What’s the best software to help you track your expenses? Microsoft Excel? Google Spreadsheets? I’ve tried both, but what you would probably be surprised to know is that the best software for tracking your spending is actually Quicken, although Expensify offers a lot of great features too.
Some people find it helpful to keep track of their expenses and analyze them month-to-month. This way you can tell what you’re spending the most on and adjust your budget as needed. Here are the best software programs for tracking your expenses.
QuickBooks
Best affordable expense accounting
TODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Mobile support+Won’t damage your wallet
REASONS TO AVOID
-Core accounting focus-Lots to learn
QuickBooks is one of the most popular and effective accounting applications for businesses of all sizes. Available on a variety of platforms, the app aims to keep all aspects of your accounting process running smoothly. There’s a big emphasis on expense tracking here.
There are real-time dashboards so you can keep up-to-date with all your financial transactions as they happen, and you can download bank account data automatically. That way, you won’t have to waste time typing information into spreadsheets.
You can also track invoices to ensure you get paid on time and chase them up when a client’s payment is overdue. The app even provides sales tax tracking compliant with tax standards, and you can capture all your receipts on your mobile device. Perhaps best of all for smaller firms, this is one solution that won’t break the bank.
And it’s getting better all the time. You can also get QuickBooks Self-Employed, QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA) and QuickBooks Assistant.
Expensify
Best automated app for tracking expenses
TODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Automated features+Smart reporting and integrations+Free individual plan
REASONS TO AVOID
-Some may prefer manual tracking-Auto reimbursement functionality-Receipt scanning
Expensify is an automated business app that aims to manage your expenses in real-time. The app wants to cut out all the hassle in accounting and ensure your books are kept up-to-date, letting you worry about other things.
Through the app, you can scan your receipts and log your outgoings. It’ll then generate reports and submit them to you for approval. And because Expensify analyses your company policies, it knows exactly what to send.
What’s also useful is that the software sports an automatic reimbursement system. The latter will rapidly deliver money to employee bank accounts based on your accounting reports. Because the app is cloud-based and real-time, all changes are remembered. You needn’t worry about losing important financial data.
Personal Capital
Personal Capital is a full-featured investment manager for hire. It tracks and categorizes all the expenses you make on your credit or debit card. The app creates charts indicating your monthly cash flow and breaking down your monthly expenses. It has two versions: the free financial dashboard and the wealth management service. The wealth management option provides an investment management option, which functions as a robo-advisor while providing live support. The free financial dashboard provides budgeting and a cash flow analyzer. The app can also help you with retirement planning and provide an investment checkup.
Pricing: Full access to the financial dashboard is free; wealth management service fees start at 0.89% per year.
Expensify
Available on Android and iOS devices, Expensify is great for making expense reports on the go. A must for frequent business travelers, Expensify allows you to take photos of receipts and manually log expenses. When you take a photo of a receipt in Expensify, the app automatically reads the receipt and translates it into a logged expense. In addition, you can organize your expenses by categories, like mileage, travel and food. Best of all, Expensify is free for individuals and just $5 a month for teams.
Pricing: Individual use is free for up to 25 receipt scans per month; team pricing for unlimited scans starts at $5 per user per month (after a six-week free trial).
SAP Concur
SAP Concur is the perfect business expense reporting app for established (and growing) small and midsize businesses. In addition to the ability to track expenses, SAP Concur has built-in workflows for employee reimbursement, submissions and approvals, invoice tracking, vendor payments, travel booking, and more. The great thing about SAP Concur is that you can build it out however you want, and it charges you accordingly (based on features and number of users). SAP Concur is also a great choice because the company offers a suite of products for small businesses, so you can add more functionality as you need it. The app is free and available on iOS and Android for existing Concur customers.
Pricing: The app is free for existing Concur customers; non-customers should contact Concur for a direct quote.
Zoho Expense
Zoho’s business tools and IT solutions are among the best out there, and Zoho Expense is no exception. If you want an expense management solution that allows effortless expense tracking and quick approvals, Zoho Expense is exactly what you need.
Using Zoho Expense, you can easily store digital copies of receipts and record expenses as they happen. The app lets you pin receipts to reports, sort expenses by category and add additional data fields. Thanks to built-in GPS tracker and Maps, Zoho Expense can easily log mileage overheads for everyday trips. This makes the app perfect for employees who have to travel a lot due to work. You can connect your credit card(s) to the app for automatic importing and management of transactions. Expenses can be batched together and sent to approving manager(s). It’s possible to create per diem rates for employees and multiple currencies are supported. Enhanced analytics let you track excessive spending and keep policy violations in check.
Zoho Expense lets you add record information even offline. The changes are synchronized whenever there is network connectivity. The app is an extension of the Zoho Expense web application and thus works best in conjunction with it.
Conclusion
The world is in the midst of a financial crisis caused in large part by poor control and accountability in business and government in terms of expense tracking and reporting. There is a great opportunity for an entrepreneur to fill this gap and capitalize on the poor success and track record of software providers in this market.