Division of Business Services

How to Create, Modify, and Submit an Expense Report in Workday Expenses

How UW–Madison travelers, claimants, and Expense Data Entry Specialists create and submit expense reports using Workday Expenses.

See Procedure 3024.1 – Creating and Submitting an Expense Report in Workday for a complete how-to guide for expense reports from creation through submission.

How-to Guides (Employees)

Employees may need to access in-process expense reports to:

  • Submit a previously created expense report
  • Edit and resubmit an expense report that has been sent back
  • View pending approvals for a submitted expense report
  • Change a submitted expense report
  • Cancel an expense report

Sign into Workday – coming soon

Viewing your expense reports

Navigate to and then click the Menu in the upper-left corner of Workday. Then navigate to the Expenses Hub. To view your expense reports, click the Wallet icon along the left side of the Expenses Hub. A table will populate with all expense reports at any stage, from draft to paid.

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.

To submit a previously created expense report

Screenshot of Expense Report screen, showing you can select "Actions" menu and choose "Submit Expense Report"

  1. Any report with the Status “Draft” has not been submitted. Identify the report to be submitted.
  2. Hover over the Actions menu, “Click Submit Expense Report.”

 

To edit and resubmit an expense report that has been sent back

Screenshot with red arrows showing the Expense Reports page with the "Actions" menu and the option to "Change Expense Report" under the dropdown; the fourth column shows the expense report status is "Sent Back"

  1. Review the Status column. Expense reports with status of Sent Back have been sent back for edits/correction.
  2. Hover over the Actions menu and click “Change Expense Report.” This will take you into the expense report for editing. Note: Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click Edit to make changes.
  3. When all changes have been made, click Submit to resubmit the expense report.

Note: A sent-back expense report will also be routed to the expense report initiator’s queue, with the approver’s Send Back Reason identified. See below for a snapshot of what this looks like in an initiator’s My Tasks inbox. Initiators can Edit and Submit from this screen/view also.

Screenshot showing how to view the expense report send back reason under your "My Tasks" area in Workday, after you click into the corresponding expense report

To view pending approvals for a submitted expense report

Red arrow points to the fourth column in the "My Expense Reports" listing, which is the "Status" column

  1. The Status column in My Expense Reports in the Expenses Hub will record the approval step that a submitted expense report is waiting on. In the example above, the expense report is “Waiting on Expense Partner.” This is currently pending Expense Partner policy compliance review.
  2. To view ALL pending approvals for an expense report, click on the hyperlinked expense report number in the column Expense Report to enter the expense report.
  3. Navigate to the Business Process tab of the expense report to view all pending approvals, completed approvals (if applicable), and future routing of the expense report.

To change a submitted expense report

Screenshot with a red arrow pointing to the "Actions" column (second column) in the My Expense Reports section of Workday, which includes an "Actions" menu for each expense report, which then has a dropdown with a "Change Expense Report" option

  1. A submitted expense report may be pulled back from the approval workflow for the initiator to edit the expense report by hovering over the Actions menu and selecting “Change Expense Report.”
  2. Click Ok to return the expense report to “Draft” Status.
    Screenshot of the acknowledgement screen when you change an expense report with arrowing showing hit "Ok" to proceed
  3. The screen now allows the initiator to edit/make changes and resubmit. Click Edit to modify existing detail the Header, Attachment, and/or Expense Lines.
  4. Click Submit to resubmit.

To cancel an expense report

Screenshot with a red arrow pointing to the "Actions" column (second column) in the My Expense Reports section of Workday, which includes an "Actions" menu for each expense report, which then has a dropdown with a "Cancel Expense Report" option

  1. Hover over the Actions menu, Click “Cancel Expense Report.”
  2. Click Ok to initiate cancellation.

An expense report can be canceled by the employee-as-self at any time prior to payment/settlement of the expense report. If the expense report has a status of Paid it cannot be canceled. The Actions menu will not appear for paid expense reports.

Common reasons for initiating cancellation of an expense report include: Expenses are duplicates, and the report should not have been submitted; funding is no longer available, and there is no alternate funding to allow for payment/reimbursement.

Canceled expense reports are still viewable in an employee’s My Expense Reports list. However, canceled expense reports cannot be edited or re-opened and must be recreated with a new expense report.

Contact

Travelers and departmental staff should contact their Divisional Business Office for policy or procedural questions.

Divisional Business Offices may e-mail expensereimbursement@bussvc.wisc.edu with questions.