The 7 Best Expense Tracking Apps for Smarter Business Travel
This article covers all the most common deductible expenses for freelancers, the self employed, sole proprietors, contractors and more. Small businesses with employees who often pay out-of-pocket for business expenses need to submit expense reports.
Add up the Total
This report generates expenses according to tax category, like rent (we’ll cover this below). Create an expense report according to a date range, export it to Excel or print it.
An expense report can be prepared using accounting software or using a template in Word, Excel, PDF and other popular programs. Designed for small businesses whose employees travel frequently, this free app, available for both iPhone and Android users, allows for fast creation of detailed expense reports.
Bookkeeping Basics for the Small Business Owner Is cash an asset? How to Create Your Own Expense Report Need help creating an expense report? The accounting experts at The Blueprint break down what you need to know, including templates to use. While accounting software is the best business expense tracking solution, there are occasions when you can get by using spreadsheet software.
Business Mileage Expense Template
A small business may ask its employees to submit expense reports to reimburse them for business-related purchases such as gas or meals. Or a small business owner can use expense reports to track project spending and get organized for tax time. This free app enables you to keep track of business expenses, mileage and billable time. It offers receipt capture and can be synced with your credit cards so that expenses can be pulled in automatically. You can also use this app to scan receipts and create an expense report.
The employer then examines the submissions for accuracy and validity, and pays employees the requested amounts. The employer can then record the reimbursed amounts as a business expense, which factors into the amount of accounting profit and taxable profit recognized.
Timed Expense Template
You can track travel expenses and approve travel spending for employees, as well as book hotels and flights. The app can also link up with credit cards and import charges automatically. Fortunately, in today’s app-driven market, there are a number of good mobile programs that can help you easily and quickly track expenses and receipts with your smartphone. Such apps are also an expedient way to get timely expense reports from your employees. As you can see, you have many ways to keep track of your business expenses, both manually, and by using accounting software.
To save time as your business (and number of expenses) grows, you’ll want to upgrade to expense-tracking software. Link your business bank account so that expenses are added as you go.
Or use the corresponding app to photograph paper receipts as you get them. A small business owner can also use expense reports to review their total expenses over a particular reporting period–usually a month, quarter or year. The owner can see if total expenses were more or less than expected and analyze the results, according to Accounting Tools. Expense tracking software from FreshBooks makes it easy to prepare your taxes, bill clients for expenses and track project spending without tons of manual input.
A yearly expense report is often used to write off expenses on a business’s taxes. So a monthly expense report would be used for other purposes, like checking whether a company is spending within its budget. In times of financial difficulty, a monthly expense report can be used to check how costs can be cut or eliminated to improve profit. Taxes are another big reason small businesses need to use expense reports.
How do you handle expense reports?
An expense report is a form completed by employees to itemize the expenditures for which they are requesting reimbursement. Receipts are typically attached to the form if the related expenditure amounts exceed a certain minimum amount. Date on which an expenditure was incurred (matches the date on the related receipt)
Having a standardized format helps simplify the process, especially if you have multiple employees submitting weekly expenses. If you don’t already have one, there are a number offree expense report templatesyou can download to get started. Or, you can purchaseaccounting softwareto make the process even easier. Another way to ensure that you’re tracking your business expenses properly is to use the mobile app that is available with your accounting software application.
- If you don’t already have one, there are a number offree expense report templatesyou can download to get started.
- Or, you can purchaseaccounting softwareto make the process even easier.
- Having a standardized format helps simplify the process, especially if you have multiple employees submitting weekly expenses.
How do I create an expense report in Excel?
A Basic Expense Report Template is a great place to start, as it is very simple and easily customizable. It records the date, payment method, vendor, expense description, and payment amount. Finance teams can add more columns to capture other details as needed.
Expense report templates are a quick solution to tracking expenses. That said, you will eventually want to upgrade to expense-tracking software that saves time, especially as your number of expenses grows with your business. If getting accurate and timely mileage logs from your employees so you can reimburse them is always a struggle, this app may help.
Created strictly for tracking gas mileage, the app has a mileage log and IRS rates for reimbursement. The app can store frequent trips, so a simple tap inputs that mileage. Developed with small-business owners and consultants in mind, this app is quite comprehensive. In addition to tracking expenses and mileage, it also allows you to record time worked. You can customize categories and sub-categories, and it generates expense reports.
Once you’ve determined the frequency that makes the most sense for your business, make sure to communicate it to everyone filing expense reports to avoid lapses. Corporate credits cards give you greater control over your audit process. When you receive an expense report you can then counter-reference it will your credit card statement to ensure the costs match. Plus, having a corporate credit card takes the responsibility off your employees to pay upfront for business expenses and saves you the time and hassle of reimbursement procedures.
Whether you run an independent business or have multiple employees, a systemized approach for recording expenses has many benefits. Not only will it keep you organized and on budget, it may even boost your bottom line by helping you eliminate avoidable expenses over time. Our free, printable Excel Expense Report Template enables employees and managers to efficiently submit, review, and approve expense reports.
Event Expense Report Template tracks estimated vs. actual costs for every aspect of your event. In this way, it acts as both a budget and an expense report, providing you an extra layer of data to make sure your event stays on track and inform future cost projections. Larger company events will frequently incur costs beyond just rental and insurance fees, at times requiring additional spending on things like public relations, vendor costs, and programming expenses. An expense report is a form completed by employees to itemize the expenditures for which they are requesting reimbursement. Receipts are typically attached to the form if the related expenditure amounts exceed a certain minimum amount.
If your software doesn’t offer such an app, you can choose to use an expense management application that will integrate with your software. This is especially important at tax time, since you’ll want to be sure to take all of the expense deductions that you can. By requiring that expense reports be submitted at least monthly or quarterly, you can ensure that your accounting records are up-to-date. In addition, you’ll be able to verify that employees are reimbursed for business expenses they’ve incurred in a timely manner.
Through ClickTime’s Expense Reporting, employees can get expenses into the system faster and more easily than with typical software. And since it’s entirely web-based, there’s no more waiting to get back to the office – expenses can be entered from home, on the road, anywhere. These four tips will help you ensure that your employee’s expenditures are properly reported and tracked, as well as help you determine ways to save on business expenses. These tips will also help you reduce expense report fraud and ensure your employees they are being correctly reimbursed for any business costs. So consider incorporating them in your expense reporting procedures.
AccountingTools
It also allows for multiple expense reports that can be converted to PDF files. Rather than waiting until tax season or the end of your financial reporting period to track incidental costs, you should have a system in place to record your expenses. By requiring you and your employees to file routine expense reports, you’ll have the documents you need in the event of a financial dispute or audit. Not to mention, accurately tracking your expenses will help you budget better for the years ahead.
Small business expense tracking can be simplified by connecting your financial institutions with your accounting software. While some may be uncomfortable with this option, it’s actually very safe, with safeguards built in to protect your data. It’s always a great time to implement a system for documenting and tracking business expenses.
Set up a reporting system where your employees can easily report business expenses, track their spending, and submit receipts in real time. This benefits both you and your employees because with features like time stamping and easy expense classification, you can quickly notice any cases of fraud. An expense report is a form that itemizes expenses necessary to the functioning of a business.
Contractor Expense Template
The templates in the app provide the information required by your accountant. While using accounting software is always best for any type of business tracking, including both income and expenses, there are times when it is a must. As you’re designing your expense report, it can be helpful to have codes for the expense categories most relevant to your business to help you account for these costs longer term. Or, you may want to create expense reports tailored to specific areas. If your team travels frequently, create a travel expense report, where you track employee expenses on the road, and know who to give cash or mileage reimbursements to.
Accrual accounting is more in-depth, and it’s a necessity for growing businesses, businesses with employees, or larger businesses. With accrual accounting, you record income when a product is sold, not when you receive payment for that product. The same goes for expenses, which are recorded when you receive the bill, not when you pay the bill. You have a choice about what kind of accounting system to use for your business.