Expense Agent in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: A Step-by-Step Setup Guide (Version 28.1)

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One of the exciting additions to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is the new Expense Agent. Powered by AI, the Expense Agent helps employees submit expenses faster by extracting receipt information, validating expenses against company policies, and routing reports for approval.

If you're planning to enable the Expense Agent in your organization, here's a walkthrough of the setup process.

Note: The information in this article is accurate as of Business Central version 28.1. Microsoft continues to enhance Copilot and Agent capabilities, so future versions may include additional functionality or configuration options.

Step 1: Activate the Expense Agent

Before anyone can begin submitting expenses, you'll need to activate the agent.

During setup you'll:

  • Activate the Expense Agent
  • Optionally allow employees access via web app
  • Optionally allow employees to submit receipts via email
Tip: If you plan to allow receipt submission by email, configure a dedicated mailbox for expense processing.


Step 2: Add Expense Users and Assign Approvers

Next, determine who will be using the Expense Agent.

Each employee can be:

  • Registered as an Expense User
  • Assigned an approver
  • Given permission to submit expenses

Taking the time to configure approvers now will make the approval workflow much smoother later.


Step 3: Configure Defaults

Business Central lets you inherit existing accounting and management settings instead of recreating everything.

Configuration options include:

Accounting Defaults

  • Number Series
  • Payment Methods
  • Expense Posting Groups
  • Expense Categories

Management Defaults

  • Expense Locations
  • Management Rules

Using defaults saves setup time while keeping expense processing consistent across the organization.


Step 4: Configure Rules and Controls

This is where you define your organization's expense policies.

Available options include:

  • Enforce Management Rules
  • Display Anti-Corruption Attestation
  • Require Receipt Numbers
  • Require Merchant Names
  • Notify users about unsubmitted expense reports
  • Configure reminder frequency

These settings help improve compliance while ensuring employees submit complete expense reports.


Step 5: Configure Mileage and Per Diem Rates

Finally, configure reimbursement policies.

Supported options include:

Mileage

  • Reimbursement rate
  • Default distance unit

Per Diem

  • Full or partial day calculations
  • Minimum hours
  • Partial day percentages
  • Meal reduction percentages

These settings allow Business Central to automatically calculate reimbursements based on your company's travel policies.


Final Thoughts

The Expense Agent is much more than receipt scanning. It combines AI with your organization's policies to automate expense entry, validate receipts, calculate reimbursements, and streamline approvals—all from within Business Central.

As Microsoft continues investing in AI Agents, this is another example of how routine accounting tasks are becoming faster, more accurate, and less manual.

If you're running Business Central 28.1, it's definitely worth taking some time to explore the Expense Agent and determine whether it fits your organization's expense management process.

Learn more about the Expense Agent here: Set up Expense Agent - Business Central | Microsoft Learn

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Kristen Hosman is a Microsoft MVP in Denver. She works with Dynamics 365 Business Central and related technologies. You can also connect with her through this link: Kristen Hosman | Linktree

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