Managing business travel expenses

Do you often find yourself saying “my system works for me”, while in reality, you’re drowning in Excel sheets and tears? Well then, to quote every millennial, there’s an app for that!

It’s increasingly important to keep your finances in check by recording, budgeting, and tracking spending habits accurately. But this process is often a waste of time and resources, not to mention frustrating back-and-forths.

Expense tracking and management apps are your pocket-sized personal accountants. They’re virtual employees designed to monitor your company’s business expenses, travel costs, billable time, and even mileage allowance.

Before we delve into our top candidates’ specific strengths, we´ll discuss the common features of expense tracking and management apps and what they do.

What’s an expense tracker app?

Keeping thorough records of your company’s expenditures can mean the difference between profit and loss. Expense tracking apps automate this process, leaving little room for human error or fraud by archiving manual data entry. These are now an integral part of most expense management processes in the corporate travel management world. Just as doctors’ tools assess your physical health, these tools digitally monitor your organization’s financial health.

Their main purpose is to save money and time, and streamline processes. They act as channels through which you can manage current and recurring budgets, and virtually upload and organize receipts – all on the go!

Customized approval flows and spending policies let you track and approve business travel management expenses quickly. These apps also automate expense processes such as currency conversion, mileage tracking, and employee reimbursement.

What was once a painstaking task best left for the end of the month can now be completed in real-time with minimal effort for business travelers, finance teams, and travel managers. To help find the right fit for your company travel program, we’ve assembled the top-tier applications for your review.

What are the best expense tracker apps overview:

Expensify

Expensify’s automated features and user-friendly interface make it the winner for start-ups, SMBs, and large-scale businesses.

Popular features:

Expense reporting

Corporate card product

Live travel schedule updates

Mileage tracker

SmartScan receipt upload/storage

Credit card importing

Auditor access

Automatic approval flows

Same-day reimbursement

Multi-currency support

Free training webinars

IOS/Android compatibility

Available in Canada (in English only)

TravelPerk's integration with Expensify

Zoho Expense

Zoho Expense’s streamlined approval process makes it the runner-up for SMBs and large-scale businesses.

Popular features:

Simplified approval hierarchy

Expense recording

Mileage tracker

SmartScan receipt upload

Multi-currency support

Credit card importing

Employee reimbursement

Integration with Zoho CRM/ Zoho Invoice

IOS/Android compatible

Available in Canada in both English and French.

Rydoo Expense

Rydoo Expense’s smooth integration process with other expense managing services is tailored to medium and large-scale companies

Popular features:

Integration with Enterprise Resource Planning packages

Approval processes

Mileage tracker

Multi-currency support

Digital receipt/invoice upload

Reimbursement management

Supports external services, ie. DropBox

Credit card statement analysis

IOS/Android compatibility

Available in Canada in both English and French

Xero Expense

Xero Expense’s modern and cloud-based software is specific to small businesses and employees.

Popular features:

Payroll processors

Automated tax adjustment

Financial reporting

Digitized billing

Multi-currency support

Expense reporting

IOS/Android compatibility

Available in Canada (in English only)

Webexpenses

Webexpenses builds claims instantly from a scanned receipt and is suitable for businesses of all sizes across more than 70 countries.

Popular features:

Google Vision-powered optical character recognition (OCR) technology

Expense policy compliance management

Drag-and-drop real-time reporting

Digital receipt capture

Petty cash management

Corporate card management

Currency converter

Custom spend categories

Duplicate claim checker

Intelligent card matching

Mileage tracking and verification

ERP integrations

IOS/Android mobile apps

Available in Canada (in English only)

Expensya

Expensya is an expense tracking software used by all types of businesses––from freelancers, mid-market businesses, and large corporations.

Popular features:

Digital receipt management

Optical character recognition (OCR) technology

Automated expense validation

Duplicate claim detection

Multilingual and multi-currency management

Real-time centralization of data

Digital receipt capture

Mileage allowance management

Integrations with HR, payroll, accounting, and travel solutions

Virtual individual credit cards

Available in Canada (in English only)

Click here to see how you can integrate Expensya with TravelPerk

Fyle

Fyle’s easy-to-use solution is best suited for companies with over 100 employees and under 5,000 employees.

Popular features:

Automated credit card reconciliation

Real-time expense analytics

Mileage tracker

Digital receipt management

Automated reminders

Expense approval workflow

Centralized dashboard

Automated expense and compliance approval

Fraud detection

Multiple tax groups

Mileage and per diem rates

Available in Canada (in English only)

Click here to see how you can integrate Fyle with TravelPerk

Shoeboxed

As well as many other business travel expense features, Shoeboxed’s “Magic Envelope” feature allows organizations to mail their business travel expense receipts to them in a prepaid envelope to be digitized.

Popular features:

Digital receipt capture

IRS-accepted receipt images

Optical character recognition (OCR) and human data verification

Automatic archiving of receipts from Gmail

Receipt and mileage tracker

Employee expense reporting

PDF report generation

Available in Canada in French and English

TripLog

TripLog is a mileage, time, and business travel expense management solution that’s suitable for self-employed individuals, mid-sized businesses, and enterprises.

Popular features:

Centralized web dashboard

Real-time location monitoring

Travel policy application

Digital receipt capture

Bank and credit card integration

Classification of business/personal trips

Established “Frequent Trip Rules”

Tax-compliant mileage reports

Available in Canada (in English only)

What’s the best free expense tracker?

If we’re talking about a great expense tracker that won’t cost you a dime, then Divvy is what’s on everyone’s lips. With Divvy’s smart physical and virtual business cards, you can divvy up the expense budget, manage expenses in real-time and employees can categorize their transactions with a few taps.

Each spender has their own card, and you can control each card’s balance in seconds—either top it up, or cut it off.

Every time a Divvy card is swiped, the transaction is visible to the spender, the budget owner, and the company admin—immediately. Did someone just buy a Super Soaker for the summer office party? Clearly, a legitimate business expense.

What’s the best expense tracker software for admins?

Rydoo offers full visibility on spending patterns and expense behaviour. You can set up budget limits and monitor employee spending by approving expenses as they occur. This app lets you receive digital receipts and invoices automatically and arrange for mileage allowance payments. Reject or approve expense reports in bulk with a swipe of the finger.

Rydoo’s built-in transparency means the company’s financial well-being is a collective responsibility. When everyone shares information and liability, they stay engaged and committed through a mutual sense of success.

There are more comprehensive alternatives such as Quickbooks, which are all-encompassing accounting and administrative software. However, if you are looking for just an expense solution, then Zoho remains a good choice.

What’s the best expense tracker for the employee?

Whether you need to claim expenses for a business trip or lunch, your company will be chasing you for those pesky little papers.

Rather than digging through every pocket for last month’s crumpled receipts, Ramp lets you reach into your pocket, pull out your phone, snap a picture of the receipt, and watch as the expense report writes itself. It’s automated receipt-matching at its best, and feels like magic. This app is quick, simple, and designed to be used on the move. You can request reimbursement for travel and have it approved that day. Easily book and pay for travel without hassle, and feel confident about reporting your expenses. Then, see a dramatic decrease in the friendly-reminder emails that accounting sends you.

How can an expense tracker app detect expense fraud?

In a 2019 Robert Half Management Resources survey of 300 Canadian CFOs, 58 per cent reported an increase in the number of inappropriate reimbursement submissions over the last three years. Expense tracking apps’ automated features combat intentional fraud, such as falsified or inflated expense claims, and fraud that occurs due to oversight.

Expense fraud costs companies money, with reported losses of as much as 5 per cent of annual sales, as well as having an adverse impact on their reputations. Digitalizing expense reporting massively lowers the risk of doctored numbers as receipts and invoices act as SmartScans of the primary documents.

As your business continues its digital evolution, why not profit from the possibilities afforded by new technologies? Let the apps focus on the paperwork so you can focus on the work-work. Consult our guide on identifying and preventing expense fraud for more information.

Make business travel simpler. Forever.

See our platform in action. Trusted by thousands of companies worldwide, TravelPerk makes business travel simpler to manage with more flexibility, full control of spending with easy reporting, and options to offset your carbon footprint.

Find hundreds of resources on all things business travel, from tips on traveling more sustainably, to advice on setting up a business travel policy, and managing your expenses. Our latest e-books and blog posts have you covered.

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Managing business travel expenses

Best business travel expense tracker apps in 2022

What’s an expense tracker app?

What are the best expense tracker apps overview:

Expensify

Zoho Expense

Rydoo Expense

Available in Canada in both English and French

Xero Expense

Webexpenses

Expensya

Fyle

Shoeboxed

TripLog

What’s the best free expense tracker?

What’s the best expense tracker software for admins?

What’s the best expense tracker for the employee?

Make business travel simpler. Forever.

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