What are G&A expenses? How to track and categorize G&A expenses
Managing the day-to-day costs of keeping your doors open sounds simple enough until you start tracking them. One moment, you're buying office supplies and paying utilities and the next, you're three months behind on categorizing receipts and wondering where your admin budget actually went.
General and administrative expenses (G&A) pile up fast when tracking systems aren't in place, which is why building smart expense habits early makes all the difference. Clear categorization, automated tools, and consistent policies help you understand exactly where your overhead dollars go, and where you can make smarter spending decisions.
Key takeaways
- G&A expenses include the everyday operational costs that keep your business running but don't directly generate revenue.
- Mapping clean categories for rent, software, admin payroll, and insurance improves visibility and budgeting.
- 69% of small businesses spend more per employee on administrative requirements than larger companies, making G&A management essential.
- 84% of finance leaders link strong spend visibility to better business performance, highlighting the need for accurate G&A tracking.
- Expensify automates receipt capture, categorization, and policy enforcement so G&A spending stays organized in realtime.
What does G&A mean in business?
So what is G&A in business, exactly? G&A stands for general and administrative expenses, or the costs required to run your business that aren't tied to making or selling products. Understanding G&A’s meaning helps you separate overhead from revenue-generating activities.
These are your foundational operating expenses: the rent on your office space, salaries for your HR and finance teams, accounting software subscriptions, insurance premiums, and legal fees. They keep the lights on and the operations moving, but they don't directly generate revenue.
Unlike cost of goods sold (COGS) or sales and marketing expenses, G&A expenses fall under operating expenses (OpEx) and support the entire organization rather than specific revenue-generating activities.
Think of G&A as the infrastructure costs that every department depends on, from the Wi-Fi that connects everyone to the payroll system that ensures people get paid.
Common G&A examples include:
Office rent and utilities
Administrative salaries (HR, finance, executive support)
Software tools for accounting, productivity, and HR
Professional services like lawyers and accountants
Insurance and corporate filing fees
Common examples of G&A expenses
Understanding what qualifies as administrative costs helps you categorize spending accurately and spot opportunities to optimize overhead. Here's what typically falls under the G&A umbrella.
Administrative payroll and benefits
This covers employees who keep operations running smoothly but don't directly generate sales or produce products.
That includes HR teams processing new hires, finance staff managing accounts payable, executive assistants coordinating schedules, and operations managers overseeing workflows. Benefits, health insurance, and retirement contributions for these roles also count as G&A.
What doesn't count here: sales teams, customer service representatives, and production workers. Their costs belong in different expense categories tied to revenue or manufacturing.
Office operations and overhead
Every physical workspace comes with baseline costs. Office rent, property taxes, utilities (electricity, water, gas), cleaning services, internet and phone systems, office supplies, and security services all fall under G&A. Even if your team works remotely, you're still paying for virtual office tools, coworking memberships, or home office stipends.
These expenses are predictable and recurring, which makes them ideal candidates for automated tracking and budgeting.
Professional services
Most businesses need expert guidance that goes beyond internal capabilities. Legal counsel for contract reviews, accountants handling tax filings and audits, HR consultants supporting compliance, and IT consultants managing infrastructure all qualify as G&A.
These services keep you compliant, legally protected, and operationally sound, even if they're not directly tied to revenue.
Outsourced services like payroll processing, bookkeeping, and benefits administration also fit here.
Software and subscriptions
Administrative software keeps teams productive and compliant. These general expense items include accounting platforms, HR management systems, collaboration tools (Slack, Zoom, Google Workspace), project management software, and CRM systems used for internal coordination.
Subscription-based tools add up quickly, so keeping track of renewals and eliminating unused licenses can reduce bloat.
Insurance and corporate fees
General liability insurance, workers' compensation coverage, directors and officers (D&O) insurance, and business licenses all fall under G&A. These costs protect your business from risk and keep you compliant with state and federal requirements. Annual filing fees, trademark registrations, and regulatory compliance costs also belong here.
Why this matters for small businesses:
According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index (2024), 69% of small businesses spend more per employee on administrative requirements than larger firms. That makes understanding and controlling G&A spending critical, especially when every dollar counts toward growth and profitability.
What's not included in G&A
Knowing what doesn't qualify as G&A expense keeps your financial reporting clean and accurate. Here's what stays out:
Cost of goods sold (COGS): Raw materials, manufacturing labor, inventory storage, and production overhead don't belong in G&A. These costs tie directly to creating products.
Sales and marketing expenses: Advertising campaigns, sales commissions, trade shows, marketing software, and customer acquisition costs are separate operating expenses.
Research and development (R&D): Product development, engineering salaries, prototyping, and innovation projects fall outside the G&A bucket.
Manufacturing and fulfillment: Warehouse operations, shipping costs, and production equipment belong to their own categories.
Customer support tied to products: If customer service is directly related to product support or service delivery, it's not G&A; it's a customer operations expense.
Understanding SG&A vs G&A
You'll often see "SG&A" (selling, general, and administrative expenses) in financial statements. So what does SG&A stand for? It combines both sales and marketing expenses with G&A costs.
An SG&A expense includes everything from advertising campaigns to office rent, while G&A is just the administrative overhead portion – no sales or marketing included. When reporting or analyzing budgets, keep these distinctions clear so you're comparing the right numbers.
How to categorize G&A expenses in your chart of accounts
Clean categorization starts with a well-structured chart of accounts. When G&A expenses are organized properly, reporting becomes faster, budgets stay accurate, and financial decisions get easier.
Create clear, simple categories
Avoid vague labels like "miscellaneous" or "other." Instead, create specific categories that reflect how your business actually spends:
Admin payroll: Salaries and benefits for HR, finance, and executive support teams
Office operations: Rent, utilities, cleaning, supplies, phone systems
Insurance: General liability, workers' comp, D&O coverage
Professional services: Legal, accounting, consulting, tax preparation
Software: Accounting tools, HR platforms, productivity apps
Utilities: Electricity, water, gas, internet
The simpler and more consistent your category names, the easier it is for everyone on your team to code expenses correctly.
Add cost centers for better reporting
Cost centers help you track G&A spending by department, location, or initiative. For example:
HQ vs remote offices: Separate categories for main headquarters and satellite locations
Departments: HR, finance, operations, executive
Programs or initiatives: Special projects, compliance programs, internal events
Cost center tags make it easy to see where overhead is concentrated and where optimization opportunities exist.
Standardize naming conventions
Consistency matters. If one person codes something as "Legal Fees" and another codes it as "Legal Services" or "Attorney Costs," your reports become messy and unreliable. Set clear naming rules across your accounting software, expense management platform, and approval workflows.
Pro tip: Keep labels in plain language so non-finance team members understand them. "Office rent" beats "Facilities lease expense" every time.
How to track G&A expenses
Tracking G&A expenses accurately requires more than just collecting receipts. You need clear policies, approval workflows, and tools that keep spending visible in realtime.
Use clear policies and approval workflows
Define what qualifies as a reimbursable G&A expense and set spending limits by category or role. For example:
Office supplies under $100 may not need approval
Software subscriptions over $500 require manager sign-off
Professional services always need executive approval
Clear policies reduce confusion, prevent overspending, and make audits smoother. Automated approval workflows in expense management software help enforce these rules without bottlenecks.
Require receipts for all admin purchases
Every G&A expense should have a receipt, no exceptions. Receipts protect you during audits, prevent miscoding, and close visibility gaps. Without them, you're left guessing where money went and whether expenses were legitimate.
Digital receipt scanning tools make this easy. Employees snap photos of receipts with their phones, and the system automatically extracts key details like vendor, date, and amount.
Use company cards with built-in controls
Corporate cards with spending controls help you manage G&A expenses before they happen. Set category restrictions (e.g., only office supplies), merchant rules (e.g., approved vendors only), and spending limits per employee or department. If someone tries to make an out-of-policy purchase, the card declines it or flags it for review.
Realtime pausing and locking features give you additional control if a card is lost or if spending patterns look unusual.
Why strong G&A tracking matters:
According to PR Newswire (2023), 84% of finance leaders say spend visibility is critical to business performance, and 78% link it to revenue impact. That means tracking your overhead accurately doesn't just help you stay organized; it directly affects growth and profitability.
How to generate useful G&A reports
Good reporting turns raw expense data into actionable insights. Here's how to get the most value from your G&A tracking.
Track budget vs actuals monthly
Compare planned G&A spending to actual costs every month. This helps you identify unexpected spikes, monitor trends, and adjust forecasts before small issues become big problems.
Look for patterns: Are office supply costs creeping up? Did insurance premiums increase? Are software renewals hitting all at once?
Automated reporting tools can generate these comparisons instantly, saving hours of manual work.
Use alerts and anomaly detection
Set up automatic alerts when spending exceeds thresholds or when unusual patterns emerge. Anomaly detection can catch:
Duplicate subscriptions for the same software
Unusually high utility bills
Vendors charging more than expected
Expenses coded to the wrong category
Catching these issues early prevents budget overruns and helps you negotiate better terms with vendors.
Automate recurring G&A items
Many G&A expenses repeat monthly or annually, such as: software renewals, utilities, insurance premiums, professional retainer fees. Automating these recurring items reduces manual entry, eliminates missed payments, and makes forecasting more accurate.
Recurring expense management tools track these automatically and flag changes in amounts or timing.
The role of automation in G&A tracking:
AI use in finance is expected to double by 2026, improving insights and automation in areas like G&A reporting. Smart tools are shifting from manual data entry to intelligent analysis, helping finance teams spot trends, optimize spending, and make faster decisions.
How Expensify helps track and manage G&A expenses
Managing G&A spending shouldn't require hours of manual categorization and spreadsheet wrangling. Expensify streamlines the entire process from receipt capture to reporting, so you stay on top of overhead costs without the administrative headache.
Here's how Expensify makes G&A tracking faster and smarter:
Realtime reporting: See exactly where your G&A dollars go as expenses happen – no delays, no waiting for month-end.
SmartScan receipt capture: Employees snap photos of receipts, and Expensify automatically extracts vendor, date, and amount. No more lost receipts or manual data entry.
Auto-categorization tied to your chart of accounts: Expenses get coded correctly the first time, based on your custom categories and rules.
Employee cards with category limits: Issue corporate cards that enforce spending rules by category, vendor, or department so policy violations get caught before they happen.
Department tags and cost center tags: Track G&A spending by location, team, or initiative for better visibility and reporting.
Automated approvals and policies: Define spending rules, approval workflows, and limits, then let the system enforce them automatically.
Unified platform for reimbursements, bills, and corporate cards: Manage every type of expense in one place, from employee reimbursements to vendor invoices to corporate card transactions.
Expensify keeps G&A spend clean, categorized, and compliant so you can focus on running your business instead of chasing receipts. Give it a try today.
FAQs about G&A expenses
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G&A stands for general and administrative expenses. What are general and administrative expenses? They are the operational costs required to keep your business running but not directly tied to producing or selling products.
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General and administrative expenses examples include:
Administrative payroll and benefits
Office rent, utilities, and supplies
Professional services (legal, accounting, consulting)
Software and productivity tools
Insurance and corporate filing fees
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Only administrative payroll counts as G&A, which includes HR, finance, executive support, and operations staff. Sales teams, customer service, and production workers belong in different expense categories tied to revenue or manufacturing.
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G&A doesn't include cost of goods sold (COGS), sales and marketing expenses, research and development (R&D), manufacturing costs, or customer support directly tied to products. These categories have their own line items in your operating expenses.
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SG&A (selling, general, and administrative) combines sales and marketing expenses with G&A costs. G&A is just the administrative overhead portion without sales or marketing included. SG&A is a broader category often reported on financial statements.
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Create specific categories in your chart of accounts for admin payroll, office operations, insurance, professional services, software, and utilities. Use cost centers to track spending by department or location. Standardize naming conventions so everyone codes expenses the same way.
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Yes, most G&A expenses are tax deductible as ordinary and necessary business expenses. That includes rent, utilities, salaries, professional services, software, and insurance. Consult with a tax professional to ensure proper documentation and compliance.
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Review G&A expenses monthly to track budget vs actuals, spot spending trends, and catch anomalies early. Quarterly reviews help identify optimization opportunities, and annual reviews inform budgeting for the next fiscal year.
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Small businesses can reduce G&A by:
Negotiating better rates on rent, insurance, and software
Eliminating unused subscriptions and duplicate services
Automating workflows to reduce admin labor
Using shared services or outsourcing non-core functions
Tracking spending in realtime to catch waste early
Track, categorize, and control G&A expenses with Expensify
G&A spending is unavoidable, but managing it doesn't have to be complicated. Expensify helps you categorize purchases, enforce policies, automate approvals, and keep every receipt in one place so your budget stays accurate and your admin work stays light.
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