›Why expense reports without a workflow burn finance time
Expense reports are the finance team's most repetitive manual task. Without a structured workflow, employees tape receipts into spreadsheets, finance re-keys amount, VAT and date by hand, duplicates slip through, and approvals chase managers by email. The cost: 8-12 minutes per report, 3-5% duplicate or erroneous reimbursement, and month-end bottlenecks that delay closure.
The tax-audit angle is real too: missing or illegible receipts, inconsistent VAT recovery and unarchived expense summaries create exposure during a tax inspection.
›The automated expense workflow
- Upload: the employee photographs the receipt via the mobile portal and selects the expense category (travel, meal, supplies, mileage).
- AI OCR extraction: the copilote IA extracts amount, VAT, date, vendor and currency from the receipt image; the employee validates the extracted fields in one click.
- Duplicate detection: the workflow scans the employee's last 12 months of expenses and flags potential duplicates (same amount, same vendor, same date) before submission.
- Threshold routing: expenses below the manager-approval threshold (e.g. €75) go straight to finance; above-threshold expenses route to the line manager for approval.
- Manager approval: the manager approves, rejects or asks for justification from the portal; the AI copilot surfaces policy violations (out-of-policy category, excessive amount).
- Payroll integration: approved expenses are pushed to payroll for reimbursement on the next payslip; the workflow updates the employee's expense balance in real time.
- PDF expense summary: the workflow generates a signed PDF expense summary via usePDF with line items, receipts and approvals.
- Tax-audit archive: the PDF summary and all receipts are archived encrypted via useArchive for the 10-year tax-audit retention period.
›Concrete benefits
Teams deploying Utilyx expense management cut processing time from 10 minutes to 90 seconds per report, reduce duplicate reimbursements by 95%, and close month-end expense reconciliation 5 days faster.
The OCR extraction handles 7 languages and multi-currency receipts out of the box, and the no-code visual designer lets any finance analyst adjust approval thresholds, policy rules and duplicate-detection windows without coding.
›The workflow in real time
Every node is executable, every branch is testable. Visualize the actual flow of your data while you design.
Frequently asked questions
Can the AI OCR extract amount, VAT and date from any receipt?
Yes. The copilote IA extracts amount, VAT, date, vendor and currency from the receipt image in 7 languages and multi-currency; the employee validates the fields in one click.
Does the workflow detect duplicate expenses?
Yes. The workflow scans the employee's last 12 months of expenses and flags potential duplicates (same amount, vendor and date) before submission, cutting duplicate reimbursements by 95%.
Are expense summaries archived for tax audits?
Yes. The PDF expense summary and all receipts are archived encrypted via useArchive for the 10-year tax-audit retention period, ready for any tax inspection.
Ready to automate your processes?
Utilyx lets you design, automate and orchestrate your workflows visually — with an AI copilot, OCR, PDF generation and legal archiving. Start in minutes, not weeks.