---
title: "Administering the Expenses module: permissions, notifications, personal data and FAQ"
description: "Summary of the Expenses permissions and their default assignment, notifications and e-mails, traceability, the reading of receipts by AI and the handling of personal data."
url: "https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/expenses-administer/"
updated: "2026-11-01"
category: Expense Reports
---

# Administering the Expenses module: permissions, notifications, personal data and FAQ

This article is for administrators and data protection officers: it summarises the Expenses permissions and their default assignment, the notifications and e-mails, traceability, the reading of receipts by AI, the handling of personal data, and answers the most frequent questions.

## Before you start

- Permissions are set under **Settings › Manage Employees › Employee Roles**, "Expenses" family. Each permission has three levels: Access (view), Execute (act), Admin.
- The screens mentioned here (roles, e-mails, logs, personal data) have their own permissions.

## Permissions and their default assignment

| Permission | What it allows | Supplied roles that hold it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Expense report | Access: open the Expense Notes tab. Execute: create, edit, submit and delete your expenses. | Execute: All employees, Manager, HR Manager, Payroll Manager. Access: Accounting, Auditor. Admin: Administrator. |
| Submit a mileage expense report | Declare and edit a trip | All employees, Manager, HR Manager, Payroll Manager, Administrator |
| Per diem — Submit (country/dates, auto amount) | Declare a per diem | Every role at the Execute level, except Auditor (Access) |
| Scan a receipt (OCR) | Scan a receipt (also requires "Expense report" at Execute) | Every role at the Execute level, except Auditor (Access) |
| Mileage — Transport mode + vehicle; Mileage — Route (map) + favorite places | Attach your vehicle; use the map and favourite places | Every role at the Execute level, except Auditor (Access) |
| Personal vehicles | View and manage your vehicles (field permission: View, Edit, Insert, Delete) | All employees and Administrator: every action. Other roles: view. |
| View KPIs (total submitted, pending, reimbursed) | Show the list indicators | Every role (Access) |
| View expense reports pending approval (team) | Access: see the approval queue. Execute: decide. | Execute: Manager, Administrator. Access: HR Manager, Payroll Manager, Accounting, Auditor. |
| Approvals — Expenses | Open the Expenses category of approvals (required in addition to the previous permission) | Every role except All employees |
| Payment, reports, accounting, configuration | See *Reimbursing, analysing and accounting for expenses* and *Configuring the Expenses module* | Administrator only |

The HR Manager role sees the approval queue but cannot decide by default; the Accounting role can neither pay nor open the reports by default. Adjust them if your organisation needs it.

## Notifications and e-mails

Each step notifies the right people in the Illizeo bell and by e-mail. E-mails use templates you can edit under **Settings › Manage Illizeo › Email**, Expenses category. On the e-mail screen, the template names are shown in French in every language.

| When | Who is notified | E-mail template |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Draft left unsubmitted | The employee | Brouillon à soumettre |
| Expense submitted | The designated approver | Note de frais à approuver |
| Expense approved | The employee | Note de frais approuvée; Frais kilométriques approuvés |
| Expense rejected, with the reason | The employee | Note de frais rejetée; Frais kilométriques rejetés |
| Expense approved, ready for payment | The people who can pay the expense | Notification in the bell |
| Expense paid (file or payroll) | The employee | Note de frais remboursée |

- The module's notices are switched on or off for the whole company under **Settings › Expenses › Expense Settings**, **Notifications** card.
- Each user can turn off their own under **Personal Settings › Notifications**, **Expenses** family: Expense submitted, Expense approved or declined, Expense reimbursed, Draft reminder.
- Reminders for a draft and for an expense awaiting approval are set on their e-mail template.

![Workflows global settings: no-action behaviour for expense reports, reminders through the Expense report to approve template and the Approver without the right to decide setting](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/expenses-administer-01.en_.png?resize=800%2C500&quality=80&ssl=1)
Workflows global settings: approver reminders and approver without the right to decide.

## Traceability

**Settings › Manage Illizeo › User Logs** records the creation, editing and deletion of expenses, expense rules, categories and mileage rates, with their author and the changed values. Each expense also keeps the history of its workflow (submission, decisions, delegations, payment), visible in its details.

A deleted expense is permanently erased after one week, unless it was paid: the record of a paid expense is kept.

## Reading receipts with AI

- When artificial intelligence is activated for your workspace, the **Scan receipt / invoice** button has the receipt read by AI; otherwise, or if the AI cannot answer, by an optical character recognition (OCR) service.
- The receipt is sent in a single call, for reading only, and is never copied into Illizeo's logs. The amount read is a suggestion: the employee checks every field before saving.
- Illizeo records the use of AI and the employee's decision (reading kept or rejected), never the content of the receipt.

## Personal data (GDPR)

Access, portability and erasure requests are handled under **Settings › Manage Organization**, **Data & Privacy** tile, which includes the "Expense Reports" category.

- **Export**: the employee's expenses are included; their receipts follow their documents.
- **Erasure**: it respects the legal retention periods that apply in the employee's country. As expenses are accounting records, they may have to be kept until that period ends.
- If an approver is erased, the requests waiting for them are reassigned so they do not remain blocked.

## Languages

- The module's screens, statuses and e-mails exist in French, English, German and Italian; everyone sees them in their profile language.
- The warning message of an expense rule is entered in French or English, then completed with the translation button.

## FAQ

### An employee cannot see the "Expense Notes" tab

Check that the module is activated for your workspace, then that one of the employee's roles holds the "Expense report" permission at the Access level.

### An expense is stuck in "Pending" with no approver

Open the workflow in Workflows: a designated approver without the permission to decide moves on to the next step or blocks the step, depending on the "Approver without the right to decide" setting (**Settings › Manage Employees › Workflows**, **Global settings** tab). Give them "View expense reports pending approval (team)" at the Execute level, or change the workflow.

### The payment file is blocked

The window shows the reason for each employee: missing or invalid IBAN or BIC, invalid amount or exchange rate unavailable. Complete their bank details, then generate the file again.

### Why is the "SEPA" file in Swiss francs?

The file generated is a credit transfer order in the Swiss banking format pain.001 (SIX standard), in Swiss francs. It is not a European SEPA transfer in euros.

### Can an expense be approved in place of the approver?

No. Only the approvers of the current step decide, administrators included. An approver can, however, delegate their decision.

### *Similaire*