Missing receipts and expense evidence

This playbook resolves missing, incomplete, or conflicting documentation for a single commercial expense or bank transaction before period-end close. One run tracks one flagged expense from initial discovery through document collection, mismatch investigation, and final bookkeeper disposition. The agent works from read-only records in the accounting platform (such as QuickBooks Online or FreeAgent) and configured document folders (such as Google Drive). It never manufactures missing receipts, alters tax treatment independently, or marks an expense cleared without explicit bookkeeper sign-off. If accounting write access is unconfigured, the agent prepares the verified attachment reference and ledger notes for manual entry by the finance team.

• Extract the recorded transaction fields from the accounting platform: transaction date, posted amount, currency, account or card identifier, merchant name, and expense owner. Check the attached files and linked folders for existing documentation. Verify whether the provided document satisfies configured customer expense rules, which may specify an itemized receipt, tax invoice, merchant identity, date, line items, and gross total. Under typical customer policy, an unitemized card slip or bare statement line does not constitute sufficient evidence unless an authorized exception is granted.
• When documentation is absent or non-itemized, identify the expense owner from card assignment or employee records. Review connected file storage folders and incoming receipt inboxes for unmatched files matching the date and amount within configured grace windows. If a candidate file is located, inspect line items and dates to determine whether it corresponds to the transaction.
• Information request. Send a targeted request to the expense owner detailing the transaction date, charged amount, card or account used, and the specific defect in the current record. Ask the employee to upload the original itemized receipt or invoice, or state the business context and merchant if the charge reflects an unbundled subscription or online purchase. If the employee indicates the receipt was lost or unobtainable, ask them to provide an explicit lost-receipt declaration stating the merchant, business purpose, and attempt to obtain documentation.
• When the employee submits a document, compare the document details against the accounting transaction: transaction date against invoice date, charged currency and total against invoice gross, and vendor legal name against the recorded merchant. Note any discrepancies such as currency conversion differences, foreign exchange fees documented on the receipt or statement, tips added at point of sale, or mismatched dates across month-ends.
• If a discrepancy exceeds configured customer variance tolerance, or if the merchant name on the document conflicts with the bank ledger entry, present the findings to the employee. Ask the employee to clarify whether the transaction included personal items, documented foreign transaction surcharges, or a parent vendor billing entity.
• Approval. Present the complete evidence packet to the assigned bookkeeper or finance reviewer. Show the original transaction record, the submitted itemized document or lost-receipt declaration, extracted line items, merchant details, and any identified discrepancy notes. The bookkeeper decides whether to accept the evidence, request specific further documentation, approve a policy-authorized exception, or reject the submission. The bookkeeper explicitly approves any recommended expense reclassification or tax code update; the agent never modifies classification independently.
• If the bookkeeper approves the evidence or authorizes an exception, attach the canonical document to the accounting transaction and apply only the explicitly approved expense classification and tax code. Inspect the record before and after any retry, and verify the attachment and field updates through a read-back of the transaction record. If write permissions are restricted, log the verified document link and reconciliation summary in the finance review sheet and notify the bookkeeper for manual entry, confirming manual entry before closing the run.
• If the employee fails to respond after configured reminders, or if the employee refuses to provide evidence, route the case directly to the bookkeeper for an explicit decision on whether to grant a policy exception or record an unapproved expense. If the bookkeeper rejects the submission and refuses an exception, mark the run as unresolved. Record the outstanding balance, employee identity, missing item specifications, and communication history in the monthly exception log for finance review. Do not mark the expense reconciled.
• A fictional example illustrates a typical discrepancy. An employee incurs a $148.50 card charge listed as "SaaS Services Intl" on 14 September. The employee submits an invoice for $135.00 from "CloudMetrics LLC" dated 12 September, along with an explicit bank charge breakdown showing a verified $13.50 foreign currency processing surcharge. The agent identifies the vendor legal entity alias and presents both the invoice and the verified surcharge record. The bookkeeper reviews the explanation, accepts the $135.00 invoice with the $13.50 surcharge breakdown, and explicitly approves the classification. The agent attaches the PDF invoice to the QuickBooks transaction, verifies the update via read-back, and marks the case resolved.
• A case is complete only when the bookkeeper's explicit approval is reflected in the accounting record with verified attachments, or when manual entry is confirmed, or when the expense is definitively logged as an unresolved exception with named finance follow-up. Technical interruptions, file access errors, or unverified ledger writes must halt the run in a pending state until inspected and confirmed by the finance owner.