Review expense receipts

Receipt review is mostly about line-level coding. A receipt can look fine at the header level and still be unusable if the expense lines are incomplete or classified badly.

The Fields That Matter Most

When you review an expense receipt, focus on these fields first:

Merchant Name

This tells you where the purchase happened. It is useful for spotting the right category quickly and for pattern matching. If the merchant is wrong, the suggested coding may also be wrong.

Document Date

This becomes the posting date if a receipt date is available. If the date is wrong, correct it before approval.

Total Amount

Check that the total shown by Sifterra matches the receipt image or PDF. For itemized receipts, pay attention to whether the lines make sense for the total you expect.

Expense Account

This is the most important approval field. Every expense line must have an expense account before you can approve the receipt. If even one line is blank, approval is blocked.

Pattern Matched And Matched Pattern

These show whether Sifterra used an existing rule to assign the expense account. This helps you decide whether the coding looks trustworthy or whether the rule needs to be refined.

Shortcut Dimensions

If your company uses dimensions such as department, location, project, or job, review them before approval and fill them in when needed.

Balancing Account

If your process uses a card clearing account, employee vendor, bank account, or another balancing account, confirm that it is correct before creating journal lines.

Confidence Score

Confidence is a clue, not a decision. A low score means you should inspect the receipt more carefully. A high score does not replace review when the coding still looks wrong.

Normal Review Flow

1. Open the receipt in Sifterra Expense Review.
2. Use Preview Document to compare the receipt image or PDF with the extracted information.
3. Check the header:
   • merchant name
   • date
   • total amount
   • whether the receipt is itemized
4. Review each expense line:
   • description
   • amount
   • expense account
   • pattern match status
   • dimensions, if used
   • balancing account, if used
5. Fix any missing or incorrect expense accounts.
6. If needed, update dimensions or balancing details.
7. Approve with Approve & Create Journal Lines when everything looks correct.

When A Receipt Needs Extra Attention

Give the receipt a closer review if:

• it contains several line items
• some lines have blank expense accounts
• the total does not look right
• the merchant is unfamiliar
• the matched pattern is too broad
• the confidence score is low

Practical Review Tips

• Be most cautious with hotel, restaurant, and mixed retail receipts because they often contain multiple expense types.
• A matched pattern is helpful, but you should still confirm that it fits the specific purchase.
• A low confidence score is a reason to compare closely with the original document.
• If the merchant looks right but the line descriptions do not, review the lines individually instead of trusting a broad merchant rule.
• If a receipt should have gone through invoice processing instead, stop and route it through the invoice workflow.