Expense Categories
Overview
Expense categories and subcategories provide the classification structure used when recording business costs. Well-organised categories make your expense reports more meaningful and help you understand exactly where your money is going.
Categories
A category is the top-level grouping for related expenses. Examples include:
- Operations — day-to-day running costs such as office rent and utilities.
- Staff — salaries, benefits, and training costs.
- Marketing — advertising, promotions, and outreach activities.
- Equipment — hardware purchases and capital expenditure on network infrastructure.
- Maintenance — repair and servicing costs.
- Internet Transit — upstream bandwidth fees.
Creating a Category
Navigate to Income & Expenses → Expense Categories and click Add Category.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | A short, descriptive label (e.g. Operations). |
| Description | An optional explanation of what costs belong in this category. |
Click Save. The category is now available when recording an expense.
Editing and Deleting Categories
Click the Edit icon to rename a category or update its description. Categories that have subcategories or existing expense records attached to them should be renamed rather than deleted to preserve historical data integrity.
Subcategories
A subcategory sits beneath a parent category and provides a finer level of detail. For example, under Operations you might have subcategories such as Office Rent, Electricity, and Water. Under Staff you might have Salaries, Overtime, and Training.
Creating a Subcategory
On the Expense Categories page, click Add Subcategory (or open an existing category and look for the Add Subcategory option within it).
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Parent Category | The top-level category this subcategory belongs to. |
| Name | A short label for the subcategory (e.g. Office Rent). |
| Description | An optional description. |
Click Save. When an expense is recorded, both the category and subcategory must be selected, so the structure is fully captured from the moment of entry.
How Categories Are Used in Reports
The Expense Report groups results first by category, then by subcategory. This two-level grouping gives you subtotals at both levels, making it easy to see, for example, that Staff costs make up the largest share of your expenses, with Salaries being the dominant subcategory within it.