--- title: "Setting up Expenses" slug: "setting-up-expenses" description: "Set up Capture Expense with ease: create user accounts, manage expenses, and configure approval workflows for efficient financial tracking." updated: 2026-09-23T09:54:11Z published: 2026-09-23T09:54:11Z canonical: "help.cintra.co.uk/setting-up-expenses" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.cintra.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Setting up Expenses Expand each section to view the steps and associated help links. All links will open in a new tab. --- ### Getting started - Welcome and logging in [Welcome email and set your password](/capture-expense/docs/sign-in-to-capture-expense) As an Admin for your organisation, you should have received your Welcome Email from Capture Expense. When you click the link, you will be required to set your password. [Navigate round Capture Expense](/capture-expense/docs/navigating-around-capture-expense) Once logged in, you will be presented with the user dashboard. You are now ready to set up your system. ### Getting started - Welcome and logging in [Welcome email and set your password](/payroll/docs/sign-in-to-cintra-people) As an Admin for your organisation, you should receive a welcome email from Cintra People. Depending on your permissions, you will be granted to Expenses, Payroll, and/or possibly HR. When you click the link in the email, you will be required to set your password. [Navigate around Expenses](/payroll/docs/navigate-around-expenses) Once logged in, you will be presented with the user dashboard. You are now ready to set up your system. ### Creating user accounts You can manually add other Admins, Auditors, or Finance users to help you set up the Expenses system. After this, you can add the rest of the users. See [Creating users](/capture-expense/docs/creating-users). - **Active**: ensures the user is displayed in the system - **Administrator**: if ticked, it will allow the user to configure settings - **Finance**: if ticked, the user will be able to see all expenses, as well as being able to see all credit card transactions & carry out reporting and exporting - **Auditor**: if ticked this provides read-only access to financial data and reports > [!WARNING] > For more information on the various user types, see [User types](/capture-expense/docs/user-types). Once created, you must send your new users a welcome email. See [Invite users](/capture-expense/docs/creating-users#inviting-users-to-capture-expense). ### Adding and importing employees You can add either users manually (for a small number of employees) or import them (recommended for larger numbers). Click **+ Person** to add users individually: See [Create users manually](/capture-expense/docs/creating-users). You can download a template to quickly add large numbers of users, then import it back to Expenses. See [Importing users](/capture-expense/docs/importing-users). ### Adding your users While you can add your users directly into the Expenses module (see [Creating and editing Expenses users](/integrated/docs/creating-users) and [Importing and exporting Expenses users](/integrated/docs/importing-users)), their records will NOT be synced with Payroll. Therefore, unless you wish to have standalone Expenses users, you should first create their record in the HR module. This is then synced over to the Payroll module, then automatically synced to Expenses. See [Add new members.](/integrated/docs/adding-new-employees) Once your employees are added, you can assign them appropriate user types, e.g. administrator, finance, or auditor. > [!WARNING] > For more information on the various user types, see [User types](/payroll/docs/user-types). ### Adding and importing your users While you can add your users directly into the Expenses module (see [Creating and editing Expenses users](/payroll/docs/creating-users) and [Importing and exporting Expenses users](/payroll/docs/importing-users)), their records will NOT be synced with Payroll. Therefore, unless you wish to have standalone Expenses users, you should first create their record in Payroll. This will then be automatically synced to Expenses. For more information, see [Add an employee](/payroll/docs/add-an-employee) or [bulk import employees](/payroll/docs/import-employees). Once your employees are added, you can assign them appropriate user types, e.g. administrator, finance, or auditor. > [!WARNING] > For more information on the various user types, see [User types](/payroll/docs/user-types). ### Settings [Company settings](/payroll/docs/company-logo) As an administrator, you should record all known information in the following areas of company settings: - [Company details](/payroll/docs/company-logo#company-details) - [Financial settings](/payroll/docs/company-logo#financial-settings) - [Mileage and distance information](/payroll/docs/company-logo#mileage-and-distance) - [Export and accounting details](/payroll/docs/company-logo#export-and-accounting), which will depend on which finance system you are using - [System behaviour](/payroll/docs/company-logo#system-behaviour): various other checkboxes you can turn on/off, depending on your requirements. ### Approval workflow Setting up an approval flow gives structure to how expenses are approved within your organisation. Consider questions such as: - Should the line manager always approve expenses? - Should approval depend on the value of the expense? - Do you require a multi stage approval process? [Create your approval workflows](/payroll/docs/approval-workflows-1) Each approval flow can have multiple stages, approvers, and rules. You might need several different approval flows to meet your organisation’s requirements. [Assign workflows to users](/payroll/docs/approval-workflows-1#assigning-workflows) As with adding users, you can assign workflows either [manually](/payroll/docs/approval-workflows-1#assigning-a-workflow-to-a-single-user) (for smaller workflows) or [using a template](/payroll/docs/approval-workflows-1#assigning-workflows-to-multiple-users-in-bulk). ### Expense categories Categories are used to classify expenses, mileage, and timesheets, helping your organisation track and report on spending by type. Capture Expense includes a set of default categories to get you started, which you can add to or customise to suit your needs. - You can [create categories manually](/payroll/docs/creating-and-editing-expense-categories). - Or [import them using a template](/payroll/docs/importing-and-exporting-categories). ### VAT You can create VAT records & map VAT codes to your accounting system. - If you only need to add a few VAT records, you can [Creating and editing VAT records](/payroll/docs/creating-and-editing-vat-records). - For lots of VAT records, you will be quicker to [import them using the template](/payroll/docs/importing-and-exporting-vat-record-data). ### Tags Tags are a flexible way to classify users and expense categories. After defining the tag type (such as department, location, or cost centre), you can add values to it to represent the specific groups or codes your business uses. These are used for accounting and reporting purposes, and also to restrict access to expense categories. - First you must [create the tag](/payroll/docs/creating-and-editing-tags), then [assign values to it](/payroll/docs/creating-and-editing-tags#adding-values-to-a-tag). - If you need to add a lot of tags, it is quicker to [import their details](/payroll/docs/importing-and-exporting-tags#importing-tag-data). ### Vehicles Vehicle records let you assign fuel rates to employees and keep track of mileage logs. You can set up and use your own mileage rates or the HMRC approved rates - which are automatically kept up to date every quarter. Expenses can accommodate company cars, car allowance, private vehicles as well as carbon tracking. - Expenses already has a list of preset vehicles and their HMRC approved rates (for both private and company vehicles) which you can [add to or edit](/payroll/docs/create-and-editing-vehicles) as required. - You can either [set your own rate](/payroll/docs/create-and-editing-vehicles#adding-a-rate-to-the-vehicle) or use the HMRC approved rates. - View [this article](/payroll/docs/vehicles-and-rates-fields) for more information on all the vehicle and mileage related fields. ### Banking There are four different ways you can import credit card transactions into Expenses. To do these: 1. [Importing bank statements](/payroll/docs/import-bank-statements) through CSV. 2. Using the [Open Banking integration](/payroll/docs/tbc-1). 3. [SFTP feed](/payroll/docs/ftp-sftp-export) directly from your bank. 4. Using [Pliant cards](/payroll/docs/pliant-cards). ### Allocation of credit cards & vehicles - To allocate credit cards to users, see [assigning credit cards to users](/payroll/docs/assigning-credit-cards-to-users). This article also explains how you can allocate credit cards by using the [import / export user](/payroll/docs/importing-users) feature. - To allocate vehicles to users, see [Assigning vehicles to users](/payroll/docs/assigning-vehicles-to-users). Again, you can also assign vehicles to users using the [import / export user](/payroll/docs/importing-users) feature or assign users to vehicles using the [import / export vehicle](/payroll/docs/importing-and-exporting-vehicles) feature. ### Advanced features Other areas of Expenses you may wish to set up prior to go live include: ### Integrations Expenses integrates with a wide variety of third party banking and accountancy applications, Cintra People Payroll, and more. To view all available integrations and to find out more, see [Introduction to integrations](/payroll/docs/introduction-to-integration). ### Subsistence rates Subsistence rates define the amounts users can claim for meals, accommodation, and other allowances based on how long they are away. See [Set up subsistence rates and categories](/payroll/docs/set-up-subsistence-rates). ### Advances This feature works like petty cash. Navigate to **Advances** on the left hand menu, click the **+Advance** button on the right hand side.