Getting Started With Expense Management in Relay

Expense Management in Relay is a set of tools that collects receipts, categorizes transactions, and syncs spend to QuickBooks Online or Xero. It is available on the Starter Plan, Grow Plan, and Scale Plan.

Who this is for

Expense Management is designed for business owners and finance teams who want to reduce manual bookkeeping and keep receipts organized without chasing cardholders.

• Owners who issue cards to team members and need documentation for every transaction

• Bookkeepers and accountants running month-end close on QuickBooks Online or Xero

• Operations leads who want spend policies and category rules to run automatically

• Advisors managing expense workflows for client accounts

Who can turn on Expense Management?

You need Administrator or Super Administrator permissions to enable Expense Management for a business. Advisors need Super Administrator access on the client account.

Cardholders do not need admin permissions. They can upload receipts and respond to receipt requests from the mobile app or SMS as soon as the feature is on.

What can you do with Expense Management?

Expense Management covers four jobs: setting receipt rules, collecting receipts, coding transactions, and syncing the finished data to your accounting software.

On every plan (Starter, Grow, and Scale), you can:

• Set a receipt policy that requires receipts on no transactions, transactions over $75, or every transaction

• Collect receipts by email forwarding, SMS reply, or mobile upload

• Match receipts to transactions automatically

• Add vendors, categories, and memos to any transaction

• Download transactions from the expenses table

• Sync coded expenses to QuickBooks Online or Xero

On the Grow Plan and Scale Plan, you also get:

• Categorization rules that split transactions or apply vendors and categories automatically

• Spend policies that restrict card usage by vendor or category

On the Scale Plan (coming soon):

• Spend insights dashboards

• Out-of-policy request workflows

• Auto-locking cards for missing receipts

• Custom CSV exports

How do I turn on Expense Management?

Turn on Expense Management from the Expenses tab in Relay on desktop. Setup takes about five minutes if your accounting software is ready to connect.

1. Sign in to your Relay account on desktop at app.relayfi.com.

2. Open the Expenses tab in the left navigation.

3. Follow the in-product setup guide.

4. Choose a receipt policy: no receipts required, receipts required over $75, or receipts required on every transaction.

5. Connect QuickBooks Online or Xero if you want expenses to sync automatically to your books.

Cardholders start receiving receipt requests based on the policy you selected as soon as setup is complete.

What happens after I turn it on?

Once Expense Management is live, receipt requests, matching, and sync all run in the background. You review documentation and coding from the Expenses tab.

• Cardholders receive receipt reminders by email, SMS, or push notification, based on your receipt policy

• Receipts match to transactions automatically when the vendor, amount, and date line up

• You review and code expenses in the Expenses tab, or delegate that work to a bookkeeper or team member

• Synced transactions flow into QuickBooks Online or Xero once you connect your accounting software

• You can download any expense view as a CSV for record-keeping or ad-hoc reports

What features are included on each plan?

Every Relay plan includes core Expense Management features. Grow and Scale add automation and controls.

How do I get a smooth start?

Three habits keep Expense Management running cleanly without constant admin work.

• Forward receipts to your unique Relay inbox. Every business gets an email address that routes forwarded receipts straight into the receipt inbox for matching.

• Ask cardholders to install the Relay mobile app. In-app photo upload is faster and more reliable than SMS for cardholders on the road.

• Delegate receipt admin work. Assign a bookkeeper, controller, or team member as the receipt manager so a single person owns the end-of-month cleanup.

Common issues

A few situations come up during the first month. Here is how to handle them.

• Receipts are not matching to transactions. Check that the vendor, amount, and transaction date on the receipt match the card transaction within a few days. If they do not, match the receipt manually from the Receipt Inbox.

• Cardholders are not getting receipt requests. Confirm the receipt policy is set correctly and that the cardholder has a valid phone number or email on file.

• QuickBooks Online or Xero is not syncing. Reconnect the integration from the Expenses tab, and confirm the accounting user still has permission to write transactions.

• A cardholder needs to upload a receipt but cannot access the desktop. Cardholders can upload from the Relay mobile app or reply to the SMS receipt request with a photo.

Related articles

• Assigning Roles and Permissions in Expense Management

• Uploading Receipts in Relay

• Setting Up Receipt Collection Policies

• Categorizing Expenses with Vendors and Notes

• Connecting Relay to QBO for Expense Management

Talk to our Customer Experience team

If this article did not fully answer your question, our Customer Experience team is here to help.