Tracking Expenses

Every business cost you track in ReliefBooks is one less thing to scramble for at tax time. Here's how to add, organize, and manage your expenses.

Adding an expense

1. Go to the Expenses page from the sidebar.
2. Click Add Expense.
3. Fill in the details:
   • Date -- When you incurred the expense.
   • Amount -- How much you spent.
   • Category -- What type of expense it is (e.g., supplies, meals, parking, professional development).
   • Vendor -- Who you paid.
   • Facility -- Optionally link the expense to a specific workplace. This is helpful for reimbursable costs.
   • Reimbursable -- Turn this toggle on if you plan to bill the facility for this expense.
   • Notes -- Any additional context you want to remember.
4. Click Save.

Adding an expense from a shift

You can also add expenses directly from a shift detail panel. When you do this, ReliefBooks automatically links the expense to that shift's facility -- no need to select the facility manually. This is handy for costs that came up during a specific workday, like parking at a hospital or supplies you grabbed on the way in.

Expense categories

ReliefBooks comes with common categories tailored to healthcare professionals -- things like supplies, meals, parking, uniforms, continuing education, and professional memberships. If you need categories that aren't on the list, you can add your own custom categories in Account Settings.

Reimbursable expenses

When you mark an expense as reimbursable, it tells ReliefBooks that this cost should be billed to a facility. Here's what happens:

• The expense appears as an available line item when you create an invoice for that facility.
• Once you add the expense to an invoice, its status updates to reflect that it's been billed.
• This keeps you from accidentally billing the same expense twice.

Make sure to link a facility to any reimbursable expense so it shows up on the right invoice.

Editing and deleting expenses

Click any expense to open its details. From there you can edit any field or delete the expense entirely.

One thing to keep in mind: if the expense has already been added to an invoice, you'll need to remove it from the invoice first before you can edit or delete it. This prevents your invoice totals from getting out of sync.

Filtering expenses

Use the filters at the top of the Expenses page to narrow down what you see:

• Date range -- Focus on a specific time period.
• Category -- See only expenses of a particular type.
• Facility -- View expenses linked to a specific workplace.
• Reimbursable status -- Show only reimbursable or non-reimbursable expenses.

Filtering is especially useful when you're preparing for taxes or putting together an invoice and need to find specific costs quickly.