Tracking Studio Expenses

The Expenses page lets you log studio operating costs - sheet music, rent, utilities, instrument maintenance, software, travel and more - so your Income Report can calculate net income accurately.

The Expenses Page

The page header reads Expenses with the subtitle "Track and manage your studio expenses" and two buttons: Export CSV and Add Expense.

Below the header, a row of category summary cards shows totals for the current filter - one card per category that has spending, plus a Total card. The cards refresh whenever you change a filter.

The filter bar lets you narrow the list by:

Category - choose a specific category or All Categories
Date Range - presets such as This Month, This Quarter, This Year, All Time, plus Custom Range, which reveals From and To date pickers

A Reset Filters button appears once you have changed a filter. The list defaults to the current year and shows 25 expenses per page.

Adding an Expense

Click Add Expense to open the form. Fill in:

Date - when the expense occurred
Category - Sheet Music, Instrument Maintenance, Rent, Utilities, Travel, Marketing, Supplies, Professional Development, Software, Insurance or Other
Amount ($) - must be greater than $0.00
Vendor - optional, e.g. the store or supplier name
Description - a short note on what the expense was for

Click Add Expense to save. The new entry joins the list and the category summary updates.

Attaching a Receipt

Each expense row has a Receipt column. For a row with no receipt, click Upload and choose an image or PDF (maximum 10 MB). Once uploaded, the column shows a View link that opens the receipt in a new tab.

Editing and Deleting

Each row has an Actions menu:

Edit opens the same form pre-filled with the expense details
Delete asks you to confirm before removing the expense

You can sort the list by clicking the Date or Amount column headers.

Exporting to CSV

Click Export CSV to download a spreadsheet of the currently filtered expenses. Use it for tax preparation, handing records to an accountant, or keeping a backup outside Trio.

How Expenses Feed Reports

Expenses are subtracted from your revenue on the Income Report to produce net income. They do not change the figures on the Revenue Dashboard, which tracks gross billing only.

Why Expenses Lives Under Studio Management

Expenses are an operations concern, not a billing one. Invoices flow from families to your studio; expenses flow from your studio to vendors. Both shape your bottom line, but they are tracked separately - which is why Expenses sits here rather than under Billing.

Reports - the Income Report uses these figures
Invoices - the other side of your books
Studio Settings - set your studio's date format