This article explains how to approve expenses and schedule reimbursements in Perk so Perk pays employees for their out-of-pocket expenses. Use it when you're ready to process reimbursements from the review queue.

You review expenses as usual (policy, receipt, amount, cost object). When you approve an out-of-pocket expense and the company has reimbursements turned on, you schedule it for the next payment run. Perk then pays the employee's bank account on the company's behalf and later invoices the company via a reimbursement statement.

Before you start

• Reimbursements must be set up for the company (by an account admin in Settings > Expense management > Reimbursements).
• The employee must have an active Perk role. Users with a no-access role cannot submit expenses or be reimbursed.
• The employee must have valid bank details in their Perk profile (and, for employees outside the US, a date of birth); otherwise the payout can't be sent or may fail.
• You need the financial reviewer role to see Finance > Review > Reimburse and to schedule reimbursements.

Opening the review queue

1. In Perk, go to Finance > Review > Expenses and invoices.
2. You’ll see expenses that are in review and eligible for reimbursement. Typically out-of-pocket expenses that have passed approval and are waiting for financial review.

Use filters (company, date, submitter, status) as needed to find the expenses you want to process.

Reviewing the expense

1. Open an expense and check that it meets policy: correct category, receipt, amount, cost object (e.g. department or project), and any other rules your company uses.
2. Confirm it's an out-of-pocket expense type that's in scope for reimbursement (e.g. meals, taxis, incidentals). Travel expenses, mileage, and per diems aren't paid out via reimbursement in the current release.
3. If something's wrong, send the expense back with a comment so the employee or approver can fix it. Don't schedule it for reimbursement until it's correct.

Note: If the employee's bank details are missing or invalid, the expense may still be approved and scheduled, but the payout will fail and the employee will need to update their profile. You can still export the expense for accounting once it's in "Ready to export."

Approving and scheduling the reimbursement

1. When the expense is correct, approve it (e.g. approve or mark as approved in the review screen).
2. When the expense is approved for reimbursement, it moves to "Ready to export" and the reimbursement is scheduled for the next payment run. You don't choose a specific payment date—Perk runs payouts according to the frequency set in Settings > Expense management > Reimbursements (e.g. weekly).

When Perk runs each payment cycle:

Weekly: every Friday at 11:00 AM UTC
Every two weeks: the 14th and last day of each month at 11:00 AM UTC
Monthly: the last day of the month at 11:00 AM UTC

There is no cut-off time; expenses approved before a run starts are included. Once triggered, payouts take up to T+1 working day (UK & US) or T+2 working days (EU) to arrive — bank holidays and weekends are not counted in that window. Ad-hoc payment runs are not available; if an expense misses a run it will be picked up in the next scheduled one.

 After you approve, the employee will see that their reimbursement is scheduled. Perk will include this reimbursement in the next batch, send the payment to the employee's bank account, and later include it on the reimbursement statement sent to the company.

Troubleshooting reimbursement issues

In Finance > Review > Reimburse (or the reimbursement or expense list), you can see reimbursement status—for example scheduled, processing, or reimbursed.

Bank details are missing or incorrect

What you see: The reimbursement can't be processed because no valid bank account for the employee is on file.

What to do: Get the employee to add or correct your bank details in their profile. The account must be in their name. When done, the reimbursement will automatically be included in the next scheduled payment run

Expense is over the reimbursement limit

What you see: A message that the expense is above the limit for reimbursement (e.g. over 10,000 in your company’s currency)

What to do: Expenses above the limit can't be paid through Perk's reimbursement. You need to reimburse these expenses using your standard accounting process (i.e. manual bank transfer or payroll).

Bookings that were paid to Perk can't be reimbursed in Perk

What you see: A message that the expense that has been paid to Perk can’t be reimbursed.

What to do: You need to reimburse the employee another way, i.e. manual bank transfer or payroll. The expense carries an alert in your review queue showing it won't be reimbursed through Perk, along with the reason.

Company's credit limit exceeded — can't process more payouts

What you see: A message that payouts can't be processed right now because your credit limit (or similar) has been reached.

What to do: You need to contact Perk to adjust the limit or settle the balance before performing any further reimbursements.

You can still export the expense for your books; the company is only charged by Perk when the payout completes.