WhatsApp money requests & expense logging
Staff ask for money in a text. Managers approve with a tap. Every receipt is a photo — read by AI, confirmed with one word, and posted to your books as a proper double-entry journal, with the photo kept as proof. No voucher book, no envelope of receipts at month end, no evening of typing.
The old way
A request shouted across the yard. A note in a voucher book. A crumpled receipt three weeks later — or never — and an evening of typing to get any of it into the accounts.
"I need K40 for nails." That is the whole form. The right approver gets it on their phone.
The receipt is photographed where it was paid — at the pump, at the counter — not found in a pocket at month end.
Every advance and every expense is a journal in the ledger, dated by the receipt, with who did what and when.
How it works
Step 1
No form and no template. The employee texts what they need; AI reads the amount and the purpose.
Step 2
The right approver for the amount gets it on WhatsApp, with who already approved and anything still unaccounted for.
Step 3
Whoever hands over the money taps how. The advance is booked to the ledger, and the employee is told to send receipts.
Step 4
The receipt photo is read and matched to the open request with one confirmation.
Step 5
The expense posts against the advance and the bot says what is left. Fully covered, the request closes itself.
Step 1
Send the photo to the company receipts number. AI reads the shop, the date, the total and the items.
Step 2
One word. If the reading was unclear, this is where the bot asks — never guesses.
Step 3
A double-entry journal in the right month, with the photo attached and the journal number sent back.
What lands in the books
Not a list for someone to type up later. Each step posts double-entry to your own chart of accounts, in the month it belongs to.
| When this happens | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| An approved request is paid out | Staff advances | Cash, Mobile money or Bank — whichever was tapped |
| A receipt is logged against the advance | The expense account | Staff advances |
| A receipt is logged on its own | The expense account | Cash, Mobile money or Bank — whichever was replied |
| Change is handed back | Cash | Staff advances |
| An unaccounted balance is recovered through payroll | Salary advance, deducted on the next pay run | Staff advances |
The receipt's own date decides the month. If that month is already closed, the entry goes into the next open month as a late entry, so closed books stay closed.
Making it easy to ask for money is only safe if it is hard to abuse. The rules sit in the flow itself, so nobody has to remember them.
Two separate readings of every receipt have to agree on the total and the date. When they do not, the bot asks for exactly what is unclear, and nothing posts until it is answered.
Compared
| Voucher book and spreadsheet | MoneySense on WhatsApp | |
|---|---|---|
| Asking for money | Find the manager, fill a voucher | A text, from anywhere |
| Approval | A signature, if they are in the office | One tap, routed by amount |
| Who still holds money | Somebody's memory | Shown to approvers on every new request |
| The receipt | In a pocket, maybe | A photo, sent when it is paid |
| Into the accounts | Typed in at month end | Posted as a journal on one reply |
| Audit trail | A stapled envelope | Who, when, which channel — with the conversation and photos |
Questions
They text it in plain words to the company's O'Sense number -- for example "I need K40 for nails". AI reads the amount and what it is for, and asks for anything missing ("What is the K40 for?"). The employee sees who the request will go to and taps Send. Above a limit you set, it asks for a photo of the quote first.
The amount decides. In MoneySense settings you set bands of approvers -- for example their manager for small amounts, then a director above a figure -- and they approve in order. Each approver gets the request on WhatsApp with Approve, Reject and Ask for info buttons, and only a tap from the approver whose turn it is counts. Nobody can approve their own request.
No. O'Sense records the money; it does not move it. Once a request is approved, the person who pays taps Paid cash, Paid mobile money or Paid by bank after handing it over, and that books the advance to the right account. The money itself goes out the way it always has.
The employee photographs each receipt on WhatsApp and confirms which request it belongs to. Each receipt becomes an expense against the advance, and the bot tells them what is still to account for. When the receipts cover it, the request closes itself. Change handed back, or a balance recovered through payroll, is recorded by finance on the web.
Send the photo to your company's WhatsApp receipts number. AI reads the shop, the date, the total and the line items, then asks how it was paid -- reply CASH, MOBILE MONEY or BANK, or OK for your usual. That reply posts it, and the bot answers with the journal number.
Yes, as a proper double-entry journal: the expense account is debited and Cash, Mobile money or Bank is credited, in the month on the receipt. If that month is already closed, it goes into the next open month as a late entry rather than changing closed books. The photo stays attached to the expense as evidence.
It asks instead of guessing. Two separate readings of the receipt have to agree on the total and the date; if they do not, the bot asks for exactly what is unclear -- "I read it two ways -- 13000 or 180?" -- and nothing posts until it is answered. A wrong amount, date, shop or payment method can be corrected by reply.
Your own rules come first -- for example, anything from a fuel station goes to Fuel. Otherwise AI picks from your own chart of expense accounts, and only when it is confident; when it is not, the expense goes to General so nobody's guess ends up in the wrong account.
A photo that has been sent before is answered "already logged" and nothing is created. A different photo with the same shop and amount on the same day is held back unposted and the sender is asked about it.
Only people you have let in. For receipts, an admin creates an invite code and the staff member texts JOIN with the code once; unknown numbers are not accepted. Money requests come from employees matched to their staff record by phone number, once your company has switched requests on.
Not from WhatsApp. The receipt's total, shop, date and items are read; VAT is marked on the expense in the web dashboard, where an expense can be flagged as VAT-claimable with its amount.
WhatsApp receipts and money requests are part of MoneySense, which is priced per month as one app. The employee register is free with every plan. Message us on WhatsApp for current pricing; we set up your receipts number ourselves.
Known limits — not bugs. O'Sense records how money was paid; it does not send mobile money or bank transfers. Amounts are in Kwacha. VAT and TPIN are not read from WhatsApp receipts. A rejection reason can be given on the web, not from WhatsApp. There are no automatic reminders yet for an approval that is waiting or a receipt not sent.
Who it is for
Message us on WhatsApp and we will set up your receipts number, your approval bands and your first invite codes.