Reimbursable Travel Expenses for Specific Customer & Project
I've been having an unbelievably difficult time figuring out the correct way to handle what seems like a pretty basic and very common requirement. I've spent way too much time researching it and chatting with Zoho support which unfortunately didn't help clarify anything. Below is a basic description of what I urgently need to resolve:
- I'm a based freelance technology consultant that implements software for my clients (setup as Customers in Books). Each individual project is setup in Books under a specific Customer as a unique Project
- I utilize subcontractors to support my projects. They are set up as Vendors AND as Users in Books so I can assign them to Projects and they can submit timesheets. Their access as Users is limited only to the ability to enter timesheets as I do not want them to have visibility to anything else related to my business. I invoice my Customers monthly based on hourly rates for myself and my subcontractors and time spent on each project. Similarly, my Vendors (subcontractors) submit invoices to me through my Vendor Portal each month based on their timesheets.
- Recently, myself and my team have started traveling to client locations and incurring typical travel related expenses. I am responsible for reimbursing my Vendors for their travel expenses, which I need to include on my invoices to Customers so I can also be reimbursed. I also need the ability to provide the Customer with details of their reimbursable expenses. Also I want to make sure to keep separate any reimbursable travel expenses incurred by me vs those incurred by my subcontractors
I initially cloned the user role assigned to these subcontractors and deselected the check box under projects so they would be allowed to record expenses for their project. That allowed them to create an expense but it also gave them visibility to my accounting structure because of the Paid Through drop down selection which is required using that approach.
What does Zoho recommend as the approach for handling this scenario within Books in terms of the entries, accounts used, etc.? Obviously it should follow basic accounting principles (any guidance on this would be appreciated also in terms of types of accounts for the subcontractors expenses, my reimbursements to them vs my expenses and my Customers reimbursements to me). I can create whatever accounts are needed or do whatever setup is required to adopt the correct approach I just don't know what to do.
Also if anyone in the Community has done this successfully, please share how you have it setup