Organize expenses with departments, categories, and budgets

Departments and categories keep your reimbursements tidy. Categories (like Supplies or Travel) live under departments (like Youth or Worship), and each category can have its own yearly budget. When someone submits an expense, they pick a department first, then a category.

Before you begin

You need permission to manage expenses (an admin or manager role).
Reach these settings from the Expenses page: click the gear icon (Expense settings) in the top-right corner.

How the structure works

Every church starts with one department named Church, already filled with six categories: Hospitality, Supplies, Travel, Office, Ministry, and Other.
You can rename that first department to anything you like, add more departments, and add or remove categories inside each one.
You can have up to 20 departments, and each department can hold up to 40 categories.

Add a department or category

Open the Expense settings page. Scroll to the Departments & categories section.
Add a department. In the Add a department box at the bottom, type a name (for example, "Youth") and click Add department. It appears as a new group.
Add a category. Inside any department, type a name in the Add a category box and click Add. The category shows up under that department right away.

Members choose from these when they submit, so use names your team will recognize.

Rename a department or category

Click the pencil icon next to the department or category name.
Edit the name (and, optionally, a short description of what it covers).
Save your changes. If past expenses were filed under the old name, you'll see a note that says the rename updates those past records and moves this year's budget to the new name. The dollar amounts don't change, only the label. The button reads Save and update records so you know past records will follow.

Remove a department or category

Click the trash icon next to the item you want to remove.
Confirm in the pop-up window.

Good to know before you delete:

You can't delete your only department, and you can't delete your only category. There always has to be at least one of each so members can still submit.
Removing a department or category does not erase its past expenses. Those records are kept. On the budget chart, their spending rolls into a small "other categories" line so no money disappears from view.

Set a yearly budget

Find the Budgets section on the Expense settings page.
Click the pencil (Edit) button. A window opens listing every category, grouped by department.
Type an annual dollar amount for each category you want to track, then save. Categories you leave blank simply aren't tracked.

Once budgets are set, a spending chart appears at the top of the Expenses page. It shows each budgeted category's year-to-date spending against its budget, so you can see at a glance where you stand for the year.