Returning to the office after a business trip, one regular chore was smoothing out ruckled till receipts and manually entering an expense claim. Frequently, you put it off for weeks after your return, leaving your overworked bookkeeper to reconcile your expense claim against a long-forgotten project.
How much easier to snap your receipt on your smartphone and instantly upload your café bill to expenses software for immediate reconciliation.
With employees constantly booking trips, receiving invoices, and making expenses claims it can be difficult to keep track of where and when money is being spent. With automated expenses software it simple. These systems help you see where expenses occur so that you can manage it.
Cloud-based, expense software lets employees capture receipts and submit claims in real time.
Automation speeds up the review, processing, payment and auditing of expense claims, making it easier for finance to manage expenses and budgets effectively.
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Rippling
Best for: Businesses connecting expense management with HR and payroll.
Rippling’s main appeal is how it connects employee information with expense approvals. Your sales and operations teams might need different spending rules, with larger purchases requiring an extra level of approval.
You can use someone’s department, role or seniority, alongside transaction details, to decide how a claim is handled. If you’re already using Rippling for HR or payroll, it’s the obvious choice for expenses, too, but it could also be ideal if you’re considering switching to a single provider for all three functions.
Key features
- Receipt capture: Submit receipts through the mobile app or forward them by email.
- Approval rules: Route claims according to employee details, transaction amounts and spending categories.
- Expense checks: Flag duplicate claims and discrepancies between receipts and entered amounts.
- Global reimbursements: Reimburse employees in local currencies through supported payment routes.
- Spending reports: Give managers access to the expense data relevant to their teams.
Pricing
- Subscription: Contact Rippling for a tailored quote.
- Billing basis: Most products are priced per employee per month, while some also have a base fee.
- Platform requirement: The core Rippling Platform is required alongside the expenses product.
Integrations: Accounting connections include Xero, QuickBooks and NetSuite. Rippling’s own HR and payroll products share employee data with its expenses tools.
Moss
Best for: Businesses looking for modular pricing.
Moss lets you choose modules for corporate cards, employee reimbursements and accounts payable. For example, you could start with card spending, then add invoice processing when it needs a better way to manage supplier bills.
Just make sure you understand the pricing if you expect employee numbers to rise. Moss doesn’t charge per user, but your chosen modules and transaction volumes affect your bill. When requesting a quote, work out how many purchases, invoices and reimbursements you expect to process, as well as which features you need.
Key features
- Receipt scanning: Extract receipt data and prefill accounting information.
- Mileage claims: Configure mileage rates to calculate reimbursements.
- Approval rules: Route claims to the appropriate managers under company policies.
- Duplicate detection: Flag potentially duplicated expenses for review.
- Reimbursement payments: Pay approved claims from the Moss balance and sync payment data with accounting software.
Pricing
- Subscription: A tailored platform fee based on selected modules and add-ons.
- Usage charges: A variable fee based on expected transaction volumes.
- Users: Unlimited users without per-user charges.
- Free options: Free entry points are advertised for Cards or Accounts Payable; obtain a quote for employee reimbursements.
Integrations: Options include Xero, QuickBooks Online, NetSuite, SAP Business One and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. ERP connections are offered as an add-on.
Tide
Best for: Smaller teams managing employee card spending through a Tide business account.
If your business already has a Tide account, its team cards let employees buy supplies or pay for travel without asking the owner to make every payment. You manage their spending in the same app as your other account admin. You can set a monthly spending limit for each team member and freeze a card if it goes missing.
Just remember that you can’t use it as a standalone expenses platform. You must open a Tide Business Account if you don’t already have one.
Key features
- Team cards: Each paid seat includes one physical card and up to five virtual cards.
- Spending limits: Set and adjust monthly limits for individual team members.
- Receipt matching: Upload receipts, add notes and match documents to transactions.
- Expense categorisation: Automatically categorise transactions and review spending by person.
- Card controls: Freeze, cancel or replace team cards through the app.
Pricing
- Expense cards: £5 per seat per month, with no VAT.
- Free account: No monthly account fee – expense cards are charged separately.
- Paid accounts: Smart costs £12.49 per month with one included seat, Pro £27.49 with two, and Max £69.99 with three. You can pay less with an annual subscription.
Integrations: Tide supports Xero, Sage, QuickBooks and FreeAgent, among others. Its direct Xero connection differs from the open banking feeds used by other accounting integrations.
PSSG (Capture Expense)
Best for: Businesses managing mileage, employee claims and project-related expenses.
PSSG’s expense software is sold under the Capture Expense brand. With mileage and project tracking, it’s ideal for businesses whose staff travel between sites or charge purchases to different jobs.
When an employee makes a claim, they can record which project or department should cover the cost, giving finance the detail it needs when passing approved expenses to accounting or payroll.
Key features
- Receipt scanning: Extract expense details from photographed or emailed receipts.
- Mileage calculations: Calculate business journeys and apply mileage rules.
- Approval workflows: Route claims through your organisation’s approval process.
- Card reconciliation: Match corporate card transactions with supporting receipts.
- Project tracking: Allocate expenditure to relevant projects and cost centres.
Pricing
- Business: Custom pricing, with receipt scanning, mileage, approvals, card reconciliation and project tracking.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing, adding features such as single sign-on, ERP integration, advanced reporting and linked organisations.
- Trial: A free trial is available.
Integrations: Native connections include Xero, QuickBooks Online, NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Sage products are supported through dedicated CSV exports, and payroll options include Cintra.
Pleo
Best for: Businesses giving employees company cards while keeping control of spending.
Pleo gives employees their own company cards and prompts them to supply receipts when they spend. Your finance team can follow purchases as they happen, including recurring payments for business subscriptions.
The plan you choose makes a substantial difference to what you can do. Start covers card spending and basic expense tracking, but if your business handles mileage and purchases paid for by employees, you need Build or above. Budget management sits on Optimise. Work out which of those tasks you need Pleo to handle before using its entry price to compare it with other providers.
Key features
- Company cards: Issue physical and virtual cards for business purchases.
- Receipt collection: Prompt employees to attach receipts and automatically collect emailed receipts.
- Spending visibility: Review transactions and recurring subscriptions from one platform.
- Expense claims: Manage employee reimbursements and mileage on Build and above.
- Approval controls: Set individual card limits and approval workflows on Build and above.
Pricing
- Start: £8 per user per month, billed monthly.
- Build: £14 per user per month, billed annually, with a three-user minimum.
- Optimise: £18 per user per month, billed annually, with a three-user minimum.
- Additional fees: Direct reimbursements carry a 0.9% fee. Payment and foreign exchange charges also apply.
Integrations: Options include Xero, QuickBooks and NetSuite, with custom CSV exports available for FreeAgent. Check the connection type for your accounting software.
Equals Money
Best for: Businesses allocating spending budgets to teams working across currencies.
With Equals Money, you can give a team a spending allowance for a trip or a period of work, including in different currencies, and review requests for more funds as they arise. Its packages are based on physical card numbers and include unlimited platform users. Before choosing a package, count how many employees need a physical card and how many could use a virtual one: that split will affect the package and issuance costs.
Key features
- Multi-currency cards: Give employees physical or virtual cards for business purchases.
- Spending limits: Set daily, weekly, monthly or lifetime allowances.
- Funding requests: Review and approve requests for additional spending money.
- Receipt records: Attach receipts and categories to transactions.
- User permissions: Tailor access to each person’s role and responsibilities.
Pricing
- Business: £250 per year when paid annually, for up to 20 physical cards and up to 50 virtual cards.
- Business Plus: £350 per year when paid annually, for up to 50 physical cards and up to 100 virtual cards.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing for more than 50 physical cards.
- Additional charges: Physical cards cost £10 plus VAT each on Business and Business Plus. Cash withdrawals cost £1.50.
Integrations: Equals Money connects with Xero through a daily transaction feed.
Airwallex
Best for: Growing businesses managing expenses alongside international payments.
International payments are Airwallex’s main selling point. If finance is paying overseas suppliers as well as dealing with staff expenses in different currencies, it offers business accounts, payments, corporate cards and claims within the same platform.
For business trips, that means you can manage purchases made on a company card alongside claims for costs an employee has covered personally. The supporting receipts and approvals help finance account for the spending afterwards. If you regularly pay overseas suppliers, Airwallex lets your finance team handle those payments and employee expenses through the same platform.
Key features
- Receipt capture: Upload receipts through the mobile app and extract expense details automatically.
- Employee reimbursements: Manage claims for purchases employees have paid for themselves.
- Approval workflows: Route expenses to managers, with more advanced controls on higher plans.
- Spending visibility: Review team expenses and individual transactions from one place.
- Corporate cards: Combine employee cards with spending limits and expense tracking.
Pricing
- Explore: £19 per month, waived if you meet the £10,000 monthly deposit or minimum balance requirement.
- Grow: £49 per month.
- Accelerate: Custom pricing.
- Additional users: Five active spend users are included. Explore lists £5 per additional employee card user per month; Grow lists £12 per additional active spend user per month.
Integrations: Xero and QuickBooks are supported on Explore and Grow. NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central integrations are listed under Accelerate.
How to choose expenses software for your business
Take a few recent claims and card purchases into a trial or demonstration. You’ll get a better idea of how the software fits your business if you follow those transactions from receipt to approval and into your accounts.
1. Start with the spending you actually handle
Look through a recent month’s expenses. How much is paid on company cards, how much do employees claim back, and how many claims involve mileage? If purchases need to be charged to client work or specific jobs, include that in your requirements. This gives you a shortlist of functions to test and a basis for judging which paid extras are worth having.
2. Put your approval process to the test
Choose a purchase that needs approval from more than one person and ask the provider to show you its route through the system. What happens if the manager is away, the amount exceeds a limit or the receipt is missing? Establish whether the software can stop an unauthorised purchase before payment, flag a claim afterwards, or do both. Finance should be able to see who approved it.
3. Let employees try it
Give a few employees access to the trial and ask them to submit a typical claim. Can they photograph a receipt, correct a mistake and see whether it has been approved without asking finance for help? Have a manager approve it too. Include someone who regularly claims mileage if that’s a big part of your expenses workload.
4. Follow a claim into your accounts
Ask the provider to demonstrate what happens to an approved claim in the accounting or payroll product you use. Does the receipt transfer with the transaction? Will project codes and VAT details arrive in the right fields? Find out whether the connection runs automatically or requires a file export, and who will deal with errors. A connector’s name on an integrations list won’t tell you all of that.
5. Check the requirements of your next office or company
If an overseas office is part of your growth plan, ask how its employees would submit claims and receive repayments in their local currency. If you operate several companies, see how finance would separate their records and report across the group. Get the provider to identify the plan, integrations and setup work needed for that arrangement.
6. Get a quote for your expected usage
Give each provider the same figures for employees, cards, claims and transactions so you can compare the quotes fairly. Include a busier month to see how usage charges could change the bill. Ask for card issuance, reimbursement, currency conversion, integration and implementation fees to be itemised. Before signing an annual contract, establish the minimum commitment, renewal terms and cost of adding users or modules.
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