Approving Expenses

As a coordinator or designated approver, you review expense submissions from guests and decide whether to approve, reject, or partially reimburse them. You can also recategorize expenses during review to apply the correct policy caps.

Accessing Expense Approvals

When guests submit expenses that require your review, you’ll see:

An “Action Required” badge on the guest’s name in your dashboard
An alert showing the number of expenses needing review
Each expense displayed with merchant details, amount, date, and any policy violations

Click on an expense to open the approval drawer and review the details.

Approval Drawer

The approval drawer shows:

Expense details — Merchant name, amount, date, currency
Category — The expense category (e.g., meals, transportation, lodging)
Policy status — Whether the expense is in-policy, out-of-policy, exceeds limits, or is blocked
Receipts — Attached receipt images (if required)
Memo — Guest’s explanation or notes
Policy details — Category caps and allowances from the applicable expense policy

Approval Actions

Approve

Approve the full expense amount for reimbursement. Use this when:

The expense is within policy limits
You’ve reviewed and accepted an out-of-policy expense
The guest has provided sufficient documentation

Click Approve to reimburse the full submitted amount.

Reject

Reject the expense completely. Use this when:

The expense violates policy and shouldn’t be reimbursed
The category is not allowed by the policy
Documentation is insufficient or invalid

Click Reject and optionally provide a reason that will be visible to the guest.

Rejected expenses cannot be resubmitted. If you need the guest to provide additional documentation, consider contacting them before rejecting.

Partially Approve

Approve a reduced amount for reimbursement. Use this when:

The expense exceeds category spending limits but part of it is valid
You want to reimburse up to the policy cap and have the guest cover the overage
The expense is partially justified

Click Partially Approve, enter the approved amount (up to the maximum allowed by policy), and optionally provide an explanation.

The maximum partial approval amount is calculated based on the category cap and any previously approved expenses in the same category within the cap period (per day, per trip, or total).

Recategorizing Expenses

You can change an expense’s category during the approval process. This is useful when:

The guest selected the wrong category when submitting
The expense fits better under a different category with different caps
You need to apply a different policy rule to the expense

How to Recategorize

Open the expense approval drawer
Locate the Category field in the expense details
Click the pencil icon next to the category name to edit inline
Select a different category from the dropdown
Review the preview modal showing how the expense will be evaluated under the new category
Click Save and re-evaluate to confirm the change

The drawer will immediately update to show the new category and refreshed policy details without requiring a manual refresh.

You can cancel the category change by clicking Cancel or the × button in the inline editor before confirming. This returns the category display to its original read-only state.

Recategorizing an expense:

Re-evaluates the expense against the new category’s spending caps
Cancels any pending auto-approval — you must manually approve, partially approve, or reject after recategorizing
Preserves the original submitted category in the audit trail

Recategorization Preview

Before confirming a category change, you’ll see:

Policy status — Whether the expense would be in-policy under the new category
Overage amount — How much the expense exceeds the new category’s cap (if applicable)
Cap type — Whether the cap applies per day, per trip, or in total
Maximum partial approval amount — The ceiling for partial approval under the new category

This preview helps you understand the policy impact before committing the change.

Restrictions

You can only recategorize expenses when:

✅ The expense is out-of-pocket (not mileage)
✅ The approval status is Needs Review
✅ The expense has not been cancelled

Once you’ve approved, rejected, or cancelled an expense, the category can no longer be changed.

Auto-Approval Cancellation

Some expenses are set to auto-approve after a waiting period (configured in the expense policy). When you recategorize an expense that’s scheduled for auto-approval:

The auto-approval is immediately cancelled
You must manually approve, partially approve, or reject the expense
The guest is not notified about the category change until you take final action

This ensures you have control over the final decision after changing the category.

You can share expense approval details via email with stakeholders who don’t have access to Juno. This is useful for:

Consulting with senior leadership or financial advisors
Coordinating with external finance teams or auditors
Getting input from colleagues before making a decision

To share an approval:

Open the expense approval drawer
Click Share
Enter the recipient’s email address
Optionally add a message providing context
The recipient receives an email with full expense details, policy information, and supporting documentation

Shared emails are informational only. Recipients cannot approve or reject expenses — only designated approvers can take action within Juno.

Best Practices

Review receipts carefully — Check that receipts match the submitted amount and merchant
Provide rejection reasons — Help guests understand why an expense wasn’t approved
Use partial approval for overages — When part of an expense is valid, reimburse up to the policy cap
Recategorize when appropriate — Correct miscategorized expenses to apply the right policy rules
Act promptly — Guests are waiting for reimbursement decisions

Next Steps

Expense Policies — Understand how expense policies are configured
Extending Expense Deadlines — Give guests more time to submit expenses
Managing Invites — Monitor guest progress and approvals