Record, allocate, and document grant expenses

Recorded expenses turn an approved grant budget into a budget-to-actual view. Add a transaction by hand when only a few items need to be tracked, or import a file when the accounting system already has the detail.

Availability: Expense tracking requires Grant Pro. Recording, editing, deleting, or allocating expenses requires Manage Grant Finances or Administer Grant Center.

Record an expense

Open the grant and select Schedule & work → Budget & spending.
Select Record expense.
Enter the required Date and Amount.
Select a Budget line, or leave the expense as Unallocated — decide later.
Optionally enter Paid to, Description, and Reference.
Optionally select a receipt already stored in the grant's Documents area.
Select Record expense.

Choose the correct amount sign

Enter an ordinary cost as a positive amount. Enter a credit or refund as a negative amount. A negative expense reduces Actual spending on its assigned line and in the grant totals.

A zero amount is not recorded because it does not represent a transaction.

Allocate the expense to a budget line

The Budget line list shows the period, category, and amount remaining. Assigning a line gives the expense both its category and its period.

If the right answer is not known yet, leave the row Unallocated. Unallocated is a supported state, not a failed transaction:

The expense remains in the spending list.
It counts toward total grant spending.
It appears in the Unallocated attention row.
The Budget & spending navigation badge counts how many expenses need allocation.
It can be edited and assigned later.

If the grant has no budget lines, every new expense is recorded as Unallocated until the budget is created.

Add a receipt

Receipts use the grant's existing document library rather than a separate file store.

Open the grant's Documents area.
Upload the file and assign the document purpose Receipt.
Return to Budget & spending.
Record or edit the expense and select the receipt.

The paperclip in the spending list opens the linked receipt. Document version history and normal download controls continue to apply.

Review recorded spending

The spending list shows:

Date
Payee
Description and reference, when present
Budget category and period, or an Unallocated badge
Amount
Source, such as Entered manually or Imported
A paperclip when a receipt is attached

Select an amount in the budget grid to see the expenses recorded against that line. Select Unallocated spending to focus on rows that need assignment. Select Show all spending to clear the filter.

Edit an expense

Open the expense's actions menu.
Select Edit.
Change the date, amount, budget line, payee, description, reference, or receipt.
Select Save changes.

An imported row may be corrected in BetterUnite. Its original source and external reference stay attached, so importing the same accounting export again still recognizes the transaction.

Delete an expense

Use the expense's actions menu and select Delete. Unlike deleting a budget line, deleting an expense removes that transaction from grant spending. Use this only when the row should not be part of the grant record.

If a category, line, or period is wrong but the transaction is real, edit the allocation instead of deleting the expense.

Understand Match expenses

An expense assigned to a Match line remains visible and is included in Match totals. It is excluded from the headline Spent and Left in budget figures because the grant did not fund that cost.

Keep the accounting system as the book of record

Paid to is a free-text label; BetterUnite does not maintain the vendor record. Recording, editing, or deleting an expense in Grant Center does not change the transaction in the accounting system.

Use a regular reconciliation process to keep the Grant Center view aligned with the organization's ledger.