Review and approve employee expenses with forms, OpenAI and Google Workspace

How it works

This workflow automates employee expense reimbursements from submission to final resolution. Expenses are captured via a form, reviewed by an AI agent for justification, and routed to managers for approval or clarification. Approved expenses notify employees instantly, while rejected or unclear cases automatically schedule a follow-up discussion. All actions are logged to keep finance records clean and auditable.

Step-by-step

• Step 1: Capture, summarize, and request approval

  • On Expense Form Submission – Captures structured expense details submitted by employees.
  • Append row in sheet – Stores each expense entry in Google Sheets for tracking.
  • AI Agent – Reviews the expense description and validates whether the full amount is justified.
    • OpenAI Chat Model – Powers the AI reasoning used to analyze the expense.
    • Output Parser – Converts the AI response into a structured decision format.
  • If – Routes the flow based on whether the expense is appropriate or not.

• Step 2: Manager reviews and responds

  • Send Email to Manager for Approval – Sends an approval email when the expense is justified.
  • Send Email to Manager for Approval1 – Sends a clarification-required email when justification is unclear.
  • If1 – Checks the manager’s approve or reject response from the email.

• Step 3: Notify employee or schedule discussion

  • Send a message – Notifies the employee when the expense is approved.
  • Booking Agent – Automatically finds the next available business-day time slot if the expense is rejected.
    • OpenAI – Interprets availability rules and slot selection logic.
    • Get Events – Fetches existing calendar events for the selected day.
    • Check Availability – Identifies free time slots within working hours.
    • Output Parser1 – Structures the selected meeting time.
  • Send a message2 – Emails the employee with discussion details when clarification is required.

Why use this?

• Enforce consistent expense validation before manager review.
• Reduce manual back-and-forth between employees, managers, and finance.
• Keep a centralized, auditable record of all expense submissions.
• Speed up reimbursements with automated approvals and notifications.
• Handle rejected expenses professionally with automatic discussion scheduling.