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Download a free expense report template for Excel or Google Sheets, with a filled example. Enter one line per expense and the spreadsheet adds mileage at your rate, totals each category, separates company-card spend from what the employee paid, and shows the amount to reimburse after any cash advance.
Updated · Aequo editorial team
The Excel file has two tabs: a blank expense report with 20 expense lines and the same report filled in for a three-day client trip.
Columns: date, description and business purpose, category, merchant, paid by, receipt, miles, amount, line total. Below the lines: total expenses, company-card spend, reimbursable spend, cash advance, amount due and totals by category. Opens in Excel, Google Sheets (File, Import), Numbers and LibreOffice.
One page with 14 expense lines, totals and signature lines. Print it or save it as a PDF.
Expense report
Employee name
Department
Report number
Manager / approver
Period from
Period to
Business purpose
| Date | Description | Category | Paid by | Receipt | Miles | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
I certify these expenses were incurred for business purposes, are not reimbursed elsewhere, and receipts are attached where required.
Employee signature
Date
Approved by
Date
Expense report template from Aequo (free to use and adapt)
List every expense with its business purpose, say who paid, attach receipts, then sign and send it for approval.
The example report totals $1,210.10, of which $850.60 went on the company card and $359.50 was paid personally, so the employee is owed $259.50 after a $100 advance.
The example uses $0.70 a mile, the IRS business standard mileage rate for 2025. Use your own policy rate or the current IRS rate. Lunch has no receipt because it is under $75; the client dinner and hotel do.
Five rules cover most small and mid-sized teams: what is reimbursable, the receipt threshold, the mileage rate, the deadline to submit, and who approves.
Aequo AP
Aequo AP handles the vendor side: invoices arrive by a forwarding inbox or upload, AI extracts the lines and suggests GL coding from your chart of accounts, and approval rules route each bill by amount, vendor or department before it syncs to your accounting system. It does not process employee expense claims.
Live with QuickBooks Online, Xero, FreshBooks and Zoho Books. Oracle NetSuite, Sage Intacct and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central are in early access.
Download the Excel file on this page and open it. Fill in the header, add one row per expense with the date, description, category, merchant, who paid and the amount, and the line totals, category totals and amount due to the employee calculate on their own. To build one from scratch, use columns for date, description, category, paid by and amount, then add SUM for the total and SUMIF to split company-paid from reimbursable spend.
Common business expenses are airfare, train and bus fares, hotels, meals while traveling, client meals and entertainment, taxis and ride shares, parking and tolls, mileage in a personal car, car rental and fuel, conference fees, office supplies, printing, postage, software bought on a personal card, phone and internet costs used for work, and training or course fees. The template groups them into eight categories you can rename.
Yes. In Google Sheets choose File, Import, Upload and pick the XLSX or CSV file. The formulas carry over. The XLSX also opens in Excel, Numbers and LibreOffice.
Company policy decides, but most follow the IRS rules for accountable plans: keep a receipt for all lodging and for any other expense of $75 or more, and record the date, place, amount and business purpose for everything. Many companies ask for every receipt anyway because it makes review faster.
Not when they are paid under an accountable plan. The expense must have a business connection, the employee must substantiate it within a reasonable time, and any advance above the substantiated amount must be returned. Reimbursements that do not meet those rules are treated as wages. Check with your tax adviser for your situation.
Use one report per month: set the period from the first to the last day of the month, enter each expense as it happens, and use the totals-by-category block at the bottom to see where the money went. For business bills from suppliers rather than employee spend, a vendor list and your accounts payable records are the better place to track them.