Expense Report Examples in Excel to Better Visulize your Data

Managing expenses is one of the biggest challenges most businesses face.

Whether a small startup or an enterprise-scale company, keeping track of your expenses and minimizing costs is crucial for your financial success.

Luckily, there’re several smart ways to manage your expenses. And one of the most effective is by using expense report examples.

Expense reports can be a game-changer if your goal is to save money and streamline financial processes. By using tried-and-true expense report examples, you can gain insights into what works and what doesn’t.

In this article, we’re going to delve into the following:

• Top expense report examples to help you get started
• Also, we’ll address the following questions:
  • What is an expense report?
  • What is the purpose of an expense report?
• How to create an expense report in Excel?
• Best examples of expense reports

Before diving into the blog’s core, we’ll address the following question: what is an expense report?

What is an Expense Report?

An expense report records all the expenses incurred by your business.

And it serves as a record of all the expenses incurred during a specific period, like a business trip, project, or office expenses.

An expense report typically has details like the expense date, the name of the person who incurred the cost, the purpose of the expense, the amount spent, and supporting documents.

Expense reports are essential to your business because they help track expenses and ensure they remain within the budget. Moreover, you can use them to identify areas where your business can save money by reducing expenses.

To make an expense report, you can use various tools like spreadsheets, software, or mobile apps.

You have an option of providing your team with expense report templates to ensure consistency and accuracy in reporting.

Expense report examples can be incredibly helpful if you’re looking to streamline your expense management processes. These report examples clearly explain how you can format an expense report, what to include, and how to classify expenses.

What is the Purpose of an Expense Report?

• Clear and accurate record

The key goal of an expense report is to provide you with a clear and accurate record of all expenses incurred during a specific period.

More so, it serves as a means of tracking expenses and ensuring they remain within the budget. By maintaining an expense report, you can identify areas where you may be overspending and cut costs.

• Transparency

Expense reports can help you maintain transparency and accountability in your financial processes.

By keeping a detailed record of all expenses, you demonstrate accountability to stakeholders, such as investors, shareholders, etc.

• Claim reimbursement for expenses incurred

Expense reports can help you to claim reimbursement for expenses incurred.

Your team can claim reimbursement for expenses such as travel, meals, and accommodations by submitting an expense report. This ensures that you reimburse your employees fairly and in a timely manner.

• Identify tax-deductible expenses

Expense report examples can help you identify tax-deductible expenses.

By keeping a record of all expenses, you can identify expenses that can be deducted from your taxable income, thus reducing tax liability.

In the coming section, we’ll take you through the best examples of expense reports.

Best Examples of Expense Reports

Check out game-changing expense report examples below.

• Sankey Chart

A Sankey chart is a powerful chart you can use to show the flow of expenses in a system, highlighting the most significant expenditures and identifying areas for cost-cutting.

In an expense report examples context, a Sankey Chart can help you understand your expense breakdown by showing different cost categories such as travel, meals, etc.

By visualizing this data in a Sankey Chart, you can quickly identify areas where you may be overspending and cut costs.

Sankey Charts can help you identify patterns in spending.

For instance, you may notice you’re spending more on travel expenses than other categories.

By identifying these patterns, you can reduce costs in specific areas and optimize your expense management processes.

Check out the tabular data below.

Can you provide concrete insights into the data below?

Total Cost	Company Type	Company Name	Expertise Categories	Expertise	Cost
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Skyline Contractors	Mechanical Installation	Plumbing & Heating	15456
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Skyline Contractors	Mechanical Installation	Mechanical Work	10159
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Onyx General Contractors	Mechanical Installation	Plumbing & Heating	18045
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Onyx General Contractors	Mechanical Installation	Mechanical Work	12695
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Living Well Remodeling	Mechanical Installation	Plumbing & Heating	14589
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Living Well Remodeling	Mechanical Installation	Welding	11456
Total Cost	Supplier	Power-up Builders	Raw Material	Cement	20561
Total Cost	Supplier	Power-up Builders	Raw Material	Steel	32456
Total Cost	Supplier	Five-star Construction	Raw Material	Bricks	10253
Total Cost	Supplier	Five-star Construction	Raw Material	Timber	9000

Note the difference after using a Sankey Chart to visualize the data below.

• Sentiment Trend Chart

A Sentiment Trend Chart can help you identify trends in your team’s sentiment toward expense reporting.

This type of chart is particularly useful in identifying areas where your team may be struggling with expense reporting, such as finding the process too complicated.

The chart can be created by analyzing your team’s feedback about expense reporting, such as through surveys.

By plotting this data over time, you can identify trends in your team’s sentiment toward expense reporting.

Check out the tabular data (with credit and debit data) below.

Can you provide concrete insights into the data?

Months	Credit Amount	Debit Amount
Jan	3,220,000	1,590,000
Feb	3,730,000	1,800,000
Mar	2,850,000	2,650,000
Apr	3,380,000	1,700,000
May	3,380,000	1,600,000
Jun	3,490,000	1,990,000
Jul	3,510,000	1,450,000
Aug	3,080,000	2,420,000
Sep	3,290,000	1,040,000
Oct	2,850,000	1,050,000
Nov	2,910,000	2,310,000
Dec	3,280,000	1,350,000

Note the difference after using a Sankey Chart to visualize the data below.

How to Create an Expense Report in Excel?

If you’re tired of struggling to understand your expense report data in Excel tables, look no further than ChartExpo!

While Excel is a practical tool for organizing data in a table, it can be challenging to extract insights from the data.

ChartExpo offers a third-party add-in with multiple charts, including Sankey charts, to help you visualize your expense reports.

ChartExpo isn’t just another charting tool.

It offers multiple benefits, making it the perfect choice for businesses looking to streamline their expense reporting.

With ChartExpo, you can rest assured that your data is secure and safe from breach of privacy.

Moreover, ChartExpo’s charts remove the noise and highlight the essential insights, helping you understand your data quickly.

Don’t wait to improve your expense reporting and decision-making processes any longer.

Try ChartExpo today. It has a free 7-day trial after which, you’ll only pay $10 per month, making it a cost-effective solution.

In the coming section, we’ll show you how to install ChartExpo in Excel.

Let’s dive in.

How to install ChartExpo in Excel?

This section will use the ChartExpo add-in to visualize the survey data below.

Total Cost	Company Type	Company Name	Expertise Categories	Expertise	Cost
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Skyline Contractors	Mechanical Installation	Plumbing & Heating	15456
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Skyline Contractors	Mechanical Installation	Mechanical Work	10159
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Onyx General Contractors	Mechanical Installation	Plumbing & Heating	18045
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Onyx General Contractors	Mechanical Installation	Mechanical Work	12695
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Living Well Remodeling	Mechanical Installation	Plumbing & Heating	14589
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Living Well Remodeling	Mechanical Installation	Welding	11456
Total Cost	Supplier	Power-up Builders	Raw Material	Cement	20561
Total Cost	Supplier	Power-up Builders	Raw Material	Steel	32456
Total Cost	Supplier	Five-star Construction	Raw Material	Bricks	10253
Total Cost	Supplier	Five-star Construction	Raw Material	Timber	9000

To get started with ChartExpo in Excel, follow the steps below:

• Open your Microsoft Excel.
• Open the worksheet and click the Insert buttonto access the My Apps

• Click the Insert button to initiate the ChartExpo engine.

• Click the Search box and type “Sankey Chart.”

• Highlight your data and click the Create Chart From Selection button, as shown below.

• To include the chart header, click the Edit Chart

• Once the Chart Header Properties window shows, fill in your header in Line 1, as shown.

• Toggle the Show button below Line 2 to the right side to activate the header.
• Click the Apply button, as shown above.
• Check out the final chart below.

Insights

At Level 1, the total cost is $154.67K.

But, at Level 2, $72.27K was spent on suppliers, which accounts for 47%, while $82.4K was spent on subcontractors– 53%.

Digging deeper at Level 3, we discover that out of the $72.27K went to suppliers— Power-up Builder ($53.02K ) and Five-star Construction ($19.25K).

$82.4K was spent on subcontractors— Skyline Contactors, Onyx General Contractors, and Living Well Remodeling – who charged $25.62K, $30.74K, and $26.05K, respectively.

In Level 4, supplier companies provided raw materials for procurement, which totaled $72.27K. On the other hand, the companies providing mechanical installations cost around $82.4K.

Specifically, the $72.27K spent on raw materials went towards cement ($20.56K), steel ($32.46K), bricks ($10.25K), and timber, costing ( $9K).

The $82.4K was spent on as follows: Plumbing & Heating ($48.09K), Mechanical Work ($22.85K), and Welding ($11.46K), respectively.

FAQs:

What is included in expense report examples?

An expense report typically includes data about expenses incurred during business-related purchases.

This can include details such as the expense date, the amount spent, the expense purpose, and receipts to support the claim.

What makes a good expense report?

An excellent expense report is accurate, timely, and well-organized.

Besides, it should clearly and concisely communicate the details of each expense and be supported by relevant documentation.

A good expense report also follows your business’s internal policies and procedures and adheres to applicable tax laws.

Wrap-Up:

In conclusion, creating an expense report is an essential task if your business incurs costs like traveling, etc.

While Excel provides a practical tool for organizing data, visualizing expense data using ChartExpo can significantly improve the quality of the insights.

Using ChartExpo, you can access easy-to-understand visualizations highlighting critical and hidden insights into your data.

With ChartExpo, you can also enjoy enhanced data security.

The timely actions resulting from well-organized and well-presented expense report examples can help you cut costs significantly.

Take advantage of ChartExpo’s free 7-day trial and visualize your expense report data today.

With a low monthly fee of just $10, it’s an affordable solution we recommend you leverage to streamline your expense management processes.