--- title: "Troubleshooting Auto Expenses That Didn't Generate" slug: "troubleshooting-auto-expenses-that-didnt-generate" description: "Learn how to troubleshoot missing auto expenses in Aspire, ensuring correct setup for subcontractor time and invoice types for seamless expense generation." updated: 2026-09-16T17:25:25Z published: 2026-09-16T17:25:25Z canonical: "guide.youraspire.com/troubleshooting-auto-expenses-that-didnt-generate" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://guide.youraspire.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Troubleshooting Auto Expenses That Didn't Generate ## Overview You set up an auto expense, your subcontractor did the work, and nothing arrived in the Purchasing Assistant. Several conditions have to line up before Aspire generates an auto expense, and this article walks through them in the order worth checking. ### Things to know - The most common cause by far is a **Flat Fee** auto expense on an opportunity service whose invoice type is **Fixed Payment**. That combination never generates. - Auto expenses generate from *subcontractor* time. In-house crew time on the same ticket won't produce one. - Aspire matches reported time to an auto expense through the **company** the reporting contact belongs to. A contact that isn't associated with the right company breaks the match. ## Requirements - Access to the Opportunities, Work Tickets, Contacts, and Purchasing modules. Some fixes also require permission to edit opportunities and estimate items. - The **Trigger Auto Expense Creation** permission, to generate expenses. - Access to Administration, if a fix involves changing a catalog item or a catalog service. ## Steps Work through these checks in order. The first rules out an expense that generated but is hidden, and the second rules out an auto expense that was never created. The rest are ordered by how often they turn out to be the cause. ### 1. Confirm the expense is really missing Before changing anything, widen your filters in the Purchasing Assistant. A narrow **Scheduled Start Date** range hides expenses that generated correctly. 1. Clear the **Scheduled Start Date** filter, or widen it well past the event. 2. Search for the subcontractor's company name in **Item Name** rather than looking at the **Vendor** column. The vendor name doesn't populate for auto expenses. ### 2. Confirm the opportunity service accepts an auto expense If **Add Subcontractor Expenses** wasn't available when you set the work up, no auto expense exists to generate. For a **Fixed Payment** service the cause is usually **Multi-Visit**, and that setting lives on the catalog service rather than on the estimate. 1. Open the estimate and select the opportunity service to open the **Service Details** screen. 2. Select the three-dot icon next to **Save**. If the invoice type is **Fixed Payment** and **Add Subcontractor Expenses** isn't there, the catalog service behind it isn't marked **Multi-Visit**. 3. Go to **Administration** > **Estimating** > **Service Catalog** and open the service. 4. Turn on **Multi-Visit**, then select **Save**. 5. Return to the estimate and add the auto expense. > [!TIP] > **Tip:** Mark snow services **Multi-Visit** in the service catalog before you start estimating. Doing it up front avoids this problem entirely. ### 3. Check the fee type against the invoice type Of the causes that stop an existing auto expense from generating, this is the most common. A **Fixed Payment** opportunity service uses one work ticket for the entire season, and that ticket never reaches a completed state. A **Flat Fee** expense is designed to generate once per completed ticket, so it has nothing to generate against. It will never generate, no matter how many times you trigger it. 1. Open the opportunity, then the estimate, and drill into the opportunity service to open the **Service Details** screen. 2. Check the **Invoice Type** on that screen and the auto expense fee type. 3. If the invoice type is **Fixed Payment** and the fee type is **Flat Fee**, change the fee type to **Hourly**, or to **Catalog Item** if you're paying by material or equipment. 4. Trigger the expenses again. > [!WARNING] > **Important:** An opportunity service whose invoice type is **Fixed Payment** requires an **Hourly** or **Catalog Item** fee type. To pay a set amount rather than accrued hours, keep the fee type **Hourly** and adjust the quantity on the line in the Purchasing Assistant before you create the purchase receipt. > [!NOTE] > **Note:** The invoice type lives on the *opportunity service*, not on the catalog service. It defaults from the opportunity, and you can change it for one service without changing the opportunity's. So check it on the **Service Details** screen for the specific service, not on the opportunity. ### 4. Check whether Fixed Payment expenses were triggered at all T&M and Per Service expenses generate on their own. Fixed Payment expenses don't. 1. Go to the **Work Tickets** module and filter to your Fixed Payment tickets. 2. Select the tickets, then select **Bulk Actions**, then **Trigger Auto Expense Creation**. 3. Check the date in the **Trigger Auto Expense Creation** window. It's the date expenses generate *up through*. If it's set earlier than the work you're expecting, nothing after it generates. ### 5. Check who reported the time An auto expense generates only when the subcontractor reports the time. If an in-house crew covered the visit, no expense generates even though the auto expense is set up correctly on the opportunity service. 1. Open the work ticket and review the time entries. 2. Confirm the time was reported by a contact belonging to the subcontractor's company, the same company named on the auto expense. 3. Confirm the visit was on the Schedule Board. 4. Confirm the time has been accepted. 5. Confirm the ticket has reached **Pending Approval** or **Complete**. For T&M and Per Service work, this is required before the expense generates. ### 6. Check the subcontractor's contact and company setup Aspire connects reported time to an auto expense through the company, so the contact record has to point at the right one. 1. Go to the **Contacts** module and open the subcontractor's contact. 2. Confirm the contact type is **Sub**. 3. Confirm the contact is associated with the subcontractor's company. 4. Confirm that company is the one named on the auto expense. > [!NOTE] > **Note:** The company list on the auto expense is built from companies whose associated contacts have a contact type of **Sub**, not from the vendor list in Administration. If a subcontractor's company isn't available when you set up an auto expense, the contact type or the company association is usually why. ### 7. Check the catalog item settings Work through this check when your auto expense uses the **Catalog Item** fee type. Two separate settings matter, and they control different things. **What you can select on the auto expense.** Aspire makes only Material, Equipment, Sub, and Other items available when you choose a catalog item for an auto expense. Labor and Kit items can't be used. **What your subcontractor can allocate in the field.** An item has to be flagged **Allocate from Mobile** before it can be allocated to a work ticket. Without an allocation, there's nothing for the auto expense to price. 1. Go to **Administration** > **Estimating** > **Item Catalog** and open the item named on the auto expense. 2. Confirm the item is flagged **Allocate from Mobile**. 3. Select **Save**. > [!NOTE] > **Note:** The **Allocate from Mobile** checkbox is only available on equipment and material catalog items. A Sub or Other item can be named on an auto expense, but it can't be allocated from the field, so it has to be applied another way. ## What happens next After you correct the cause, generate the expenses again: automatically by accepting time and moving the ticket forward, or manually with the **Trigger Auto Expense Creation** bulk action. For more information on paying the expenses once they generate, visit [*Paying Subcontractors from Auto Expenses*](/user-guide/docs/paying-subcontractors-from-auto-expenses). ## Frequently asked questions **Will triggering again create duplicate expenses?** No. Aspire skips visits that already have a generated expense and picks up only new ones. If a subcontractor says they weren't paid for a day they worked, add the time to their route and trigger again with a date that covers the missing day. **Why don't I see any Fixed Payment expenses in the Purchasing Assistant?** Fixed Payment expenses never arrive automatically. They have to be triggered. **An expense generated with far more hours than one visit. Is that wrong?** No. Fixed Payment work accumulates on one seasonal ticket, so hours build up across every visit. Adjust the quantity before creating the purchase receipt if you're paying a different amount. ## Related articles - For more information on how auto expenses work from setup through payment, visit [*Subcontractor Auto Expenses Overview*](/user-guide/docs/subcontractor-auto-expenses-overview). - For more information on paying subcontractors once expenses have generated, visit [*Paying Subcontractors from Auto Expenses*](/user-guide/docs/paying-subcontractors-from-auto-expenses). - For more information on setting up auto expenses, visit [Sub Auto Expenses](https://guide.youraspire.com/docs/sub-auto-expenses). - For more information on subcontractor contact and route setup, visit [Snow Subcontractor Setup](https://guide.youraspire.com/docs/snow-subcontractor-setup).