How to Create an Expense Report Template in Excel?

Are you tired of manually tracking your business expenses? Do you find yourself buried under a mountain of receipts and spreadsheets?

Fear not.

The expense report template in Excel is here to save the day – and your sanity.

Here, I’ll show you how to create an expense report in Excel and streamline your accounting process.

Let’s start with a case study of a small business that overcame turmoil and found order.

The team at a small marketing agency was struggling to keep track of their business expenses. With multiple clients and projects to manage, their accounting process was a mess of receipts and spreadsheets. That is until they discovered the expense report template in Excel.

After customizing the template to fit their needs, the team could easily track every expense. They could also categorize the expenses by project and client. The built-in formulas and charts enabled them to calculate, monitor expenses, and identify areas of overspending.

Thanks to this, the small business was able to streamline its accounting process. Consequently, saves countless hours of manual tracking.

Table of Content:

1. Expense Report: Definition
2. Understanding Expense Report Templates
3. Why do we need an Expense Report Template?
4. Different Types & Examples of Expense Reports Templates
5. Advantages of Creating Expense Report Template in Excel
6. How to Create & Evaluate the Expense Report in Excel?
7. Wrap Up

Expense Report: Definition

Definition: An expense report is a document that tracks and records expenses incurred during a specific period, typically for business purposes. It includes details such as the expenditure date, the expense description, the amount spent, and any supporting receipts or documentation.

Employees use expense reports to request reimbursement for business-related expenses incurred on behalf of their organization. They are also utilized by businesses for budgeting, accounting, and auditing purposes to monitor and manage expenses effectively, often through tools like a monthly budget in Excel.

Understanding Expense Report Templates

An expense report template is a pre-designed form for tracking and reporting expenses in an orderly manner. It provides a quick and efficient way to control spending, especially when there are numerous invoices and receipts to manage. This template is particularly useful in the context of a 3-statement financial model, where accurate tracking of expenses is essential for maintaining the integrity of financial projections.

The template includes fields for the expense’s date, description, amount, and category, allowing you to effortlessly record your spending. You can then generate reports to analyze your spending habits.

Why do we need an Expense Report Template?

Expense report templates are essential tools for streamlining the process of recording and submitting expenses. They provide a standardized format that ensures consistency, organization, and accuracy in expense reporting.

By using templates, such as an income statement template, businesses can efficiently manage expenses, adhere to company policies, and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements.

Types of Expense Reports Templates

There are different types of expense report templates, depending on the expenses’ nature and the submission frequency. The three main types are one-time, recurring, and long-term expense reports. Additionally, a price comparison template can be useful for evaluating costs across different vendors, helping to ensure that you are making the most cost-effective choices.

• One-Time Expense Reports

As the name implies, a one-time expense report documents expenses that only happen once. An example would be:

1. Equipment purchases report
2. Travel expense report
3. Business trip expense report.

• Recurring Expense Reports

Recurring expense reports track regular expenses, such as monthly subscriptions or utility bills. By using these reports, you can better understand your regular expenses. Consequently, identify areas where you can cut costs or find more efficient ways to spend money.

• Long-term (Yearly & Quarterly) Expense Reports

Long-term expense reports track expenses over an extended time, such as yearly or quarterly. These reports usually include regular expenses like rent, utilities, and salaries. You can spot trends in your spending patterns by looking at long-term expense reports. As a result, decide where to devote resources in the future.

Examples of Expense Reports Templates

Expense report templates have various purposes, such as personal, business, or financial management. Some common examples of expense reports include:

• Monthly Expense Report

A monthly expense report offers a thorough summary of expenditures for a specific month. Monthly expense report usually contain the following:

1. Housing
2. Utilities
3. Transport
4. Entertainment
5. Office Supplies
6. Savings

• Business Expense Report

A small business expense report records expenses incurred by employees while performing their necessary job duties. It keeps track of spending within the whole company, a department, or on a project.

• Personal Expense Report

A personal expense report tracks expenses incurred for personal endeavors, such as entertainment, hobbies, and clothing. It helps in managing personal finances and identifying areas of overspending.

• Quarterly Expense Report

A quarterly expense report tracks expenses that occur over three months. Examples of such include business expenses, project expenses, or personal expenses. This report helps in analyzing spending patterns and identifying areas of cost savings.

Advantages of Creating Expense Report Template in Excel

• Easy to Use

Excel is a widely used spreadsheet program that is easy to use and navigate. An expense report template in Excel is user-friendly. It has pre-built formulas and fields that make entering and categorizing expenses easy.

• Saves Time

Creating an expense report from scratch can be time-consuming, especially with many expenses to track. An expense report template in Excel saves time by providing a pre-designed format. You just need to fill in your expenses, and Excel will do the rest.

• Accurate Reporting

An expense report template in Excel ensures accurate reporting. This is by automatically calculating expenses and breaking down spending reporting. This helps in identifying areas of overspending and cost savings.

• Improved Financial Analysis

Using an expense report template in Excel improves financial analysis. It provides a clear overview of expenses enabling you to track spending patterns over time. This helps in identifying areas of improvement and making informed financial decisions.

• Customizable

An expense report template in Excel allows you to add or remove fields where necessary. This makes it easy to tailor the template to specific needs and preferences.

• Transparency

Using an expense report template in Excel promotes transparency, a significant benefit for employees and employers. Employees can quickly and accurately record their expenses, ensuring they are accounted for. This is crucial when it comes to tracking expenses and ensuring legitimate reimbursements.

How to Create & Evaluate the Expense Report in Excel?

For business owners or employees, we can also utilize a stacked waterfall report to track expenses is crucial for effective funds management. Creating expense reports in Excel is one of the most effective methods for accomplishing this. But, it can be challenging, particularly when there are numerous expenses to monitor.

That’s where ChartExpo comes in.

ChartExpo is a user-friendly add-in for Excel that allows you to create insightful charts and graphs. ChartExpo not only presents your data in a visually appealing way. It also provides valuable insights into your spending habits.

Why ChartExpo?

Benefits of Using ChartExpo

• ChartExpo is a user-friendly data visualization tool that requires no technical skills or coding experience. Its intuitive interface lets you easily create insightful visualizations from your spreadsheets.
• Labels, colors, and annotations are just a few of the many personalization choices available in ChartExpo. You can create visualizations that rhyme with your brand aesthetics.
• ChartExpo is an affordable data visualization solution for individuals on a restricted budget. You can try it risk-free for 7 days; the monthly subscription is only $10.

How to Install ChartExpo in Excel?

1. Open your Excel application.
2. Open the worksheet and click the “Insert” menu.
3. You’ll see “My Apps”.
4. In the office Add-ins window, click “Store” and search for ChartExpo on my Apps Store.
5. Click the “Add” button to install ChartExpo in your Excel.

ChartExpo charts and graphs are available both in Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. Please use the following CTA’s to install the tool of your choice and create interactive visualizations in a few clicks in your favorite tool.

Example

Let’s say you want to visualize your company’s departmental expense data below.

Expense	Department	Category	Amount ($)
Total Expense	Marketing	Travel	10,000
Total Expense	Marketing	Lodging	3,000
Total Expense	Marketing	Meals	2,000
Total Expense	Marketing	Supplies	1,000
Total Expense	Marketing	Events	8,000
Total Expense	Operations	Travel	3,000
Total Expense	Operations	Lodging	7,000
Total Expense	Operations	Meals	1,500
Total Expense	Operations	Supplies	4,000
Total Expense	Operations	Events	6,000
Total Expense	Sales	Travel	3,000
Total Expense	Sales	Lodging	4,000
Total Expense	Sales	Meals	2,000
Total Expense	Sales	Supplies	1,000
Total Expense	Sales	Events	8,000
Total Expense	R&D	Travel	2,000
Total Expense	R&D	Lodging	2,000
Total Expense	R&D	Meals	3,000
Total Expense	R&D	Supplies	1,000
Total Expense	R&D	Events	5,000
Total Expense	Admin	Travel	4,000
Total Expense	Admin	Lodging	2,000
Total Expense	Admin	Meals	2,500
Total Expense	Admin	Supplies	1,000
Total Expense	Admin	Events	4,000

• To get started with ChartExpo, install ChartExpo in Excel.
• Now Click on My Apps from the INSERT menu.

• Choose ChartExpo from My Apps, then click Insert.

• Once ChartExpo is loaded. Click on “Sankey Chart” from the list of charts.

• Click the “Create Chart From Selection” button after selecting the data from the sheet, as shown.

• The Sankey Chart will look like as below.

• If you want to have the title of the chart, click on Edit Chart, as shown in the above image.
• To change the title of the chart, click on the pencil icon that is available very next to Chart Header.
• It will open the properties dialog. Under the Text section, you can add a heading in Line 1 enable the Show Give the appropriate title of your chart, and click on the Apply button.

• To change the node color, click on the pencil icon available with the node. Expand the Node properties and change color from the Node Color property. Click on the Apply button.

• Repeat this process to change the colors of all nodes.

• Click the highlighted pencil icon to add a dollar sign to numerical values in the chart. Expand the Symbols properties to include the Prefix value (e.g., $ sign). Then click the Apply button.

• You can change the font of the inner text by clicking the highlighted pencil icon. Then modify the Font Style properties to your liking. Click the Apply button.

• Click the Save Changes button to save your modifications.

• The final chart will look as below.

Insights

• The size of each node depicts the amount of expenses incurred.
• Your total expense is $90k.
• Under the Department section, Marketing has the highest expenditure compared to other departments. Additionally, the R&D and Admin departments have nearly equal expenses with slight variations.
• Under categories, the most significant expenditure is in Events, costing $31k, and the least in supplies, at $8k.

FAQs

What is an expense report?

An expense report tracks business or personal spending. It may account for expenses incurred on a business, department, project, or employee. Employees most commonly complete these reports to itemize expenditures for which they need to be reimbursed.

How do I create an expense report in Excel?

Use ChartExpo, a potent data visualization tool, to create an expense report in Excel. You can create insightful visuals using ChartExpo to improve the aesthetics and readability of your report.

What are the types of Expense reports?

An expense report might be of these three types:

• One-time expense report that covers a single expense.
• Recurring expense report that covers regular expenses.
• Long-term expense report (yearly & quarterly) that covers costs incurred over a longer period.

How do I create an expense report template?

Use ChartExpo for Excel to create an expense report template. ChartExpo empowers you to make an eye-catching and detailed expense report template. This makes tracking and communicating your expenses to your team or stakeholders easier.

Wrap Up

Expenses seriously impact your financial life and the business you run. To manage money efficiently, you have to track expenses appropriately. It helps in ensuring legitimate reimbursements and identifying areas of overspending.

Creating an expense report doesn’t have to be daunting. With an expense report template in Excel, it can be straightforward. Furthermore, it offers benefits like saving time, data accuracy, and better financial management.

Using Excel in the business world isn’t just about crunching numbers anymore. It’s about gaining insights from data and visually communicating that information.

Charts and graphs are the best ways to do that.

Charting and graphing are no longer the exclusive domain of trained data analysts. Using the right tool, you can create insightful data visualizations.

To ensure your finances are on track, track your spending with ChartExpo. It is a potent Excel add-in that helps you visualize your data. It does not require any technical skills or coding. And best of all, it’s affordable.