Expense statuses - TimeTracker

An expense is always in exactly one of five statuses: draft, submitted, approved, rejected or invoiced. invoiced is the end of the line. An invoiced expense cannot move again.

The five statuses

Status	Chip	What it means
`draft`	Draft	You started it and have not sent it. Private to you. Editable and deletable.
`submitted`	Submitted	You sent it for review. It is in the approval queue and locked to editing.
`approved`	Approved	A reviewer accepted it. A billable one is now invoiceable.
`rejected`	Rejected	A reviewer sent it back with a reason. You can rework it.
`invoiced`	Invoiced	It is on an invoice. Committed and final.

The lifecycle

draft ──────► submitted ──────► approved ──────► invoiced
 ▲ │ │ │
 │ │ │ │
 └───────────────┘ └─► rejected └─────────────┐
 withdraw │ │
 ▲ │ withdraw approval
 └───────────────────────┘ │
 edit to rework ▼
 submitted

There are three ways to move backwards, and they all exist for a reason.

Backward move	Who does it	Why it exists
`submitted` → `draft`	The submitter	Pull a bill out of the queue before anyone decides on it
`rejected` → `draft`	The submitter	Rework a bill after a reviewer sends it back
`approved` → `submitted`	The reviewer	Reverse an approval given by mistake

Reversing an approval is safe because no money moves on approval. Only invoicing commits the amount.

Who moves each transition

From	To	Action	Who	Capability
`draft`	`submitted`	Submit for approval	The submitter only	`expense.submit`
`submitted`	`approved`	Approve	A reviewer	`expense.approve` + Pro
`submitted`	`rejected`	Reject… with a reason	A reviewer	`expense.approve` + Pro
`submitted`	`draft`	Withdraw to draft	The submitter only	`expense.submit`
`rejected`	`draft`	Editing the expense	The submitter only	`expense.submit`
`approved`	`submitted`	Withdraw approval	A reviewer	`expense.approve`
`approved`	`invoiced`	Adding it to an invoice	An invoice builder	`invoice.manage`
`invoiced`	–	Nothing. Terminal.	–	–

Every other move is refused. You cannot approve a draft directly, and you cannot re-submit an expense that is already submitted.

Editing, withdrawing and deleting are submitter-only. A reviewer never mutates someone else’s expense – they approve, reject or withdraw their own approval.

What you can do in each status

Status	Edit	Withdraw	Delete	Approve or reject	Invoice
`draft`	Yes	–	Yes	No	No
`submitted`	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
`approved`	No	No	No	Withdraw approval only	Yes, if billable
`rejected`	Yes	–	Yes	No	No
`invoiced`	No	No	No	No	Already invoiced

In your expense log, a row’s three-dot menu reflects this:

Draft or Rejected – Edit, Delete expense
Submitted – Withdraw to draft
Approved or Invoiced – no menu at all, just a dash

Example

Sarah Lin’s $240 stock photo licence for Bluebird Coffee, from start to finish.

Draft

Sarah fills the form but does not have the receipt yet. She clicks Save draft. The row shows a Draft chip.

Submitted

The receipt arrives. She edits the expense, attaches it, and clicks Submit for approval. The chip becomes Submitted and the expense enters Daniel’s queue.

Rejected

Daniel spots the wrong project and rejects it with the reason “This belongs to the Monthly Retainer, not the Website Redesign.” The chip becomes Rejected. Sarah gets a notification carrying that reason.

Back to draft

Sarah opens the expense and changes the project. Editing a rejected expense returns it to draft and clears the old rejection reason.

Submitted, then approved

She submits again. Daniel approves. The chip becomes Approved and the $276 billable value is now invoiceable.

Invoiced

Daniel builds Bluebird’s monthly invoice and ticks the expense. The chip becomes Invoiced. Nothing about the expense can change from here.

Filtering by status

The Expenses page has a Status dropdown above the table.

Option	Shows
All	Every active expense of yours
Draft	Only drafts
Submitted	Only expenses awaiting a decision
Approved	Only approved expenses
Rejected	Only expenses sent back to you

Deleted expenses never appear in this list, whatever the filter. They sit in Settings → Trash until they are restored or purged. On the Approvals screen, the two sub-tabs do the filtering instead: Awaiting shows submitted only, and History shows approved, rejected and invoiced.

Deleting an expense

Delete is available only on a draft or rejected expense, and only to the person who submitted it.

A submitted expense must be withdrawn to draft first.
An approved or invoiced expense can never be deleted. It is committed financial history.

Deleting opens a confirmation dialog naming the category. Confirming moves the expense to Settings → Trash, where it can be restored. The receipt goes with it and comes back on restore. An expense cannot be archived. Archive is for finished reference work; a transactional record like an expense is either live or in the trash.

Notifications by status change

Change	Who is notified
Submitted	Everyone eligible to approve you. You are not notified about your own submission.
Approved	The submitter
Rejected	The submitter, with the reason
Approval withdrawn	The submitter, as a request for clarification
Still submitted after 24 hours	The routed approver
Still submitted after 72 hours	Workspace managers

All of these go to in-app and email by default. Members can tune their own preferences.

Common questions

Why can I not edit a submitted expense?

Because a reviewer may be looking at it. Changing the amount under them would mean they approve one figure and you store another. Withdraw it to draft first.

What happens to my rejection reason when I rework the expense?

Editing a rejected expense returns it to draft and clears the old reason, so a second reviewer is not misled by a stale note.

Can an invoiced expense ever go back?

Not through the expense itself. invoiced is terminal. Handle any correction on the invoice.

Does approving an expense move any money?

No. Approval is a decision, not a payment. That is exactly why an approval can be safely withdrawn.

Can two people approve the same expense?

Only the first decision lands. A second attempt on an already-moved expense is refused – the app tells you the expense has already moved.

Where do deleted expenses go?

To Settings → Trash. They can be restored with their receipt intact until the trash is purged.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause and fix
The row has no three-dot menu	The expense is `approved` or `invoiced`. Neither can be changed by the submitter.
Withdraw to draft is missing	The expense is not `submitted`. Only a submitted expense can be withdrawn.
An action fails saying the expense already moved	Someone else changed it while your screen was open. Refresh and look again.
The Status filter has no Invoiced option	Correct. Invoiced expenses are visible under All, and in Approvals → Expenses → History.
You cannot delete a rejected expense	Check you are the submitter. Only the person who created it can delete it.

Submit an expense

Moving from draft to submitted.

Approve an expense

Moving from submitted to approved or rejected.

Billable expenses

Moving from approved to invoiced.

Expense permissions

Which role can move which edge.

Archive, trash and delete

Where a deleted expense goes.

​The five statuses

​The lifecycle

​Who moves each transition

​What you can do in each status

​Example

​Filtering by status

​Deleting an expense

​Notifications by status change

​Common questions

​Troubleshooting

​Related guides

Submit an expense

Approve an expense

Billable expenses

Expense permissions

Archive, trash and delete

The five statuses

The lifecycle

Who moves each transition

What you can do in each status

Example

Filtering by status

Deleting an expense

Notifications by status change

Common questions

Troubleshooting

Related guides