Your guide to better business travel expense reports

Business travel is one of the biggest line items on most company balance sheets. Every flight and hotel stay chips away at the bottom line—which is why a solid travel expense report process matters just as much as a good fare.

With unmanaged business travel still the norm for many companies, it's easy for costs to spiral without a clear reporting system in place. Whether you're a startup CEO, a solo consultant, or an operations lead scaling a remote team, knowing how to log, track, and optimize travel expenses can save both time and money.

This guide breaks down everything you need to know about travel expense reports, from must-have fields to best practices, so you can streamline finance approvals and focus more on growth.

What’s a travel expense report?

A travel expense report is a document (usually digitized) that employees use to itemize and summarize any costs incurred while traveling for work. Those costs can include everything from airfare and lodging to meals, mileage, and even incidentals like baggage fees or Wi-Fi access.

Employees typically submit these reports after a business trip, attaching receipts and categorizing each line item. The goal is to provide a complete, auditable record for finance to review and approve, enabling faster reimbursement and tighter budget tracking.

While older systems might still rely on Excel spreadsheets or PDFs, modern teams often turn to travel expense report software that connects directly with card feeds, flags out-of-policy charges, and automates approvals. Using software reduces back-and-forth emails and helps make sure every cent spent has documentation behind it.

Key elements of a travel expense report

Unsure how to create a travel expense report? Whether it’s manual or digital, every good template captures these basic elements:

• Employee information: Name, title, department, and contact details.
• Trip details: Dates of travel, destination, project or client name, and business purpose.
• Expense categories: Breakdowns for airfare, ground transportation, lodging, meals, mileage, and miscellaneous items.
• Date of purchase: The date the cost was incurred (important for audits and tax deductions).
• Vendor or merchant: Airline, hotel name, rideshare service, restaurant, or service provider.
• Total purchase amount: Line item total, both in USD and the local currency (if applicable).
• Receipts: Uploads or scanned images for each cost over the company’s threshold (often $25).
• Notes/comments: Additional context for unusual expenses, client codes, or approvals.
• Subtotal and grand total: A clear total that reflects all categorized spend, including taxes or per diems.

Templates that auto-calculate totals and flag missing receipts speed up the process and help teams spot discrepancies quickly. Engine’s platform includes a customizable expense tracker that updates in real time and integrates with travel bookings—no spreadsheets required.

Why travel expense reports matter

Travel expense reports are more than just paperwork—they’re essential to staying compliant, managing budgets, speeding up reimbursements, and keeping spending in check. 

Here’s a closer look at why these reports are so important.

Easier tax compliance

Accurate travel reports aren’t just good practice—they’re required. For companies based in the U.S., the IRS mandates documentation for any business travel deduction over $75 (or less, in some cases). Without proper records, you risk losing those deductions when tax season rolls around.

Better budgeting and forecasting

Tracking real-time travel data lets leadership spot trends, like rising hotel costs in key cities, and reallocate funds accordingly. Travel is often the second- or third-largest controllable cost for SMBs, so smarter expense management means better decisions.

Faster reimbursements

A clean report with attached receipts and logical categories prevents finance from needing to chase down missing information, saving time and improving cash flow visibility. It’s also helpful for travelers, who get reimbursed much faster than if they’d handed over a stack of receipts.

Policy enforcement and fraud reduction

Without a clear policy, spending creeps up fast. An automated travel policy linked to your report ensures everyone follows the rules (like no luxury hotels or same-day flight upgrades). It also helps flag unusual or out-of-policy charges early, reducing the risk of fraud and keeping T&E spend under control.

Best practices for travel expense reporting

Want fewer errors and faster approvals? These best practices can help your team submit cleaner reports, reduce back-and-forth with finance, and keep travel spending in check.

Use company cards tied to a central platform

Distributing corporate cards—or even prepaid cards with spending limits—offers better control than personal reimbursements. A company card reduces the employee’s out-of-pocket burden while feeding real-time data into your expense tracker.

If corporate cards aren’t an option, consider virtual cards or a tool that integrates with employees’ existing cards, ideally a system that prompts for receipt uploads automatically.

Automate travel expense reporting

Manual data entry takes time and is prone to mistakes. Automated systems like Engine pull bookings, card charges, and receipts into a live dashboard that matches expenses with categories, validates receipts, and flags policy violations on the spot.

Book all travel centrally

When employees book travel through multiple sites, it becomes almost impossible to track. By using a single platform like Engine, which consolidates flights, hotels, and car rentals in one place, you get one business trip expense report at the end—no import or export needed.

Engine also helps businesses lock in negotiated rates, track unused tickets, and monitor spend per trip or traveler.

Create clear approval workflows

Transparent workflows make the process faster and less frustrating for everyone, and you can avoid bottlenecks by defining who signs off on what. For example, you can allow auto-approval for meals under $50 while requiring management approval for flights over $500. The best systems also let you assign backup approvers in case someone is out of the office.

5 steps to manage travel expense reports efficiently

With the right habits and tools in place, your team will spend less time chasing receipts and more time focusing on what matters—traveling smarter and staying on budget. Follow these steps to get your reporting on track.

1. Capture receipts as you go

Train your company’s business travelers to snap a photo or use a receipt scanner app immediately after each purchase. Waiting until the trip ends often means lost documentation or forgotten charges.

Some tools, like Engine, can help match receipts to card transactions, saving time and cutting down on the need for manual uploads.

2. Tag and categorize each expense

Custom tags like project names and client codes make it easier to allocate costs accurately.

Use consistent categories that match your company’s chart of accounts. This includes typical tags like lodging, airfare, ground transport, and meals, but you can add other relevant expenses, like event fees, tips, or equipment.

3. Input into your reporting system

Whether you’re using a spreadsheet or expense report software, be sure to input data daily. Engine’s tool pulls in receipts, dates, and amounts automatically and organizes them by trip, cutting down on copy-paste errors.

4. Submit to the approver

Once completed, route the report to the manager, budget owner, or finance team. Good tools have built-in notifications and escalation paths so approvals don’t get lost in an email inbox.

5. Get reimbursed

Once approved, reimbursement is the final step. Most teams opt for direct deposit within 5–7 business days. Some tools even make it easy for finance to batch reimbursements and export reports directly to accounting platforms like QuickBooks or NetSuite.

Common expense categories (and what’s reimbursable)

Here are the most common types of reimbursable travel expenses:

• Transportation: Flights, trains, ridesharing, taxis, rental cars, and mileage (per IRS standard).
• Lodging: Hotel and Airbnb stays (if permitted by the travel policy), plus any related taxes or fees.
• Meals: Client dinners, per diems, or actual itemized charges. Some companies exclude alcohol unless for client entertainment.
• Incidentals: Baggage fees, Wi-Fi, parking, tips, tolls, and foreign transaction fees.
• Event fees: Entry to conferences, trade shows, or required work events.
• Office-related: Supplies or software purchased on the road.

To save time, many companies opt for a meal allowance instead of itemized receipts—you can learn more in our meal allowance guide.

Upgrade your travel expense reporting with Engine

Engine is a corporate travel booking platform that helps growing businesses track travel expenses with ease. Whether you’re sending two employees to a trade show or coordinating group travel for a 50-person retreat, Engine simplifies the entire process—from booking to reporting to reimbursement.

With Engine, employees can book flights, hotels, and cars on one platform with access to exclusive business rates, all while collecting loyalty points. Engine also makes it easy to export complete expense reports with receipts, categories, and approval statuses while tracking spending by trip, traveler, department, or project. And with seamless integrations into your accounting system, reimbursements are faster and more accurate than ever.

Make work travel less work—start managing business travel with Engine today.

FAQs

How can I reduce business travel expenses?

To reduce your company's travel expenses, consider bundling travel into one platform, encouraging employees to book in advance or use loyalty programs, and training workers on the company’s travel policy. Centralizing bookings and automating reports with a tool like Engine can significantly reduce your T&E spend.

What happens if a receipt is missing?

If a traveler loses a receipt, they should submit a card statement or bank record showing the charge, along with a brief note explaining the missing document. Managers can then choose to approve or reject the request based on context—it’s always better to provide backup documentation than to leave the item blank.

How soon should I submit my travel expense report?

Most companies require reports within 14–30 days of completing the trip, but submitting weekly improves accuracy and helps finance teams close their books faster.

Can I use personal credit cards for business travel?

Yes—if the company’s travel policy allows it. Personal cards, including travel credit cards, can make tracking harder and delay reimbursements. Using a corporate card or a platform like Engine that supports multiple payment methods streamlines the process for everyone involved.