• 20/10/2026
  • 9 minutes to read

Using expense reports in Business Central

Keep track of your business expenses with an efficient expense report management tool that's intuitive to use and creates a more efficient workflow. Available online in Business Central and via the Continia Expense Portal

Features include: cash advance to report cash withdrawals, the option to pre-approve expense reports, comments visibility for every document included in a report all in one overview, and the option to open an expense in the expense report and view it in granular detail (rather than list view) on the Expense Document card.

Get started by learning how to create and submit new expense reports, add existing entries to reports, and utilize key features such as improved comment visibility and warning notifications.

Creating and submitting expense reports in Business Central

You can create expense reports in Business Central using the Limit Document Visibility setting on the Continia User Setup Card. This limits document visibility for a certain user to that user's own documents.

To create and submit an expense report in Business Central:

  1. Search () for and select Expense Reports.
  2. On the action bar, click New to open the Expense Report card.
  3. Under General, click in the Expense User No. field to select the ID of the expense user whose expense report you're creating.
  4. Under Description field, enter a title for the report.
  5. Add expenses, mileage, or per diems to the report (refer to the following steps).

Add an expense

To add expenses:

  1. Search () for and select Expense (Continia Expense Management).
  2. On the action bar, click New to add a line to the table and open the Expense card.
  3. Under General, fill in the Payment Type, Expense Type, Description, and Amount fields (and any other fields that are relevant).
  4. Attach a relevant file to the expense.
    1. Click in the Attachments field to open the Attached Files page.
    2. On the action bar, click Add to open the Select File dialog.
    3. ​Add the file you want to attach, either click in the dialog to browse your computer or drag the file straight from your file browser into the drag-and-drop area.
    4. The file is attached. Return to the Expense Report card.
  5. To add more expenses, select a new line in the table and repeat the process of step 4.

Add mileage

To add mileages:

  1. Search () for and select Mileage (Continia Expense Management).
  2. On the action bar, click New to add a line to the table and open the Mileage Card.
  3. Under General, fill in the Purpose, From Address, To Address, and Total Distance fields (and any other fields that are relevant).
  4. Attach a relevant file to the mileage:
    1. Click in the Attachments field to open the Attached Files page.
    2. ​On the action bar, click Add to open the Select File dialog.
    3. ​Add the file you want to attach, either click in the dialog to browse your computer or drag the file straight from your file browser into the drag-and-drop area.
    4. ​The file is attached. Return to the Expense Report card.
  5. To add more mileages, select a new line in the table and repeat the process of step 4.

Add a per diem

To add per diems:

  1. Search () for and select Per Diems (Continia Expense Management).

  2. On the action bar, click New to add a line to the table and open the Per Diem Card.

  3. Under General, fill in the Departure Date/Time, Return Date/Time, and Description fields (and any other fields that are relevant).

  4. Click in the Amount (LCY) field to open the Per Diem Details page.

  5. On the action bar, click Edit List to make the list editable.

  6. For each of the date lines in the table, specify which allowances to include in the per diem calculation by selecting the relevant boxes.

    Note

    In the Accommodation Allowance column, you can't select the box for the earliest date in the top line, (even if there's only one date line in the table). You can only select the boxes for subsequent lines (if any).

  7. To add more per diems, click a new line in the table and repeat steps 2-6.

Reviewing warnings in an expense report

Expense report warnings highlight issues that need to be resolved to ensure accuracy and completeness of your expense reports. The system-generated warnings include:

  • Missing attachments for an expense
  • A purchase contract that needs to be added

To review warnings in Business Central:

  1. Search () for and select Expense Reports (Continia Expense Management).
  2. Review your list of expense reports to see if there are any warnings the report line (the writing displays in red).
  3. Open the report to check the information is accurate and all necessary fields are filled in.
  4. Check the comments of the report (visible on the document line within the expense report). Under Expenses, Mileage, or Per Diem. Click Comments to view comments for multiple documents from the report. This functionality allows you to quickly review all related comments without having to navigate to separate document lines.

Linking fields between reports and individual documents

If you add one or more fields to the header of an expense report on the Configured Fields page, the individual documents of that report automatically inherit the values of the those added fields (if you added the same fields to the documents). This applies to both newly created documents and existing documents that you add to the report.

To add one or more existing fields to an expense report and to individual documents:

  1. Search () for and select Configured Fields (Continia Expense Management).
  2. On the action bar, click Add.

To add one or more new fields:

  1. On the action bar, click Create Field Type, this opens a wizard.
  2. In the Code field enter the field type code (for example, TRANS for Transport).
  3. In the Description field enter a brief description for the field (for example, Transport).
  4. In the Data Type field, select from the dropdown menu (for example, Text) then click Next.
  5. (Optional) Add translations for the field, then click Next.
  6. To add any additional fields, repeat step 3 or work through the process of step 4 .

Any document of the kind you set up will inherit the values of the fields you added to the expense report header after the document is added to an expense report or created from within an expense report.

​For example, if you add the Project No. field to the expense report header and to the mileage header on the Configured Fields page, a corresponding Project No. field will be available thereafter for each expense report you create and for each mileage you add to an expense report. Then, when you select a Project No. field value for an expense report, this value will automatically be inherited by any mileage you create or add from within that report.

Overview of expense reports
Setting up pre-approval of expense reports
Setting up expense reports
Expense reports in the Expense Mobile App