Deskie lets you record the operating costs of running your space alongside the revenue you collect from members. Each expense is a single recorded cost with an amount, a category, a date, and an optional receipt image. Once recorded, your expenses roll up into the finance reports so you can see spending by category and compare it against revenue. This article explains how to record expenses, what each field does, how categories work, and how expenses feed your reporting.
What an expense is
An expense in Deskie represents one cost that your space incurred, for example a utility bill, a furniture purchase, or a marketing invoice you paid. Each expense stores the following:
- Expense number. A reference identifier such as EXP-1. Deskie assigns this automatically when you create the expense. It increments from the highest existing number in your workspace, so the next expense after EXP-1 is EXP-2, and so on.
- Title. A short name for the expense. This is required and can be up to 200 characters.
- Description. An optional longer note about the expense, up to 1000 characters.
- Amount. The cost of the expense. It must be greater than zero, can have at most two decimal places, and cannot exceed 99,999,999.99.
- Category. One of a fixed set of categories, described below.
- Date. The date the expense applies to. This is the date used when expenses are grouped into reporting periods, so set it to when the cost was actually incurred rather than the day you happened to enter it.
- Receipt image. An optional uploaded image of the receipt or invoice.
- Notes. An optional free-text field for any additional context.
Deskie also records who created the expense and the timestamps for when it was created and last updated.
Categories
Every expense must be assigned to exactly one category. The available categories are fixed, which keeps your reporting consistent across the team. The categories are:
- Supplies
- Utilities
- Maintenance
- Rent
- Insurance
- Technology
- Marketing
- Travel
- Food & Beverage
- Furniture
- Professional Services
- Other
Choosing the right category matters because your finance reports break spending down by category. Use Other only when no other category fits, since anything filed there will be grouped together in reporting and harder to interpret later.
Recording an expense
To add an expense, open the Expenses area and create a new expense. Provide a title, an amount, a category, and a date. The description, receipt image, and notes are optional but useful for record keeping.
- Enter a clear title so the expense is easy to recognize in the list.
- Enter the amount. It is stored with two decimal places, so a value like 49.9 is recorded as 49.90.
- Pick the category that best describes the cost.
- Set the date to when the cost was incurred. This drives which reporting period the expense lands in.
- Optionally add a description, upload a receipt, and add notes.
When you save, Deskie assigns the next expense number automatically and stamps the expense with your user account as the creator.
Attaching a receipt
You can upload a receipt image when creating or editing an expense. The image is stored securely in Deskie's file storage and linked to the expense. This gives you a visual record alongside the recorded amount, which is helpful at tax time or during a reconciliation.
Editing and deleting expenses
You can edit any active expense to correct its title, description, amount, category, date, receipt, or notes. Editing updates the record in place and refreshes its last-updated timestamp. The expense number does not change when you edit.
Deleting an expense is a soft delete. The record is marked inactive rather than being permanently removed, so it stops appearing in your expense list and stops counting toward your reports, but the underlying data is retained. Note that deleting an expense does not reuse its expense number, so numbering may have gaps after deletions.
Who can manage expenses
Creating, editing, deleting, and uploading receipts for expenses all require billing management permission. Team members without that permission will not be able to record or change expenses. For more on how permissions are assigned, see Roles and permissions.
How expenses are scoped
The expenses list is scoped to the location you are currently working in. Each expense is tied to both your workspace and a specific location, and the list you see shows the active expenses for your current location, sorted with the most recent date first. If you operate more than one location, switch locations to view or record expenses for a different one. For background on this structure, see Workspaces and locations.
How expenses feed reporting
Recorded expenses flow into the finance reports, where they are combined with your revenue to give a fuller picture of the business. The finance reports are workspace-wide, so they include expenses across all of your locations rather than a single location's list. The reports surface expenses in several ways:
- Total expenses. The sum of all active expenses whose date falls within the selected reporting period. The reports support presets such as this month, last month, this quarter, this year, last year, and all time.
- Expense breakdown by category. Your spending is grouped by category and ordered from the largest total to the smallest, with each category showing its amount and its share of total expenses. This is where consistent category selection pays off.
- Revenue, fees, and expenses trend. A trend view plots expenses over time next to gross and net revenue, so you can watch how costs move month to month.
- Forecast. The reports project expenses for the next 30 days based on your average monthly spend over the last three months, and show projected revenue minus projected expenses so you can gauge expected net.
Because expenses are grouped by their date field, setting an accurate date on each expense is what keeps these period totals and trends correct. For the broader set of financial metrics that sit alongside expenses, see Reports.
Tips for accurate records
- Set the expense date to when the cost was incurred, not the day you enter it, so it lands in the right reporting period.
- Choose a specific category rather than Other whenever one fits, to keep your category breakdown meaningful.
- Upload the receipt at the time you record the expense, while it is still on hand.
- Use the title and description so expenses are easy to identify later, since you can search the list by title, description, notes, and expense number.