During the onboarding process, the spend setup for your company has been done by your Perk implementation team. However, you can edit some of these settings as required under Settings > Account > Companies by selecting the company and clicking View spend settings.
Caution: These settings have an impact on expense processing behavior. Make sure you select the applicable company and understand the impact on your company before making any changes.
General settings
In this section, you can adjust the general settings of your company such as the exchange rate service used for calculating currency conversion.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The name of the legal entity for which these settings are applicable. This information is displayed for information only. You can change it from the main company settings page. |
| Exchange rates source | Foreign exchange service used to calculate currency conversion. See FX rates and currency conversion in Perk. |
Approval and finance review
This section allows you to modify your company’s expense approval process, which involves two steps:
- Approval strategy (i.e. business approval)
- Finance review strategy
Furthermore, you can select payment methods that do not require approval and prevent employees from recalling expenses for the following statuses. If you make any changes, make sure to click Save afterwards. Otherwise, any changes may be lost.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Approval strategy |
This strategy is determined during the implementation process for your company.
If your company requires an approval flow that varies from the standard review strategy (or combines line manager and cost object approval strategies), then you need to set up a custom workflow using the workflow designer. You can change this strategy at any time; however, it will only apply to new documents. Existing expenses will use the previous strategy. |
| Activate auto approval |
This option is only available if Cost object approval or Line manager approval is selected. Enables automatic approvals if an expense is below a certain threshold and without warnings. The threshold is specified in different locations depending on whether you select cost object approval or line manager approval:
|
| Finance review strategy |
This strategy is determined during the implementation process for your company.
|
| Disable option to reject approval requests |
Checking this checkbox prevents approvers and financial reviewers from permanently rejecting privately paid expense reports. They can only send the report back for changes. If the checkbox remains unchecked, privately paid expense reports can be permanently rejected, but company card and travel expenses cannot. |
| Payment methods that do not need manager approval | Choose the payment options (Paid privately, Company card, and Travel provider) that do not require approval from a cost object owner or line manager. Any expenses with these payment methods are sent directly to finance review. |
| Prevent submitters from recalling expenses for the following statuses | Choose the statuses (in approval, in review, ready for export) in which you don’t want employees to be able to recall expenses. For example, you may not want employees to be able to recall an expense that has been approved and reviewed, and is ready for export. |
Expense report definition
This section determines the visibility of per diem and mileage expense types, and allows you determine how specific expense scenarios are managed in Perk.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable per diem | Enable per diems, calculation and reimbursement. You can determine where you want employees to be able to access per diem creation. |
| Enable mileage expenses | Enable mileage tracking, calculation and reimbursement. You can determine where you want employees to be able to access mileage expense creation. |
| Mileage counter reset date | Define mileage accumulation criteria. Choose between Monthly and Annually (calendar year) to define the frequency at which the mileage of employees is to be reset. This allows you to define specific limits for the application of different mileage rates (e.g., up to 10000 km 0.75 CHF/km and from 10,001 0.60 CHF/km) |
| Allow expenses without receipt | Allow expenses to be created for receipts that were lost or that didn’t have a receipt. If this option is enabled, employees can create privately paid expenses no receipt expenses. |
| Enable receiptless expenses for card transactions | Allows employees to create no receipt expenses only for card transactions. This covers both debit transactions and credit refunds. |
| Allow additional charges (tips, fees, etc.) | Allow charges to be added to the main category. If this option is enabled, employees can add additional charges to the expense in a separate section in the expense report, which is not considered for VAT. |
| Enable multiple categories per expense | When activated, this allows employees to assign multiple categories to a single expense. |
| Enable booking split of remainder of additional charges | Allow split financial booking. If this option is enabled, additional charges in an expense report are booked in separate lines. If this option is disabled, the extracted total amount on an expense and additional charges are booked on a single line. |
| Enable modifications split for per diem booking lines |
If this option is enabled, modifications to a per diem are booked as separate lines. If disabled, a per diem including any modifications is booked on a single line. Note: this is not compatible with Enable taxable/non-taxable amount split for per diem booking lines. If both options are selected, Perk only splits per diems into taxable/non-taxable lines. |
| Enable taxable/non-taxable amount split for per diem booking lines |
Split per diem lines into taxable and non-taxable amounts. This is applicable for all finance systems that are exporting debit lines in their exports. Note: this is not compatible with Enable modifications split for per diem booking lines. If both options are selected, Perk only splits per diems into taxable/non-taxable lines. |
| Enable XML attachments for expenses |
Allow people to upload XML files as supporting documents to receipt and no receipt expenses, mileage claims, and per diems. Note: Make sure your finance integration supports the import of XML files before enabling this option. |
| FX percentage surcharge |
Set up a percentage that is added on top of the default Perk-managed exchange rate. For example, if a person pays expenses with their private card, this surcharge compensates for unfavorable foreign exchange rates. However, it is recommended to use this option carefully as it applies the fixed percentage surcharge to all foreign currency expenses. |
| Enable category model v2 | Enabling the V2 model improves the category selection by Perk AI. |
| Disable cost object selection (Trips) and ignore cost objects (Expenses) |
Checking this option removes the possibility for employees to assign expenses/trips to cost objects themselves, cost objects are still mandatory. This requires you to set a default cost object for all people in their profile.
Therefore, you need to make sure that either:
|
| Disable cost objects (Trips) | Cost objects are no longer mandatory in trips. |
Compliance
This section contains settings that determine the notifications triggered when an expense fails to meet specific criteria, and who can perform certain actions on expenses.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable duplicate warnings for per diems | Flags any duplicate per diems. See Allowance already claimed. |
| Don’t allow trips with overlapping dates | Flags any trips that have the same dates. See Trip-specific notifications. |
| Enable user-specific policies |
Enable this option if your company has different expense policies and rules depending on the person’s position, geographic location or other characteristics within the same entity. For example, director expenses are only reimbursed if they exceed CHF 50. If this option is enabled, you can configure various rules for different employee policies and assign them to a specific person in People, Organization tab. You must choose a Default policy that is set as backup for new people when activating person-specific policies. |
| Enable expense rules | Flags any expenses that don’t comply with expense rules. See Policy breach. |
| Flag weekend days | Flags if the expense falls on a weekend. See Weekend days. |
| Enable AI warnings (duplicates, amount validation) |
Triggers warnings where AI detects a scenario where the expense does not comply. See AI-based warnings. For amount validation, Perk flags expenses where the difference between the manually entered amount and AI-extracted amount is greater than a specified percentage. You can configure this percentage in Accepted deviation in percent field. |
| Notify if official supplier invoice is required | Flags expenses that require an invoice based on the amount. See Official invoice required. |
| Use per diem name as business purpose | Selecting this option automatically populates the name of the per diem as the business purpose/description. If not selected, people need to specify a business purpose for their reimbursement request. |
| Enable warnings for expenses without receipt | Flags any receiptless expenses without supporting documents. See No receipt expenses. |
| Enable exported expenses in delegated expenses | Enable this option if you want to enable people who submit on behalf of another to view the exported expenses of the people they are helping. This information is displayed in Spend > Expenses > Delegated expenses. See Manage spend as an assistant for someone else. |
| Enable warning if user cost object deviates from expense cost object | Flags any expenses where the cost object isn’t the same as the person’s default cost object. See Default cost object. |
| Display warning for missing tax information | Flags any expenses without tax information. See VAT/tax rate. |
| Notify if Google Maps distance threshold exceeded | Flags mileage claims where the person has manually overwritten the auto-calculated distance. See Distance in mileage expenses. |
Participants
Determines how Perk handles participants in expenses. See Configure expense participants.
Duplicate check settings
You can define when a duplicate warning is displayed for expenses by configuring how many parameters must match to trigger the warning.
The parameters are:
- Tax number/Doc-Hash: The tax number refers to the unique VAT number of the business as seen on a receipt for an expense. The doc-hash, on the other hand, refers to the hash value of the file used for expense report creation (i.e., the picture or PDF). These two elements make up the most fundamental duplicate checking criteria
- Total claim: The total claim refers to the Total Amount read out from the receipt of an expense
- Currency: The currency refers to the currency read out from the receipt of an expense
- Date: The date refers to the date read out from the receipt of an expense
- Time: The time refers to the time read out from the receipt of an expense
Note: The fewer the parameters required for a warning to trigger, the more sensitive Perk is to false positives. While you can change these settings, it is recommended that you leave the settings configured for you initially.
Data export and ERP configuration
The Data export and ERP configuration section contains multiple options to determine the behavior for exporting expenses such as the information included in the export and any additional files. The impact of these settings depends on the integration set up in Integrations (Spend management tab, Expense export).
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Exclude cost objects from export | Choose whether you want to exclude cost objects from the export or whether to keep them in the report. |
| Export per diem and mileage allowances separately to payroll |
Split the export of expenses into two exports (i.e. for separate posting in finance accounting and payroll systems). When enabled, this activates a separate section in Integrations, in the Expense export setup to let you configure a payroll system for export. You can choose to split per diem amounts into:
You cannot split per diems by both criteria. If both options are selected, per diems are only split into taxable/non-taxable amounts. Note: This is only compatible with exported expenses that are manually triggered. If you use an automatic export job, the Perk API, or any integration based on the Perk API, this split cannot be done. |
Posting currency
By default, Perk uses the closing rate of the previous day for a given expense unless a new rate is available. For example, if the expense was made on January 10, the closing rate of January 9 is used, regardless of the posting date. This procedure ensures that the conversion is tax compliant.
In Perk, you can choose one of three posting currencies for expenses:
-
Export amounts in original receipt currency: keep the amounts in the original currency of the receipt.
In this case, the FX conversion is conducted in your ERP system or any other system your company uses. - Export amounts in company currency: convert foreign exchange expenses in your company currency in Perk.
- Export amounts in employee currency (fallback: company currency): convert the foreign exchange expenses in your employee’s specific currency if it deviates from the company currency.
Additional reports and files
Regardless of whether data is exported directly to a third-party system via API or as a file-based export (set up in Integrations), you can also generate other files that list all expenses exported.
Perk lets you generate these files:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Export accounting journal [.csv] | Generate the Perk standard accounting journal and specify the file name to be used when generating the output file. |
| Export attachments |
Include any receipts or supporting documents during the exporting of expenses as a ZIP file. These files can be accessed in the Export log. Documents are exported in the same format as they were uploaded (i.e. JPG, PNG, PDF or XML if enabled). |
| ZIP folder name for exported attachments | If you select Export attachments, choose a folder name for the attachments. By default, Perk uses Attachments. |
| Enable trip level export | Adds an additional spend type tab Trips in the Export page to let financial reviewers export all trip expenses together.See Export reviewed expenses, trips, transactions, and invoices. |
| Enable CSV report of expense amounts subject to income tax | Generate a report of all taxable amounts calculated on expenses. |
| Export payout file | Perk allows you to generate payout files in Swiss, German, French and UK PAIN formats. |
| Export report [.pdf] | Generate a summary of reviewed expense reports including attached receipts. |
| Export report with total per person [.pdf] | You can choose to generate a report that breaks down expenses by person and specify the file name to be used when generating the output file. |
| Export report per expense [.pdf] | You can choose to generate a report for each expense and specify the file name to be used when generating the output file. |
These files can be accessed from Finance > Review > Export log. They cannot be accessed via API.
Enable company cards
This section only appears if your organization has Perk Cards. This section determines general behavior when using Perk Cards (company card payment method). card transactions are exported from Perk
General settings
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Flag non-reimbursable expenses | If enabled, expenses that are paid with company cards are flagged accordingly. |
| Deactivate privately paid expenses | If enabled, only expenses paid with company cards are allowed in Perk. |
| Enable default creditor number (ERP) | Sets a default credit number for exporting card transactions. It can be manually overridden by changing it in the company card setup. |
| Auto-freeze when too many receipts are late (for Perk Cards only) | Restricts card usage when submitters fail to submit expenses to match transactions. See Auto-Freeze in case of missing receipts. |
| Enable Perk lodge cards | For use with travel provider integrations. Lets card admins create lodge cards for use with travel management providers. |
| Enable card requests | Allows employees to request a card, which card admins can choose to approve or reject. See Request a Perk card. |
Import
This section only is necessary if transactions are uploaded manually from a third-party card provider. Every card provider has a different card transaction file. Here you need to specify which provider your company cards are from.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Company card statement format | For third-party card integrations, select the type of format in which transactions are imported into Perk. |
Export
You can set up to export expenses matched with transactions. You configure the basic settings of the export job in the spend settings for the company, and the integration itself in Integrations, Expense export - Current system for card transactions.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Export accounting journal [.csv] | If enabled, you can export the accounting journal for the transactions that have been matched with a corresponding expense report under Finance > Review > Export log. |
| File name of the accounting journal | Specify the file name to be used when exporting the accounting journal. |
| Export attachments | If enabled, you can export the files that people attached to their expense reports. |
| ZIP folder name for exported attachments | If you want to create a named folder where your attachments are saved, name it here. Otherwise, it is named automatically. |
| Export report [.pdf] | If enabled, you can export a card transactions report as .pdf file. |
| Export report with total per user [.pdf] | Generate a report of card expenses that breaks down expenses by user. |
| File name of the report with total per user | Specify the file name to be used when exporting the user report. |
| Export report per expense [.pdf] | Generate a report for each expense. |
| ZIP folder name for export per credit card expense | If you want to create a named folder where your exports are saved, name it here. Otherwise, it is named automatically. |
| Exclude cost objects from export | If enabled, cost objects won't be included in the export file. |
| Currency for exporting | Choose whether you want to export the expense amounts in card currency, in transaction currency, or company currency. |
Enable trips
This section contains the settings for configuring trips in Perk. For more information, see Setting up trips in Perk.
Enable VAT/tax
This section determines how tax is handled in expenses. See Enable tax rates.
Notification service
For information on the notification service, see Send an open spend tasks email to employees.