Capture Expense Glossary

Advances

A feature functioning like petty cash, allowing users to request and manage advance payments against future expenses.

Advisory fuel rates

HMRC-published rates used to reimburse the fuel cost of business mileage in a company car, set by engine size and fuel type and updated quarterly.

AI Matching and Smart Categories

An AI feature that automatically assigns expense categories to uploaded receipts or card transactions using merchant mapping or AI predictions, indicated by a sparkle icon on claims.

Approvals and Approval Workflow

The configured process for reviewing and approving expense claims, which may include multiple stages, approvers, and rules tailored to organisational needs, such as requiring line manager approval or value-based approvals.

Approved amount

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Banking and Credit Card Integration

Multiple methods to import credit card transactions into Capture Expense, including CSV bank statements, Open Banking, SFTP feeds, and Pliant cards, enabling real-time exchange rates and reconciliation with cash expenses.

Capture Expense

A comprehensive desktop and mobile application that allows staff to raise, submit, and approve expense claims anytime and anywhere. It includes receipt capture, mileage calculation, policy controls, and integrates with accounting, payroll, and HR systems.

Carbon and Environmental Tracking

A combined feature that automatically calculates and reports the carbon emissions linked to expenses such as fuel, flights, hotel stays, and travel by public transport or vehicles. It uses DEFRA methodology, aligns with UK and international standards, and supports sustainability reporting and compliance.

Category

See Expense Category.

Commute distance

The regular home-to-workplace distance, which can be deducted from a business mileage claim so only the additional business element is reimbursed.

Company car

A vehicle provided by the employer; business mileage is reimbursed using either advisory fuel rates or HMRC rates.

Credit card feed

An automated import of company card transactions into Capture Expense for matching against receipts and claims.

Duty of care

An employer's legal responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of employees travelling on business. The expiry dates of MOT, licences etc, is monitored tracked by the system and reminders issued at the appropriate times.

Entity

A distinct legal or organisational unit configured in Capture Expense, each with its own settings, accounts, and reporting.

Expense Categories

Classifications for types of expenses users can claim, each with settings for VAT treatment, GL codes, spend limits, and approval workflows, applied automatically when a category is selected in a claim.

Export format

The file layout used when sending expense data to accounting, payroll, or other systems.

Finance user

A user role with finance permissions, typically reviewing, processing, exporting, and reconciling claims across the organisation.

FTP/SFTP feed

A secure file-transfer method for automatically importing transaction files, such as card statements, into Capture Expense.

GL code (General Ledger code)

An accounting code used to classify a transaction, assigned to categories so expenses post to the correct nominal account.

Journey Calculator

Automatically calculates journey distances based on waypoints using Google's Distance API and allows overrides with percentage difference display.

MARORS (Mileage Allowance Relief Optional Reporting Scheme)

An HMRC scheme that lets employers report, on employees' behalf, mileage paid below the approved rates, so employees can claim tax relief on the shortfall.

Merchant mapping

Linking a merchant or card-transaction source to a specific expense category so claims are categorised automatically.

Odometer reading

The mileage shown on a vehicle's odometer, used to verify or substantiate the distance claimed.

P11D

The HMRC form employers use to report taxable benefits in kind, such as company cars or private fuel, provided to employees.

Pliant card

A corporate pre-paid or standard credit card from the Pliant provider that integrates with Capture Expense to feed transactions in automatically and immediately.

Policy Control

Enables spending limits, out-of-policy warnings, multi-stage approval workflows, duplicate claim protection, and vehicle mileage verification to ensure compliance with company expense policies.

Pre-approval

Securing approval for a cost before it is incurred, rather than after the expense is submitted.

Private vehicle

An employee's own vehicle used for business travel, reimbursed using HMRC rates.

Receipt Management

Uploading and managing digital receipts using the mobile app, email, Teams, or WhatsApp, with OCR to pre-populate form data, auto-matching credit card transactions, and splitting receipts into multiple categories.

Receipts inbox

An additional menu option that appears when for a user when they are allocated a credit card. It lets the user upload a receipt as soon as they spend and it remains in the inbox until the transaction comes in from Banking (card feed/statement import), and then auto matches to the transaction

Reimbursement

Repayment to an employee for business costs they have paid for personally.

Spend limit

A configured maximum amount for a category or claim, beyond which warnings or blocks apply.

Submitting Expense Claims

The process employees follow to submit expense claims for approval.

Subsistence Rates

Defined allowance amounts for meals, accommodation, and other expenses based on the duration of business travel, configurable in the system.

Tag

Tags are a flexible way to classify users and expense categories according to your organisation's structure. You define the tag type (such as department, location, legal entity, or cost centre) and then create values within it to represent the specific groups or codes your business uses. You can then report on these tags.

Trip

A feature that allows you to calculate the duration of time spent away on a trip and allows the grouping of expenses and journeys relating to a single business trip.

User type

The role assigned to a person in Capture Expense, such as user, approver, finance, or admin, determining their permissions.

VAT record

A built-in VAT rate definition used to calculate the reclaimable VAT on an expense.

Vehicle rate

The per-mile rate applied to a vehicle type when calculating mileage reimbursement.