Deciding on an expense report

The decisions you make from the review form, approve, decline, request changes, resend updated instructions, and how to fix a wrong amount.

Every decision on an expense report happens in the same place: the Review Expense Report card inside the report. Open the report, read the details, then use that card to approve it, send it back to the employee for changes, or decline it. This article walks through each path, what each option does to the report and the employee, and how to handle a wrong amount, since you cannot edit one yourself.

Open the report and find the review card

Open the expense from your queue to see the full report: the employee details, the receipt, the cost breakdown, and the review status. Below those, in the main column, is the Review Expense Report card. That card is where every decision is made.

You only see the decision form when it is your turn to act:

• As an assigned reviewer, the card appears while your own decision is still pending.
• As HR on a report with no assigned reviewers, the card appears with the note This report has no assigned approvers. As HR, you can review and complete it below.

If the report is already approved, declined, or sent back for changes, the form does not show, because no decision is left to make.

The card offers three choices:

• Approve: Approve this expense report as submitted.
• Request changes: Send the report back to the employee with instructions. They can update and resubmit.
• Decline: Reject the report. The employee is notified with your reason.

Approve the report

To approve, select Approve, then click Submit review.

When a report has several assigned reviewers, your approval is recorded straight away, but the report is not finished yet. It stays in review until every assigned reviewer has made a decision.

• Once all reviewers have approved, the report is finalised as Approved.
• If any reviewer declines, the whole report is declined, even if others approved.

So clicking Approve and Submit review records your part. The report only flips to Approved when the last outstanding reviewer agrees.

When the report becomes Approved (either because you were the only or last reviewer, or because HR completed it directly):

• The employee gets an in-app notification that their expense report was approved.
• An approval email is sent to the employee, in their preferred language.
• The employee's pending allowance is recalculated so their remaining balance reflects the approved report.

The approved report then carries through to the payroll figures for that employee, so there is nothing extra to mark as done.

Request changes from the employee

When a report is almost right but needs a fix (a missing receipt, the wrong category, a blurry image), you do not have to decline it. Send it back with instructions so the employee can adjust and resubmit without starting over.

Request changes is part of the review form on an expense report. It does not appear on benefit purchases or system entries, where you only approve or decline. The option is available while a report is still Pending review, and again later if it is already waiting for the employee to make updates.

Submitting moves the report to the Changes requested status and records your message against it. The employee is notified two ways: an in-app notification that their expense report needs changes, marked as needing action, and an email containing your instructions and the report details. Their next move is to adjust the report and resubmit it for review.

While a report sits in Changes requested, an amber notice titled Changes requested on this expense appears at the top of the report. It explains "Apply what the reviewer asked for, then submit the expense again for review." and shows your instruction text in a highlighted box. If the request came from CLVR's automatic review rather than a person, the instruction carries a small AI badge with a sparkle icon.

Resend updated instructions

If your first instructions were unclear, or something changed before the employee resubmitted, you can send a fresh message without waiting for them to reply. The expense stays in Changes requested, and the employee is notified again with your updated wording. This is useful when:

• Your original message was vague and the employee has not understood what to fix.
• You asked for the wrong thing, or the situation changed (a different receipt is now needed).
• You want to add a clarification on top of what you already sent.

You do not need to decline and start over. The expense remains open with the employee.

This records a new change request on the expense and notifies the employee again, both in the app and by email, with your latest instructions. The expense stays in Changes requested.

Fix a wrong amount

When you open a report to review it, the amounts are read only. CLVR does not give you a control to edit the receipt total, VAT rate, category, expense date, or attached files yourself. That is by design: only the employee who submitted the expense can change its details, so the figures that go through to payroll always match what the person actually claimed. Changing someone else's claimed amount without their input would break the trail between the receipt and the reimbursement, so corrections always go through the employee.

So when the amount, VAT rate, category, or a receipt file needs fixing, use Request changes rather than approving or declining. In Leave a comment, write exactly what should be updated, for example "The receipt total should be 950 kr, not 9 500 kr" or "Set the VAT rate to 25%." then select Submit review.

The employee opens the report, sees your instructions at the top, and edits it under Update your expense report. They can change the Receipt cost, VAT rate, Benefit category, expense date, and receipt files, then send it back for review. When they resubmit, CLVR recalculates everything automatically:

• The cost breakdown is recomputed from the corrected figures.
• The split between what the allowance covers and anything above the remaining balance is updated.
• The report returns to your queue for a fresh review.

You do not re-enter any numbers. You just review the corrected report when it comes back.

Decline the report

When an expense cannot be reimbursed at all, decline it. CLVR asks you to say why, and the reason you write is sent to the employee, so a clear sentence saves a back-and-forth.

Select Decline, then write your reason in the Leave a comment box and choose Submit review. The comment box is labelled "Required when declining or requesting changes." Until you type something, the Submit review button stays disabled, and hovering it shows a reminder to add a short message. Write a plain sentence or two explaining why the expense cannot be reimbursed. That text becomes the employee's only explanation, so be specific.

As soon as you submit the decline, the employee gets an in-app notification telling them their expense report has been declined, and a decline email that includes the reason you wrote. When they open the expense, the top of the page shows a red notice, This expense has been rejected, with the date and your reason printed underneath. You see the same red notice and reason on your side, so the record stays consistent for both of you.

A declined report is not a dead end. From their own view of the expense, the employee sees an Edit and Resubmit option. Updating the report and sending it for review again resets it to a fresh Pending item and restarts the review from the beginning. The original decline and your reason stay in the expense history. Treat a resubmitted report as a new review based on the updated details.

Troubleshooting

• I do not see the review form. It only appears when a decision is yours to make. If the report is already approved, declined, or awaiting employee changes, there is nothing to submit. If you are one of several reviewers and have already decided, your part is done.
• Submit review is greyed out. You have not chosen an option yet, or you picked Request changes or Decline without a comment. Pick an option and, for those two, add a short message.
• I approved but the report still shows in review. Other assigned reviewers have not decided yet. The report finalises only once everyone has approved.
• I cannot find Request changes. Check that you are looking at an expense report, not a benefit purchase or a system entry. The option only exists for reports, which offer Approve and Decline for other types.
• The report no longer shows Approve or Decline. Once it is in Changes requested, the decision step waits until the employee resubmits. Review it again after their update lands.
• The Send updated instructions button is missing. It only appears while the expense is in Changes requested. If the employee has already resubmitted, the expense is back in review and there is nothing to resend.
• I do not see an edit field for the amount. That is expected. There is no direct edit control; use Request changes so the employee can correct it.
• The employee changed more than I asked. When they resubmit, the whole report is recalculated and comes back to your queue, so review the updated figures before approving.
• The amount is fine but should not be paid. Decline the report with a reason rather than requesting changes. A declined report can still be edited and resubmitted by the employee if circumstances change.
• The expense came back as Pending. The employee edited and resubmitted it after a decline or change request. Review the updated version as a new submission; the earlier decision is preserved in the history.