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Importing Expenses

The Income and Expense Import tool allows bulk importing of expense and income data from CSV files. It is designed for cases where cost data originates outside Formbird FLEET — for example, toll statements from a toll provider, monthly insurance or registration renewals, or expense records exported from an accounting system.

For creating individual expense records manually, see Recording Expenses.

Supported Import Types

The following data types can be imported using this tool:

Type What it creates
Registration Registration renewal records against matched assets, including expiry dates.
Insurance Insurance renewal records against matched assets, including expiry dates.
Tolls Toll Detail records against matched assets, including trip information.
Additional Expenses Asset Expense (Other) records — miscellaneous costs with optional category assignment.
Additional Income Income records against matched assets, for use in financial reporting.

How the Import Works

  1. Navigate to the Income and Expense Import tool [VERIFY: confirm navigation path].
  2. Select the Type of data you are importing.
  3. Select or create a Mapping Document that matches the column format of your CSV file — see Mapping Documents below.
  4. Drag and drop your CSV file onto the import control, or use the file selector to choose the file.
  5. If your file has a header row, tick Ignore Header Line to exclude the first row from processing.
  6. Select Import.
  7. If any rows in the file do not match an asset in the application (by Asset ID or vehicle registration), a dialogue appears with the option to proceed without those rows or cancel.
  8. If the file appears to contain duplicate records, a dialogue appears with the option to proceed or cancel.
  9. A record is created for each successfully matched row in the file.

Mapping Documents

Mapping documents allow you to describe the column layout and data format of your CSV file so the import tool can process it correctly. Rather than reformatting your CSV file each time you run an import, you create a mapping document once and reuse it.

Multiple mapping documents can be maintained — for example, if you receive additional expense files from different suppliers in different formats, each supplier can have its own mapping document.

Creating and configuring a mapping document is done directly within the import tool. [VERIFY: confirm whether mapping document configuration is self-service or requires Formbird Support assistance for initial setup]

The key fields a mapping document configures include:

  • Which column contains the asset identifier (Asset ID or vehicle registration)
  • Which column contains the date, and the date format used
  • Which columns contain the amount, quantity, and other data fields
  • For Additional Expenses: which column contains the expense category

Expense Categorisation

When importing Additional Expenses, assigning a category to each record allows the expense to be reported in the appropriate column in financial reports such as the Asset Operating Cost Summary.

To use categories on import:

  1. Ensure your CSV file has a column containing the category value for each row.
  2. In the mapping document, map the Expense Category field to the column number that contains the category data.
  3. Ensure the column number in the mapping document matches the actual column in your CSV file.

Available categories: Tyre, Materials, Labour, Lease, Tolls, Registration, Insurance, Fuel.

Note: Using imported expense categories as a substitute source for cost types in the Asset Operating Cost Summary requires additional configuration. Contact Formbird Support to set this up for your environment.

For a full description of how each category appears in reporting, see Recording Expenses — Expense Categories.

Published: May 2026 · Formbird FLEET 4.2.8