At a glance
Categories that are intended only for accounts payable are not shown when users create expenses.
These categories remain available during accounts payable control by accountants.
This setting is only shown if accounts payable is activated for your company.
📌 Overview
Imagine your accounting team is controlling a monthly accounts payable invoice for office rent. To account for the invoice correctly, they need a suitable category such as “Rent”.
For employees submitting an expense, however, this category is usually not relevant. They typically select categories such as “Travel”, “Meals”, or “Office supplies”. If “Rent” appears in the same category list, it can quickly cause confusion — and in the worst case, an expense may accidentally be assigned to the wrong category.
Since accounts payable and expenses generally use the same category list, you can now define whether a category should be available in both areas or used only for accounts payable.
With the “Applies to” setting, you can define where a category should be available:
Setting | Where the category is shown |
“Accounts payable and expenses” | In expense creation and accounts payable control |
"Accounts payable only” | Only in accounts payable control — not in expense creation |
📝 Note
This setting applies in the web app as well as on mobile devices with iOS and Android. Categories that are used only for accounts payable are also not shown when creating expenses on mobile.
🛠️ How it works
Configure a category for accounts payable
Navigate to “Settings” → “Categories”.
Open an existing category or create a new category. You can find more information here.
Find the “Applies to” field.
Select one of the following options:
“Accounts payable and expenses”
“Accounts payable only”
Click “Create” if you are creating a new category, or “Save” if you are editing an existing category.
❗️Important
The “Applies to” field is only shown if accounts payable is activated for your company. If accounts payable is deactivated, you cannot edit this setting.
⚙️ Default settings
Existing categories keep their current usage and remain set to “Accounts payable and expenses”. Nothing is changed automatically.
New categories created in the user interface are set to “Accounts payable only” by default. This makes new categories initially available only for accounts payable control.
💡 Tip
If a new category should also be used for expenses, change the setting to “Accounts payable and expenses” before saving the category — or directly afterwards.
Example: Use the “Rent” category only for accounts payable
To set up a category that is only available for accounts payable:
Create the category “Rent”.
Leave the “Applies to” field set to “Accounts payable only”.
Save the category.
The result:
Employees create an expense: “Rent” is not shown in the category list.
Accountants open an accounts payable invoice for control: “Rent” is available.
If the category should also be used for expenses later, open the category again and change “Applies to” to “Accounts payable and expenses”. The category will then be shown again when users create expenses.
Limitation
You cannot set all categories to “Accounts payable only”. Circula ensures that at least one category remains available for expenses.
If you try to change the last category available for expenses to “Accounts payable only”, a warning is shown in the “Applies to” field and the change cannot be saved.
❓ FAQs
What happens when a category is changed between the two options?
Change | Result |
“Accounts payable and expenses” → “Accounts payable only” | The category is no longer shown when users create expenses. It remains available in accounts payable control. |
“Accounts payable only” → “Accounts payable and expenses” | The change applies immediately. No migration or additional waiting time is required. |
Can I use all categories exclusively for accounts payable?
No. At least one category must remain available for expenses. Circula prevents the last expense-enabled category from being set to “Accounts payable only”.
Can I still assign an expense policy to a category set to “Accounts payable only”?
Yes. The category may still be shown when setting up expense policies.
In practice, however, this does not affect submitted expenses, because categories set to “Accounts payable only” cannot be selected when users create expenses.
Does this setting also apply to mobile devices?
Yes. On iOS and Android, categories set to “Accounts payable only” are also not shown when users create expenses.
The category remains available for accounts payable control.
Do you still have questions?
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