Quick start for employees

Learn how to set up your account, submit expenses, create reports, and track your reimbursements in Eloope.

Access your account

When you're added to your organization's Eloope account, you'll receive an email invitation to set up your access. This invitation contains a secure link that's valid for 48 hours, so it's best to complete your setup as soon as you receive it.

First-time login. Check your email inbox for an invitation from Eloope with the subject line "You've been invited to join [Company Name] on Eloope." Click the invitation link in the email, which will take you to the account setup page. Create a strong password that's at least 8 characters long and includes a mix of letters, numbers, and special characters. After setting your password, you'll be prompted to complete your profile by adding your payment details for reimbursements, such as your bank account information or preferred payment method. This information is encrypted and securely stored.

Returning users. If you've already set up your account, simply navigate to your organization's Eloope URL (usually something like yourcompany.eloope.com) and sign in using your email address and password. If you've forgotten your password, click the "Forgot Password" link on the login page to receive reset instructions via email.

Your dashboard

When you log in to Eloope, you'll land on your personal dashboard, which provides an at-a-glance view of your expense activity and current status. The dashboard is designed to give you quick access to the information and actions you need most frequently.

At the top of your dashboard, you'll see key metrics displayed in card format. These include your total expenses for the current period, the number of reports you've submitted, any reports that are pending approval from your manager, and draft expenses that you've started but haven't yet added to a report. These metrics update in real-time as you create and submit expenses.

Below the metrics, you'll find your recent activity feed, which shows a chronological list of your latest expenses and report status updates. This feed helps you quickly see what's been happening with your submissions, including when expenses were approved, when reports were submitted, and when reimbursements have been processed.

On the right side of your dashboard, you'll see quick action buttons for the most common tasks: creating a new expense and creating a new report. These buttons are always accessible, allowing you to add expenses on the go without navigating through multiple menus.

Create an expense

Eloope offers multiple ways to create expenses, but the OCR scanning method is the fastest and most accurate for most situations. This feature uses artificial intelligence to read information directly from your receipt photos.

OCR scanning method (recommended). Click the "+ New Expense" button from your dashboard or the main navigation. In the expense creation dialog, switch to the "Scan Receipt" tab if it's not already selected. Click "Upload Receipt" or drag and drop your receipt image into the upload area. The system accepts JPG, PNG, and PDF files up to 10MB in size.

Wait approximately 3 seconds while Eloope's OCR technology analyzes your receipt. The system will automatically extract key information including the merchant name, transaction date, total amount, and often the tax amount and individual line items. Once the extraction is complete, you'll see the detected information pre-filled in the expense form.

Review the extracted data carefully to ensure accuracy. While OCR technology is highly accurate, occasionally it may misread handwritten text or poorly printed receipts. Verify that the merchant name, amount, and date are correct. Select the appropriate expense category from the dropdown menu (such as "Meals," "Transportation," or "Office Supplies") and choose your payment method (personal card, company card, or cash).

Add a brief but descriptive note in the description field, such as "Client meeting lunch at Bistro downtown" or "Taxi to airport for Chicago trip." Clear descriptions help approvers understand the business purpose and speed up the approval process. Click "Save" to create the expense, which will appear in your list of unreported expenses.

Manual entry method. If you don't have a receipt image available or prefer to enter information manually, click "+ New Expense" and stay on the "Manual Entry" tab. Fill in all required fields including the merchant name (where you made the purchase), the amount spent, the date of the transaction, the expense category, and your payment method.

Add a clear description explaining the business purpose of the expense. For example, instead of writing just "Dinner," write "Team dinner with marketing department to discuss Q4 campaign." This level of detail helps your manager understand and approve the expense more quickly.

If your company policy requires receipts for expenses above a certain amount (typically $25 or $50), click the "Upload Receipt" button to attach your receipt image even when entering manually. This ensures compliance with company policy and reduces the chance of your expense being rejected. Click "Save" when you're done.

Create a report

In Eloope, individual expenses are grouped into reports before being submitted for approval. Reports help organize related expenses together, such as all expenses from a business trip or all expenses for a particular month. Creating a report is quick and straightforward.

Navigate to the "Reports" section using the main navigation menu. Click the "+ New Report" button in the top right corner. In the report creation dialog, fill in the required details. Give your report a descriptive name that makes it easy to identify later, such as "March 2024 Expenses" or "San Francisco Conference Trip."

Select the report type from the dropdown menu—your options typically include "Regular Expenses," "Travel," "Mileage," or other types your company has configured. Add a brief statement of purpose explaining what these expenses were for, such as "Monthly business travel and client entertainment expenses" or "Expenses incurred during annual sales conference." If your company uses date ranges for expense periods, select the appropriate start and end dates. Click "Create Report" to save the empty report, which you'll then populate with expenses.

Adding expenses to your report. Once you've created a report, you need to add your unreported expenses to it. Navigate to the "Expenses" section and click on the "Unreported" tab to see all expenses that haven't yet been added to a report. These are expenses you've created but are still sitting in your expense list waiting to be submitted.

Review your unreported expenses and select the ones you want to add to your current report by clicking the checkbox next to each expense. You can select multiple expenses at once to add them all to the same report in one action. After selecting your expenses, click the "Add to Report" dropdown button at the top of the list and select the report you just created from the list of available reports. The selected expenses will immediately be added to that report and will no longer appear in your unreported list.

Submit for approval

Before submitting your report for approval, it's important to review it carefully to catch any errors or missing information. Taking a few minutes to verify everything now can save significant time later and help you get reimbursed faster.

Open the report you want to submit by clicking on it from your reports list. Review the total amount shown at the top to ensure it matches your expectations. Look through each expense line item to verify that all required receipts are uploaded—you'll see a small receipt icon next to expenses that have attachments. Check that all amounts are accurate and that there are no typos (it's easy to accidentally enter $150 instead of $15.00). Confirm that each expense is categorized correctly according to your company's expense categories. Read through your expense descriptions to make sure they clearly explain the business purpose of each item.

If your report includes any policy violations (shown with yellow or red warning badges), make sure you've added justification comments explaining why the expense was necessary despite exceeding policy limits. Your manager can override policy violations, but they need context to make an informed decision.

Submit your report. Once you're satisfied that everything is correct and complete, click the "Submit for Approval" button located at the bottom of the report page. You may be prompted to add final comments—this is a good place to add any additional context your approver might need, such as "All expenses were pre-approved by Sarah for the client presentation." Confirm your submission in the dialog that appears.

The report status will immediately change from "Draft" to "Submitted," and the system will automatically route it to your assigned approver or approvers based on your company's workflow rules. You'll receive a confirmation email, and your approver will get a notification that a report is waiting for their review. From this point, you can track the progress of your report but cannot edit it unless it's rejected and returned to you.

Track report status

After submitting a report, you can monitor its progress through the approval process at any time. Eloope provides real-time status updates so you always know where your report stands.

Navigate to your "Reports" section and look at the status badge next to each report. Draft status (gray badge) indicates a report you've created but haven't yet submitted. Submitted status (blue badge) means your report is in the approval queue but hasn't been picked up by an approver yet. Pending Approval status (yellow badge) indicates an approver is actively reviewing your report. *Approved* status (green badge) means your manager has approved the report and it's been sent to the finance team for payment processing. *Rejected* status (red badge) means your report needs corrections before it can be reapproved. Paid status (green badge with checkmark) confirms that your reimbursement has been processed and payment has been sent.

Click on any report to see detailed information about its approval progress. You'll see the complete approval chain showing each approver in the workflow, with indicators showing whether they've approved, are currently reviewing, or haven't yet received the report. You can also see any comments left by approvers and an estimated reimbursement date for approved reports based on your company's payment schedule.

Handle rejections

If your report is rejected by an approver, don't worry—this is a common occurrence and usually easy to resolve. Rejections typically happen due to missing receipts, unclear descriptions, or expenses that need additional justification.

When a report is rejected, you'll receive an immediate email notification along with an in-app notification. Open the rejected report from your reports list (it will have a red "Rejected" badge). The first thing to do is carefully read the rejection reason, which you'll find in the comments section. Your approver should have provided specific feedback about what needs to be fixed.

Make the necessary corrections based on the feedback. This might involve editing expense details, uploading missing receipts, correcting amounts that were entered incorrectly, or adding more detailed descriptions. To edit an expense within the report, click on the expense line item, make your changes, and save. If you need to add a receipt to an expense, open the expense and click "Upload Receipt."

After making all corrections, add a comment to the report explaining what changes you made. For example, "Added missing hotel receipt for March 15 expense and clarified that the client dinner was with ABC Corp representatives to discuss contract renewal." This comment helps your approver quickly see that you've addressed their concerns. Click "Resubmit" to send the report back through the approval workflow. In most cases, resubmitted reports are approved quickly since the major issues have been resolved.

Policy violations

Eloope automatically checks every expense against your company's expense policies as soon as you create it. If an expense exceeds policy limits or violates other rules, the system flags it immediately so you can address it before submission.

Common policy violations include expenses that are over the daily spending limit for a particular category (such as exceeding the $75 per person limit for business dinners), missing required receipts for expenses above the threshold amount, expenses in categories that aren't approved for your role or department, and single transactions that exceed the maximum amount allowed without pre-approval.

When the system detects a policy violation, it adds a red or yellow warning badge to the expense and includes a brief explanation of which policy was violated. You'll also see these violations clearly marked when you open a report that contains flagged expenses.

How to handle violations. If you have a legitimate business reason for the expense despite it violating policy, add a detailed justification in the expense description or in the report comments. Explain the circumstances that made the expense necessary. For example, "Exceeded $75 dinner limit because client brought two additional team members unexpectedly. This meeting resulted in signing a $50K contract." Your manager has the authority to approve expenses with policy overrides if the justification is reasonable. However, expenses with violations but no explanation are likely to be rejected, so always provide context for flagged items.

Track reimbursements

Once your report has been approved, it moves to the finance team for payment processing. You can track the reimbursement status to know when to expect your money.

Go to the "Reports" section and click on the "Approved" tab to see all reports that have been approved and are in the payment pipeline. Each report will show one of several payment statuses. Pending (green badge) means your report has been approved but the finance team hasn't started processing it yet. Processing (blue badge) indicates the finance team is actively working on your reimbursement and preparing the payment. Paid (green with checkmark) confirms that the money has been sent and should be arriving in your account soon.

The typical timeline from approval to payment is 3-5 business days, though this can vary depending on your company's payment schedule and method. Some companies process reimbursements weekly, while others do them bi-weekly or monthly. If your report shows "Paid" status, your reimbursement should appear in your bank account within 1-2 business days depending on your bank's processing time.

Tips for success

Following these best practices will help you get reimbursed faster and avoid common issues that slow down the approval process.

Upload receipts immediately after spending. Don't wait until the end of the month to deal with your expenses. Instead, capture receipts and create expenses right after making a purchase, while the details are fresh in your mind. This habit prevents lost receipts and reduces the time you spend trying to remember what a charge was for weeks later. Many employees find it easiest to snap a photo of the receipt with their phone immediately after the transaction and create the expense while still at the restaurant, store, or hotel.

Submit reports regularly. Establish a routine of submitting expense reports weekly or bi-weekly rather than letting expenses pile up for months. Regular submissions mean you get reimbursed faster and your expenses are more likely to be accurate since details are recent. Additionally, some companies have policies requiring expenses to be submitted within 30 or 60 days of the transaction, so regular submissions help you avoid having old expenses rejected.

Use OCR scanning to save time. Take advantage of Eloope's OCR receipt scanning feature rather than entering data manually. Not only is it faster, but it's also more accurate since the system reads information directly from the receipt. This reduces errors and speeds up your expense creation process significantly.

Add clear, detailed descriptions. Always include specific descriptions that explain the business purpose of each expense. Instead of vague descriptions like "Dinner" or "Transportation," write "Team dinner with engineering department to plan Q3 product launch" or "Taxi from hotel to client office for quarterly review meeting." Clear descriptions help your manager approve expenses quickly without having to ask follow-up questions, which delays the process.

Check policy limits before spending. Familiarize yourself with your company's expense policies, particularly the spending limits for categories like meals, transportation, and accommodations. Before making a large purchase, verify that it's within policy limits. If you know you'll need to exceed a limit for a legitimate business reason, get pre-approval from your manager when possible. This proactive approach prevents surprises during the approval process.

Related articles

• What is Eloope?
• Understanding User Roles
• Creating Expenses
• Submitting Reports
• Expense Submission Workflow