. Find the transaction
3. Categorize the transaction:
   • Assign it to a single expense category, or
   • Split the transaction into multiple categories (e.g., split a hotel bill into "Travel Accommodation" and "Meals and Entertainment"), or
   • Match the transaction to an existing standalone expense
4. Add supporting information (optional):
   • Attach documents
   • Add notes, client information, or vendor details

Method 2: Standalone Expenses (Record Now, Reconcile Later)

Use this method when you want to:

• Capture detailed expense information quickly (e.g., restaurant receipts with attendees and reasons)
• Use OCR to extract relevant details from receipts
• Allow team members to record expenses for later reconciliation by an admin
• Create billable expenses to add to client invoices

Important: Standalone expenses are placeholders and don't count towards your accounting until reconciled.

Steps:

1. Record the expense:
   • Enter expense details
   • Attach supporting documents
   • Use OCR to extract information (if available)
2. Reconcile the expense:
   • Find the corresponding transaction in your Bank, Credit Card, or Cash account
   • Use the match functionality to link the recorded expense with the transaction

Key Points to Remember

1. Standalone expenses don't affect your accounting until reconciled.
2. Direct accounting entries immediately impact your financial reports.
3. You can split transactions across multiple expense categories for more accurate reporting.
4. Matching transactions to existing standalone expenses helps reconcile your books.
5. You can turn standalone expenses into billable items by assigning a client or adding them to an invoice.
6. Team members with limited permissions can create standalone expenses for admin review.

By understanding these methods and options, you can choose the best approach for your specific situation and ensure accurate expense tracking in Fiskl.