Expense tracking and monthly reporting

**1. Purpose**

1. Comprehensive automation of expense tracking and monthly financial reporting throughout the indoor playground corporate environment.

2. Automated collection, reconciliation, categorization, and reporting of all expense data from POS, vendor invoices, employee reimbursements, subscriptions, and maintenance.

3. Automating consolidation of multi-location data and generating executive summaries, detailed breakdowns, and actionable insights for management.

4. Streamlined, auditable, and real-time expense tracking and automated monthly reporting for compliance, budgeting, and forecasting.

**2. Trigger Conditions**

1. New expense transaction recorded in point-of-sale (POS) system or ERP.

2. Receipt uploaded via email or mobile app.

3. Scheduled (end-of-month) reporting automation trigger.

4. Vendor invoice received.

5. Employee submits reimbursement request.

6. New transaction detected in linked corporate bank account.

7. API webhook from accounting software for status update.

**3. Platform Variants**

1. QuickBooks Online

- Feature: Expenses API endpoint for transaction intake; Reporting API for automated P&L extraction.
- Configuration: OAuth2 app connection, configure webhook for new expenses.

2. Xero

- Feature: Accounting API; automate POST/GET to /Receipts, /Reports endpoints.
- Configuration: Xero app registration, automated polling for new receipts.

3. FreshBooks

- Feature: Expenses endpoint, Reports endpoint for monthly analytics.
- Configuration: Scheduled automation (monthly), API credentials management.

4. Zoho Books

- Feature: Expense & Reports APIs; automate GET/POST.
- Configuration: API authentication token, mapping of vendor data to chart of accounts.

5. Sage Intacct

- Feature: Webservices for expense report automation, recurring reporting.
- Configuration: Integration credential setup, SOAP API automated workflow.

6. Netsuite

- Feature: Automated journal entry for expense tracking, reports export via SuiteTalk API.
- Configuration: Token-based authentication, searchSavedReport API automation.

7. Microsoft Dynamics 365

- Feature: Expense Management module and Financial Reporting APIs.
- Configuration: Register Azure app, automate report extraction.

8. SAP Concur

- Feature: Expense API for automated receipt ingestion and report generation.
- Configuration: API access, daily scheduled automation for new uploads.

9. Expensify

- Feature: API for automated report creation and export.
- Configuration: Automated continuous export of new expenses.

10. Wave

- Feature: Expense Transactions and Reports API.
- Configuration: OAuth2, schedule automated monthly pulls.

11. Stripe

- Feature: Transactions endpoint for operational expense detection.
- Configuration: Webhook for charge events; API key configuration.

12. Plaid

- Feature: Transactions endpoint for banking feed automation.
- Configuration: Link corporate bank account in sandbox/live; expense detection via webhooks.

13. Gusto

- Feature: Reimbursements endpoint, automated payroll reconciliation.
- Configuration: Automated scheduled monthly report extraction.

14. Google Sheets

- Feature: Sheets API; automate fetching/updating of expense records.
- Configuration: Service account authentication, automate append operation.

15. Airtable

- Feature: API for automated CRUD on expense records.
- Configuration: API Key, automate monthly reporting via script block.

16. Dropbox

- Feature: File upload webhook for receipt automation.
- Configuration: Directory monitoring for new expense uploads.

17. DocuSign

- Feature: Envelope Sent/Completed webhook for signed invoice authorization.
- Configuration: Automated document status update extraction.

18. Slack

- Feature: Bot automation for receipt submission, automated reporting announcements.
- Configuration: Bot OAuth, automate push based on trigger.

19. Gmail

- Feature: Gmail API for automated attachment extraction (receipts/invoices).
- Configuration: Filter and label emails, automate scheduled mails processing.

20. Amazon Web Services (AWS)

- Feature: S3 bucket webhook for receipts, Lambda for automator workflow, CloudWatch scheduled automation.
- Configuration: S3 event triggers, Lambda code for expense processing.

**4. Benefits**

1. Automates error-free expense entry, automator improves accuracy, enables faster reporting.

2. Saves time by automating repetitive finance and reporting tasks.

3. Automated consolidation boosts visibility across playground units and corporate.

4. Auditable automation process streamlines compliance and document retention.

5. Automation reduces manual intervention, cuts admin overhead, and enables data-driven decisions.

6. Automates insights, allowing management to act quickly on anomalies or trends.