Key takeaways
- Yes: Employee Expenses and Projects are included on the Clear Books Large plan.
- Employees submit claims for approval; an approved claim becomes a bill to the employee.
- The mobile app can create an expense from a photo, with account code, VAT rate and optional project.
- Vergo adds coding proposals for company card spend and receipt collection by text.
Where should you go next?
- Vergo's Clear Books integration
- What expense management software integrates with Clear Books?
- Get started with Vergo
What does Clear Books include for expenses?
- Employee expense claims with manager approval (Large plan).
- Mileage at HMRC or manual rates (Large plan).
- Projects as cost centres or departments (Large plan).
- Mobile app: create an expense from a photo.
- Auto Bills: reads supplier, date, invoice number, VAT and total from receipts.
Where does the built-in option leave work for finance?
- Company card spend: card purchases are not claims, and still need coding.
- Coding decisions: the employee or bookkeeper chooses account code and project.
- Plan level: claims and projects need Large.
When is a separate tool worth it?
When company cards, not claims, carry most of the spend, or when the practice manager spends days each quarter matching receipts. Vergo proposes the coding by inference from your own accounting structure and history — no rule library to build, no keyword lists to maintain, and new vendors are coded on first sight. Once your team enables API credentials on your Clear Books account, Vergo posts coded purchases with receipts attached through the Clear Books API.
How Vergo works alongside Clear Books
Clear Books stays your books and VAT return, and its claims workflow can keep running. Vergo takes company card spend and posts purchases with receipts attached. Employees handle everything by text message — no app to download, no portal login — and Vergo chases missing receipts itself instead of waiting for a report. Card spend, employee reimbursements and AP invoices run through one coding model — same coding, same review, one reconciliation — and payment stays on the rails you already use.
A practical example
A surveying practice on the Clear Books Medium plan has no Employee Expenses feature, so staff card receipts arrive by email and the bookkeeper codes them. Vergo texts the surveyor after each purchase, proposes the travel or equipment account code and VAT rate, and posts the purchase with the receipt, without the practice changing plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Clear Books plan has expense claims?
Employee Expenses is on the Large plan, along with Projects.
Does Clear Books read receipts?
Yes. Clear Books lists OCR, and Auto Bills extracts supplier, date, VAT and total.
What does Vergo add?
Account code, VAT and project proposals by inference, with the reason shown, and receipt collection by text.
Who enables the connection?
Your team enables API credentials on your Clear Books account once.
Do we need to change cards?
No. Connecting your existing cards involves no card applications, no re-issuing and no banking change.
