Using weekly expense reports helps you keep track of your spending and ensure you are reimbursed for any business-related expenses you incur and that you are staying within your budget. This article discusses submitting a weekly expense report using a template pre-built in Google Sheets.
Using Google Sheets for your weekly expense reporting lets you access the report from anywhere and keeps it backed up. Google Sheets is a modern, cloud-based spreadsheet app without Excel’s complex user interface.
This expense report template includes the following:
- Information identifying the person submitting the report (your name and department)
- A date and dollar amount for each expense, matching the date and dollar amount on the receipt provided for that expense
- A brief description of each expense
- A category for each expense should be included so that it is easy to differentiate whether the report contains information on costs related to travel, meals, office supplies, etc.
- A description of the costs (charging cable, lunch, etc.)
Contents
Parts of the Template
Employee Information
The spreadsheet starts with a few fields to identify the spreadsheet user. This information will tell the accounting department your name and department. The Week beginning field will inform accounting of which week to record the expenses. You can also fill in the Company Name. The Total field has a formula and will update automatically.
General Expenses
Next, there is a section for your General Expenses.
The General Expenses section should contain all the week’s expenses except mileage. The report has several fields. Use them all if possible.
- Date – Enter the date you incurred the expense.
- Category – Choose the expense category from the drop-down list. See the second sheet of the template for instructions on changing the options.
- Description – Describe the purpose of the expense. For example, “Lunch for Jane Doe and me from ABC Client.”
- Receipt Link – Take a picture of the receipt and upload it to Google Drive. Copy the link and paste it into this column.
- Amount – The amount spent, after taxes and tips, if applicable.
Mileage
For car travel expenses, you can report actual expenses such as gasoline (or electricity), oil changes, car washes, new tires, etc. However, it is much simpler, and often company policy, to report your mileage instead. Then, the template multiplies this mileage by the appropriate reimbursement rate. To report mileage with this template, enter starting and ending addresses. You can then find the difference between the two locations using Google Maps or the TripTally Google Sheets add-on that works completely inside Google Sheets.
Getting Reimbursed
After completing the report, submit the expense report to your accounting department. Since you’ve used Google Sheets, you can share the spreadsheet with them to avoid creating a duplicate copy in an email.
Other Expense Reporting Templates
Get a copy of the monthly expense reporting template here.