Whether you’re submitting a spending reimbursement or managing a project budget, expense reports are integral to any type of business.
Still, writing them isn’t exactly fun.
In fact, it can be a tedious and time-consuming process—especially if you’re creating them from scratch every time. Luckily, there’s an easy and free solution every team can turn to!
Expense report templates make the process of submitting your expense reports faster, smoother, and error-free with pre-made professional outlines to start with. Plus, you can access a number of customizable and detailed templates at no cost.
In celebration of expense report templates, let’s discuss the top qualities to look for in your next expense report template and access 10 of our favorites for Excel, Google Sheets, and ClickUp. We’ll explore their best features and show you how to make the most of them in time for your next great expense. 🎉
- What Is an Expense Report Template?
- What To Look For in a Top Expense Report Template
- 10 Expense Report Templates To Use in 2024
- 1. Expense Report Template by ClickUp
- 2. Monthly Expense Report Template by ClickUp
- 3. Employee Expense Report Template by ClickUp
- 4. Business Expense & Report Template by ClickUp
- 5. Small Business Expense Report Template by ClickUp
- 6. Finance Management Template by ClickUp
- 7. Travel Expense Report Template in Excel by Vertex42
- 8. Yearly Expense Report Template in Word by ExcelTemplates
- 9. Employee Expense Report Template in Excel by ExcelTemplates
- 10. Expense Report Template in Google Sheets
What Is an Expense Report Template?
An expense report is a document businesses use to track expenses. An expense report template is a pre-built form that facilitates the business’ report-building process. 🖊️
Expense reports are most often created when an employee incurs charges on behalf of the company. It specifies the cost of each item or service to ensure accurate reimbursement. But they can serve other purposes too! Many teams use expense reports when filing tax returns, assessing project impact, or for simple budget control.
Some benefits of using an expense report template include:
- Efficiency: Since you only need to input values for each new expense, you can create reports quickly and efficiently
- Professional results: The template has you covered on this front so all you have to worry about are the numbers. You have to ability to choose the expense report template that best aligns with your brand and business’ preferred level of formality
- Guidelines: If you’ve never written an expense report before, a template will ensure you don’t forget any important information
- Improved communication: With a thorough expense report, reviewers and other stakeholders gain clarity on where the approved budget is really going
- Additional features: Digital templates have various embedding functionality, integrations, and features to attach receipts and other useful media to your reports
What To Look For in an Expense Report Template
A high-quality expense report template should…
- Have a clear outline: It must be clean, organized, and easy to read
- Include all the necessary sections: It should provide enough space and sections to add every key detail
- Provide sufficient instructions: It needs to precisely define where your information goes and which files to attach
- Allow for some flexibility: You should be able to customize the template to reflect your practices, policies, and branding
- Be accessible on multiple devices: You should be able to edit the template on the go via your laptop or phone
- Improve team collaboration: Whether it be through comments or simple file sharing, a high-quality template must allow you to communicate with coworkers
10 Expense Report Templates To Use in 2024
Expense reporting is simple when you have the right template to guide you. With a well-structured framework and predefined categories, you can document your expenditures and ensure all accounts are perfectly balanced.
Need help finding one? We’ve got you covered.
Follow along as we break down the 10 best expense report templates for ClickUp, Excel, Word, and Google Sheets.
As a cherry on top, they’re all free! So you can manage your business expenses without breaking the bank. 🍒
1. Expense Report Template by ClickUp
Let’s start with something simple but effective. The Expense Report Template by ClickUp captures all the key information of any expense in a clean and colorful layout. 🌈
This beginner-friendly template is created in ClickUp Docs—ClickUp’s dynamic and built-in document editing tool that’s unlike anything you’ve used before. In this ready-made Doc, you’ll find pre-set formatting, banners, and styling to make the processes of completing and sharing your expense reports easier than ever.
With detailed sections for defining the member involved, budget, expense, and more, this template has everything you need to properly document all charges related to any team or project. The Expense Breakdown section includes a table where you can list all expenditures along with the date, description, and subcategories, such as food and travel.
After listing the business expenses and finding the total sum, the submitter can add photos of their receipts and describe them directly in the template. Once you’ve reached the end of the template, you’ll see a final space for the reviewers to approve and sign the report. Plus—as with any ClickUp template—you can customize any and all parts of the Doc to align with your branding and processes.
2. Monthly Expense Report Template by ClickUp
The Monthly Expense Report Template by ClickUp shares many similarities with the previous ClickUp Doc template, but is designed to handle an employee’s business-related spending over the span of a month, providing a convenient solution for regular and systematic reporting.
At the top of this template, you’ll see designated sections to add your company logo, name, and contact information. Further down the page, you’ll see sections for defining the purpose and the period of spending. The submitter can then state their name, position, ID, Social Security number, and other details in the Employee Information section to ensure proper reimbursement.
There are two tables where they can list their expenses. The first is a general summary with total costs for each category including transportation, lodging, and food. The second and final table allows you to itemize and break down the expenses in greater detail. If the expense relates to a certain business account, you’ll have the space to specify that in this section.
3. Employee Expense Report Template by ClickUp
If you frequently organize company trips, the Employee Expense Report Template by ClickUp will make the process significantly easier with a pre-formatted Doc to stay on top of each employee’s travel-related expenses. 🧳
This loaded template consists of eight pages in total. The first and primary page holds basic information about the organization, submitter, and recipient. The following five pages represent different types of expenses including:
- Accommodation
- Transportation and fuel
- Meals
- Entertainment
- Miscellaneous
Each page contains tables to list all costs and provide details about each transaction. From there, the employee can navigate to the pre-made Receipt Attachments subpage to support their expenses with the proper documentation.
Finally, on the Trip Expense Summary page, you can find the final list of expenses by type and the total refund amount owed to your employee.
For an even smoother experience, use the table of contents on the left side of the document. Toggle on the sticky table of contents to display the page’s contents on the right.
4. Business Expense & Report Template by ClickUp
while Doc-style templates are certainly popular among expense report templates, that’s not the only way to create one! Let’s take a look at how you can organize more complex spending and budgets using the Business Expense & Report Template by ClickUp. This List-level template is packed with tons of ready-to-use features including Custom Fields, pre-made tasks, and multiple views to help you manage your expense reports from every angle.
Collect and store data neatly within your Workspace while gaining valuable insights into your company or team’s spending habits using this customizable template. This template is packed with different resources to manage expenses from intake through fulfillment including:
- Form view: An expense report intake form you can share with employees via a simple URL to gather information about their expenses. Once completed, the submission automatically creates a task
- List view: An interactive master List of expenses, organized by expense type by default. You can find the critical information about each expense in the columns on the right
- Board view: A Kanban-style board of expenses organized by status. Drag and drop tasks across the board to change their status on their way to being approved
- Docs: A Business Expense Report document similar to the previous templates found on the list
You can customize all aspects of this template to match the steps in your process and apply filters and change the grouping or sorting criteria.
Check out these budget proposal templates!
5. Small Business Expense Report Template by ClickUp
While multiple views, Custom Fields, and customizable task statuses seem impressive for any expense report—your small business might not need those bells and whistles to stay efficient. This next template gets that, keeping things short and sweet to facilitate accurate and timely reporting. 🔔
This Small Business Expense Report Template by ClickUp is a handy tool designed for that exact purpose. It’s easy to use for everyone, even if you’re new to ClickUp or less tech-savvy.
Another Doc-style template, this resource shares a familiar structure. It starts with the company name, logo, and Reporter Overview, a section dedicated to the submitter’s information. In the Expense Details section, you’ll break down each expense, when it occurred, and how much it set the company back.
After the designated section for receipts comes the final Authorization segment. The person approving the transaction will fill out these areas and provide their name, date, signature, and more.
6. Finance Management & Spending Report Template by ClickUp
The ClickUp Finance Management Template is your one-stop shop for all things finance. It centralizes financial data, providing easy access to critical information and project documentation in an organized Space within the platform. It also allows you to assign tasks and track their progress using multiple views, Custom Fields, and custom task statuses.
In this Space-level template, you’ll find separate Folders to organize spending related to Sales, Expenses, and Products and Services. Within each Folder, you’ll find separate lists with multiple views for related reimbursements, a Payment Schedule calendar, price lists, and more.
This template also comes with four pre-made Automations to eliminate the mindless busy work attached to the reimbursement process. For instance, when a Custom Field changes, the task’s status updates automatically. You can also introduce custom Automations to cater to your specific workflow and task dependencies.
7. Travel Expense List Template in Excel by Vertex42
If you prefer to stick with your tried and true spreadsheets, we’ve got you covered! This Travel Expense Report Template in Excel is a reliable and familiar option for managing travel-based expenses. 🛍️
Starting with the reporting period, enter all the necessary information in the designated cells, such as purpose, name, and department. The following sections list all travel dates and how much each expense category amounted to each day. There’s also a section dedicated to expense itemization.
Don’t forget to attach the receipts as proof since the template doesn’t have a section for them. 🧾
Since it’s an Excel document, this template doesn’t support real-time collaboration or mobile access. While ClickUp offers a unified platform that goes beyond expense tracking, Excel is a standalone spreadsheet tool.
8. Yearly Expense Report Template in Word by ExcelTemplates
A lot can happen in a year—business trips, client dinners, team-building events. 👥
A solid annual expense tracking system is paramount if you want to be thorough and clear on where your yearly expenses go.
That’s exactly what the Yearly Expense Report Template for Word is for. It’s a simple but invaluable tool for maintaining accurate annual expense records.
As you would in any Word document, type in and format the desired text. First, provide your name, title, ID, and department at the top. Calculate your expenses for each month of the year, then sum them up by quarters. Input the numbers in the table provided, sorting them by type of expense.
For any special remarks or clarifications, refer to the Additional Comments section. End with the approver’s name, date, and signature to validate the document. ✒️
If you still prefer to use Word, this basic expense report template will do the trick. Still, as it was intended primarily for text editing, this program offers limited functionality compared to Excel and ClickUp.
9. Employee Expense Report Template in Excel by ExcelTemplates
The Employee Expense Report Template for Excel is a seamless way to document, categorize, and analyze your monthly income and spending. 📆
It’s designed mainly for personal use. It features expense categories such as housing and utilities, which are typically not covered by the employer. Still, due to its flexible nature, you can adapt the template to various business-related contexts. Its placeholder text offers a solid starting point for creating your own content.
In the main summary tab, the employee should list their income streams in the green section and expenses in the blue section. The columns represent months. The template also features separate tabs for each month, allowing you to go more in-depth. Each income or expense category can have multiple subcategories.
10. Expense Report Template in Google Sheets
At this point, everyone and their dog knows what an expense report template is for. So, let’s cut to the chase—what makes this simple Expense Report Template for Google Sheets unique?
For starters, it’s possibly the most detailed weekly expense report template on this list. It offers numerous examples for each category, letting you precisely detail weekly expenses. Thanks to the pre-built formulas, all sums are automatically calculated. Not only can you save time and effort, but also avoid doing math, which is always a plus! 🔣
Like ClickUp, Google Sheets is a cloud-based platform that automatically saves your progress and safely stores it online in the cloud. You can access the document from any device and even edit the report with others in real time.
10 Best Expense Templates—An Overview
We know you’re super busy, so we’ve summed up the key points for you in the table below:
Template | What it brings |
ClickUp Expense Report Template | Simplifies expense tracking with a clean and vibrant layout |
ClickUp Monthly Expense Report Template | Helps you report on your business spending on a monthly basis |
ClickUp Employee Expense Report Template | Ensures fair reimbursement of each employee within your organization |
ClickUp Business Expense & Report Template | Provides a comprehensive framework for managing expenses and related work |
ClickUp Small Business Expense Report Template | Gives small businesses a simple way to document business-related expenses |
ClickUp Finance Management Template | Centralizes all your financial info, allowing you to manage it with ease |
Travel Expense Report Template in Excel by Vertex42 | Enables you to record business travel expenses in spreadsheet form |
Yearly Expense Report Template in Word by ExcelTemplates | Makes creating a year-end expenses report a breeze, regardless of the amount of data |
Employee Expense Report Template in Excel by ExcelTemplates | Allows employees to seamlessly document monthly earnings and spending |
Expense Report Template in Google Sheets | Stores all your work in a cloud and lets you build expense reports collaboratively |
Incorporating these templates into your workflow also ensures a smooth project closure process. It enables you to wrap up financial records and approvals promptly and accurately. 💵
Simplify Expense Tracking With Templates by ClickUp
Take advantage of the many benefits these expense report templates offer. Document all your spending and other financial data in one place, analyze it, and get a systematic overview of your business’s financial standing.
For a complete understanding of your business and project-related spending, you can’t go wrong with any expense report template by ClickUp. Not only will you have access to tons of rich and dynamic features at absolutely no cost, but you’ll be able to take your template significantly farther with more than 1,000 integrations and a vast Template Library for any use case.
Sign up for ClickUp today to take your expense reporting to new heights. ⛰️
Questions? Comments? Visit our Help Center for support.