Save time processing daily allowance expenses

Reimbursing employee travel & entertainment expenses via daily allowances (also known as “per diem” allowances), instead of itemized expense reports with receipts, is preferred by many businesses and is a regulatory requirement in some territories.

The simplicity of daily expense allowances with no need to collect expense receipts is often viewed favourably. Daily expense allowances can give finance teams more predictability around employee expense budgets, whilst employees will often welcome the convenience and flexibility around how they manage their business expenses.

The benefits and seeming simplicity of paying employee expenses via daily allowances often hides the fact that paying expenses in this way can be an administrative headache for all concerned – especially finance teams.

There will often be different daily allowances payable depending on the employee role or team, the business trip destination and length etc. The process of accurately calculating, recording, approving and paying daily allowances can be time-consuming and error-prone if done manually.

Using Zetadocs Expenses to manage daily allowance expenses

The most recent update to Zetadocs Expenses, an expense management solution built for Dynamics 365 Business Central, includes a new “Daily Allowances” feature. This feature enables both finance teams and employees to manage their daily allowance expenses efficiently.

• Easy submission and approval of daily allowance expenses using web or phone apps, by following a quick and simple process – the same one that employees would follow when submitting or approving any other payment or mileage expenses. 


• Configurable daily allowance rates to suit the corporate travel expense policies, which are then easy for employees to select when submitting their expenses for approval & reimbursement.

Multiple daily allowance rates can be configured, useful for those businesses that pay their employees different allowance rates according to certain criteria. For example, allowances that differ depending on business role or the business trip destination or length.

When adding or modifying a daily allowance rate, it is possible to specify the date on which it comes into effect. This means if the daily allowance rate changes in the middle of a trip, the payable allowances are then calculated automatically for you.

• Variable allowance rates for multi-day business trips can be configured. This is useful for those businesses that pay their employees a reduced daily allowance on the first and/or last day of a trip, on the basis that breakfast and/or an evening meal may not be required.

Separate allowance rates may also be configured if preferred, for each meal type (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and overnight accommodation.

• Restrict allowances to specified people or teams to ensure employees can only select the appropriate daily allowance when submitting their expenses.

Key benefits

Using Zetadocs Expense to manage daily allowances makes life easier for both finance teams and employees who submit or approve expenses. 

• Saves time for finance teams who no longer need to manually calculate or check daily allowance expenses, and for all employees who can submit these expenses much more efficiently.
• Greater accuracy in the expense management process, with daily allowance payments calculated automatically based on the selected allowance and the start/end dates of a trip. No manual re-keying of receipt data is needed, meaning typos are avoided – with approved daily allowance expenses exported directly to a Business Central purchase invoice or ledger line entry.
• Control & compliance for finance teams who determine the daily allowance rates that employees may select when submitting their expenses and have full visibility of expense reports – with related information easily available if needed (e.g. department, project or approver). 
• Convenience for employees who can submit their daily allowance expenses quickly and easily, without the hassle of justifying each payment and capturing receipts. 

Want to find out more?

If you are currently using Zetadocs Expenses, you can find out more in our online help about how to manage daily allowances in Zetadocs Expenses.

If you are not yet using Zetadocs Expenses, you can find out more about the solution on our website or Microsoft AppSource. 

Either way, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly or speak to your Dynamics partner if you would like to discuss your requirements further.