{"id":1659,"date":"2018-01-05T09:57:24","date_gmt":"2018-01-05T14:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sagestaging.wpengine.com\/en-us\/blog\/?post_type=sage_glossary&#038;p=1659"},"modified":"2026-02-16T06:22:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T11:22:02","slug":"what-is-expenses","status":"publish","type":"sage_glossary","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/glossary\/what-is-expenses\/","title":{"rendered":"What is an expense?"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header has-dark-background-color entry-header--has-illustration entry-header--has-illustration--generic\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__row row align-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col col-lg-7 col-xlg-6 entry-header__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component component-single-header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__misc text--subtitle text--uppercase text--small\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/glossary\/\" class=\"entry-header__link\">Glossary definition<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-title-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"entry-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat is an expense?\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"single-post-details container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"reading-time\"> min read<\/span>\n\t\t<button\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"social-share-button button button--icon button--secondary js-social-share-button\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-title=\"What is an expense?\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-url=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/glossary\/what-is-expenses\/\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-text=\"Please read this interesting article\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__share-label\">Share<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-label\" hidden>Copy Link<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\" hidden>Copied<\/span>\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-expense\">Expense<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">accounting<\/a>, an expense refers to any cost that contributes to a company\u2019s overall cost of doing business. That is, any costs incurred as a result of a company\u2019s attempted or successful revenue production. Expenses may include cash, cash equivalents, and depreciation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some common examples of expenses include:<br>\n\u2022 Employee wages<br>\n\u2022 Rent or property lease<br>\n\u2022 Utility bills<br>\n\u2022 Advertising<br>\n\u2022 Cost of goods sold<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every company faces unavoidable expenses, meaning costs that are necessary to maintain normal business operation. Investing in good <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/accounting-software\/time-and-expense-management\/\">expense management software<\/a> makes it easier for businesses to track and process employee expenses properly. A more general expense definition is any cost an individual or organization incurs within a specified period.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Subscribe to our Sage Advice Newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Get our latest business advice delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-ab515c6e-7e90-4c2f-a67e-113872516e8b\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"Working from home with tea in hand\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Expense In accounting, an expense refers to any cost that contributes to a company\u2019s overall cost of doing business. That is, any costs incurred as a result of a company\u2019s attempted or successful revenue production. Expenses may include cash, cash equivalents, and depreciation. Some common examples of expenses include: \u2022 Employee wages \u2022 Rent or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[110],"class_list":["post-1659","sage_glossary","type-sage_glossary","status-publish","hentry","tag-accounting-101"],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice US","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/sage_glossary\/1659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/sage_glossary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/sage_glossary"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/sage_glossary\/1659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}