4 Min Read | December 12, 2023

How to use the Expenses tab in 

American Express Business BlueprintTM

The Expenses tab, located under “Insights” on the top left side of the Business Blueprint dashboard, shows business expenses across your select American Express products and linked external bank and card accounts. This way, it’s easy to track your spend, spot trends, and strategically plan payments for your next business expense.

 

On the Expenses tab you’ll find three unique views to help you understand your business expenses:

 

  • Stacked Bar Graph. This shows your total expenses from your Amex and external business checking and card accounts in one chart

  • Summarized Account Expenses. View your expense totals grouped by business checking and card as well as individual accounts.

  • Expenses by Category. Highlights your top five expense areas and categorizes all of your expenses.

This guide explains how you can use Business Blueprint to view and interpret your expenses.

Magnifying glass iconView expenses using the Expenses tab

After logging into your Business Blueprint dashboard, click “Insights” on the top left side of the page. Then select the “Expenses” tab from the navigation bar below.

 

Your expense data for the past 12 months will be displayed by month as stacked bar charts. The light blue portion of the bar represents expenses paid through your linked business checking account(s) and the darker blue shows spending via linked business credit card(s).

 

By hovering over any of the monthly bar charts, a tooltip box will appear showing the numerical breakdown of your expenses for that month. To view information for a different month, hover your cursor over the bar.

View expenses in your Business Blueprint Dashboard

For illustrative purposes only

Magnifying glass iconChange expense data views

By default, your expense data is displayed by month, with the past 12 months visible. Alternatively, you can choose a yearly view of your data from the first drop-down box above the graph.

 

You can also adjust for different increments by selecting options from the second drop-down box, allowing you to view the past 12 months, and previous calendar years.

 

To view details for a different period, simply hover your cursor over the bar.

View expenses yearly view in Business Blueprint dashboard

For illustrative purposes only

View expenses past years in Business Blueprint dashboard

For illustrative purposes only

Magnifying glass iconView expenses by individual account 

Beneath the chart section you will see the “Expenses by account” section. Here you can view expense data across all your linked accounts. The filtering options on the page will impact the expense data in this section.

 

Accounts are grouped into two buckets: Business Checking and Business Card. Within each bucket you will see a list of the linked accounts, as well as their contribution to your total expenses for the selected period.

View expenses by account in Business Blueprint dashboard

For illustrative purposes only

To view account expense data for a different period, simply click on the corresponding bar in the chart above and the information will update. 

Pro Tip: Tracking your spending by account types lets you view and adjust your spending on each to maximize your benefits. Not sure how to get started? Here's a starter guide that helps explain the benefits of using a business debit card or a business credit card in different situations.

Magnifying glass iconView expenses by category

Beneath the “Expenses by Account” section is “Expenses by category,” highlighting the top five categories of your expenses, such as travel, sales, and entertainment. The filtering options on the page will also affect the data in this section.

 

This allows you to identify the biggest cost drivers for your business over a selected period of time. You can expand the list to view all categories by clicking “Show all categories” at the bottom of the list.

 

For additional details, simply click on any of the categories and you’ll be taken to the Transactions tab where you can see an itemized breakdown of these expenses.

View expenses by category in Business Blueprint dashboard

For illustrative purposes only

Pro Tip: You can change the category of an expense in the “Transactions” tab.
Read this article to learn how.
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American Express® Business Line of Credit, and American Express® Payment Accept are trademarks of American Express.

 

With American Express Business Blueprint™, customers can view their select business products that automatically appear on their dashboard at login. These products include American Express® Business Line of Credit, American Express® Business Checking, American Express® Payment Accept, and American Express® Business Credit Cards. Customers may also view the eligible external business bank and card accounts they choose to link to Business Blueprint.

 

Data insights provided through American Express Business Blueprint™ are based on customers' select business products, which include American Express® Business Line of Credit, American Express® Business Checking, American Express® Payment Accept, American Express® Business Credit Cards, and the eligible external business bank and card accounts that customers choose to link to Business Blueprint.

 

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