Expense tracking and categorization

Purpose

1.1. Automate expense tracking and categorize transactions from multiple payment sources, bank feeds, and purchase invoices for a dental laboratory.
1.2. Automating reconciliation to match expenses with projects, clients, and departments for accurate financial reporting.
1.3. Automated extraction, parsing, and categorization of expenses from digital receipts, email attachments, and vendor portals.
1.4. Automator assigns expense codes, tax categories, and approval routing based on pre-set dental lab rules.
1.5. Automation posts categorized expenses to accounting ledgers, forecast summaries, and outgoing cash-flow reports.

Trigger Conditions

2.1. New transaction appears in connected bank/feed integration.
2.2. Receipt or invoice is uploaded via email/portal/app.
2.3. Approval status or review is changed in the expense system.
2.4. Scheduled batch jobs (e.g., daily sync of expenses at 5 PM).
2.5. Manual import or correction initiates expense automation.

Platform Variants

3.1. QuickBooks Online
• API: `POST /v3/company/{companyId}/purchase` for expense creation automation.
3.2. Xero
• Endpoint: `POST /api.xro/2.0/Receipts` to automate categorized receipt entry.
3.3. Sage Intacct
• Function: `create_expense_report` automator to post itemized, categorized claims.
3.4. NetSuite
• SuiteTalk API: `add` operation for expense reports—automates parsing and submission.
3.5. Zoho Books
• Endpoint: `POST /expenses` automates parsing email or scanned receipts.
3.6. FreshBooks
• API: `POST /expenses/expenses` automating entry and categorization.
3.7. Wave
• Endpoint: `POST /businesses/{businessId}/expenses` for automated expense tracking.
3.8. Expensify
• API: Expense creation (input fields: amount, merchant, category) for automating receipt to system flow.
3.9. Receipt Bank (Dext)
• API: `POST /receipts` —receipt scanning, OCR extraction, and auto-category.
3.10. Microsoft Excel Online (Office 365)
• Logic App: “When a new file is added” trigger automates parsing of expense sheets.
3.11. Google Sheets
• Sheets API: `spreadsheets.values.append` to automate adding parsed expenses.
3.12. SAP Concur
• API: `POST /api/expense/v4/expenses` to automate imported expense and category.
3.13. Oracle Fusion Cloud Expenses
• REST API: `POST /fscmRestApi/resources/11.13.18.05/expenseReports` automates staff-submitted and auto-categorized claims.
3.14. Stripe
• Connect Events: `invoice.paid` webhook automator for categorizing card expenses.
3.15. PayPal
• Webhooks: `PAYMENT.SALE.COMPLETED`—automatedly fetch and categorize payments.
3.16. Plaid
• Endpoint: `/transactions/get` automates pulling and classifying banking transactions.
3.17. Hubdoc
• API: Document fetch and automated categorization of scanned receipts.
3.18. Dropbox
• File trigger: “New file in folder” automates parsing and categorization upload.
3.19. Slack
• Events API: “File shared” automates OCR and expense creation from uploaded receipts.
3.20. AirTable
• API: `POST /v0/{baseId}/{tableName}` for storing and categorizing expense line items automatically.

Benefits

4.1. Automates manual entry, saving significant staff time and errors.
4.2. Automated categorization boosts accuracy for cost tracking and tax deduction claims.
4.3. Real-time automation provides up-to-date expense visibility for dental labs.
4.4. Enhanced compliance by automated approval chains and audit trails.
4.5. Automating exports to accounting software streamlines reporting and financial planning.
4.6. Automatable workflows improve expense control across multi-location or franchise dental labs.
4.7. Automatedly integrates diverse data sources—bank, card, receipt, and invoices—with flexibility for custom rules.