6 best expense management software in 2024
Moving into the modern era where there is a shift towards the remote and hybrid working models, it is no surprise that technology is catching up to help with automating business processes.
Streamlining your business processes can be done with the use of expense management software.
For small businesses, it could be the thing that saves you from having too much on your plate. Here are some of the best expense management software for small businesses in India for your consideration.
6 best expense management software in India
There are several popular expense management software for small businesses in India. They range from platforms meant to accommodate smaller businesses to software with complex functions that could be utilized by enterprises.
There are pros and cons to each popular software. Here are 6 of the best expense-tracking software for small businesses.
1. Volopay
● Key features
Volopay provides real-time tracking of expenses, enabling users to monitor spending as it happens. You can issue both physical and virtual cards to employees, automate expense reporting, reduce manual work and its potential errors, and also seamlessly integrate with popular accounting software to make reconciliation hassle-free.
● Pros
Volopay has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for employees to submit expenses and for administrators to manage them.
With multi-currency support, it is suitable for businesses with international operations. The software allows businesses to set spending limits and ensures compliance with company policies.
● Cons
Some users may find the software's customization options lacking compared to other solutions.
The mobile app may lack some features available on the desktop version as the app is mostly for monitoring, tracking, and basic control functions.
● G2 Rating
Volopay has an overall rating of 4.2 stars out of 5 on G2.
2. Zoho Expense
● Set-up process and requirements
Zoho Expense offers a 14-day free trial before you have to commit to any of the plans they offer. Zoho Expense also gives you the option to onboard and set up with experts for an additional fee.
● Fees and pricing
You can start using Zoho Expense for free, but their price plan starts at ₹ 99/month for every active user from your business. They have add-on support and onboarding plans in addition to their priced plans.
● Features
Zoho Expense offers expense tracking, data import and export, workflow management, and approval process workflows. The software also has multi-currency functionality.
Not only does Zoho empower you to streamline your overall expense management, but it also offers robust solutions for handling petty cash expenses. Having the right tools to streamline your petty cash processes can contribute to your overall financial success.
Conducting thorough research on the best petty cash management software available in the market would allow you to make an informed decision that best suits your business needs.
● Benefits
With over five different language supports, Zoho Expense is the expense management software choice for startups, small to medium-sized businesses, and self-employed business owners.
Zoho Expense offers integration of its platform with other Zoho software, such as Zoho Books and Zoho CRM.
● Limitations
Some support functions like live chat are locked behind a paywall as an add-on support plan with Zoho Expense.
With its pricing plan being based on the number of active users, the platform could also get expensive quickly for growing businesses that want many employees using it.
3. Netsuite
● Set-up process and requirements
To start using Netsuite, you have to register and get a Free Product Tour from their website. Only after you have completed this will you get a quote and be able to start the set-up process.
● Fees and pricing
As a general rule, you will need to pay both a one-time set-up fee and an annual license fee with Netsuite. However, pricing can only be obtained after doing their Free Product Tour.
● Features
With a large range of features, Netsuite doesn’t only offer expense management and tracking on its platform. Netsuite also has accounting, asset management, inventory management, and time-tracking capabilities.
● Benefits
Netsuite is an all-in-one business management software. As an ERP platform, Netsuite is suitable for startups, SMEs, agencies, and even enterprises. Netsuite also offers good support for its users.
● Limitations
Considering that there are a lot of features available on the Netsuite platform, as expense management software for small businesses it may prove to be daunting. There could be some intense learning involved before you can navigate your way around the software.
4. Freshbooks
● Set-up process and requirements
Freshbooks is accounting software that also offers expense reporting features. You will get a 30-day free trial with Freshbooks before you have to subscribe to a plan.
● Fees and pricing
Freshbooks’ plans start at USD 15/month, but you get the first four months discounted to USD 6/month. You can add users for an additional cost of USD 10/user per month.
● Features
Some of the expense management features that Freshbooks offers include expense tracking, multi-currency functionality, as well as online banking integration, and auto-capture receipts on mobile.
● Benefits
As accounting software, Freshbooks can also manage your accounts receivable and allows you to invoice your customers in addition to being expense management software for small businesses.
With multiple language supports, Freshbooks is the choice for many freelancers and startups.
● Limitations
At a cost of USD10/user per month for any additional users, the team member add-on on Freshbooks can get expensive quickly if you have multiple users.
For the best expense reporting, you want all your employees to have access to the software so they can report in real-time.
5. Expensify
● Set-up process and requirements
With Expensify, you have to enter your email address or phone number on their website to sign up and start the process. Once you hear back from the team, you will be able to start your set-up process.
● Fees and pricing
For self-employed individuals, Expensify starts with a free plan. However, for businesses, the pricing plan starts at USD 5/month for each user active on the platform. This price is attainable when you pay annually as opposed to monthly.
● Features
At the USD 5 price plan and every plan above it, you will get expense management features like accounting sync, approval process workflow, reimbursement management, expense tracking, and data import and export. Expensify also offers multi-currency functionalities.
● Benefits
Expensify has the added benefit of having cards for your employees to make any business expense. Each active user will have access to an Expensify Card that is linked to the Expensify software and can be tracked.
● Limitations
The downside of the Expensify Card is that right now it’s only available to businesses with a US business bank account. Expensify prices are also based on the number of users, which can get expensive if you have a lot of employees using the platform in your business.
Moreover, Expensify doesn’t have live support and is only available in the English language.
6. Concur
● Set-up process and requirements
Concur’s website offers self-guided demos for anyone interested in exploring expense management software for small businesses. To start the set-up process, you have to get a quote from Concur first.
● Fees and pricing
Pricing plans on Concur are available by request. Get a quote from Concur based on your business and its needs.
● Features
Concur offers expense tracking, reimbursement management, bank reconciliation, and vendor management. Concur also has features specifically for managing travel expenses.
● Benefits
Business travel expense management is one of the benefits Concur has. Concur TripLink has integrations with many suppliers recognizable in the travel industry. Concur is often used by startups, SMEs, and enterprises.
● Limitations
Unlike some other expense management software for small businesses, Concur does not offer live chat support. Despite operating in multiple countries, the only language support they have is only English.
Automate your business expense tacking
Which features to consider when choosing expense management software?
1. Seamless expense reporting process
Expense management software for small businesses should allow its users to report expenses from anywhere.
Having a mobile application means that your employees would be able to digitally capture receipts and report expenses as they happen.
You want software that offers Optical Character Recognition (OCR) so that your receipt data can be uploaded straight onto the platform without additional manual data entry.
Ideally, you also want multi-currency functionality for your expense reporting in the case of international expenses.
2. Real-time expense tracking
Having real-time expense tracking that you can view from anywhere enables you to get insights and plan budgets better.
You can see where your money is going at any given time and ensure that nothing is amiss with the help of expense management software for small businesses.
Suggested read: Key benefits of expense management software
3. Automated workflows
When you establish a system for approval workflows in your business, you can then automate it using expense management software.
For small businesses, there might not be many levels of approvers, but expense management software will speed it up nonetheless. Having automated workflows means that your software will also be able to flag any policy violations in the process.
4. Integrated corporate credit card management platform
The best expense management software for small business will allow you to integrate your corporate credit cards with its expense management platform.
Recording and reconciling card expenses on your accounting platform can prove to be tedious. However, this can be mitigated by integrating your cards with your expense management software.
For small businesses, this means that you don’t have to worry about misuse of credit cards. Get real-time insights into your corporate credit card spending.
Suggested read: What is account reconciliation, types, benefits and procedure
5. Digital audit trails
Good expense management software for small businesses should be able to help you be audit-ready.
Expense reports should not only be stored in one centralized system, but they should also be easy to access and find whenever necessary.
Ensure that you are ready for audit and that you have all your data straight with expense management software.
6. Advanced data analytics, insights, and reports
Expense management software, for small businesses, can help visualize data without you having to spend time manually creating graphs and reports.
Get insights into your employees’ spending and identify trends in your business expenses. Expense management software that allows you to do this will make it easier for you to generate reports and help in better cost control of your expenses.
7. Easy expense approval process
You want to speed up your expense approval process with expense management software. For small businesses, any time lost could easily add up and be detrimental to your business processes.
However, when you have a fast and smooth expense approval process, you don’t have to worry about losing time to manual processes and can direct your attention elsewhere.
Use expense management software for small businesses to automatically send alerts to approvers to make sure no expense request is missed.
8. Easy reimbursement system
Having reimbursement systems on expense management software for small businesses is a must. It simplifies your expense reimbursement processes and helps you settle out-of-pocket expense claims in just a few clicks.
Some of the best expense management software for small business will have a built-in mileage tracker to easily calculate reimbursements.
9. Compatible with any accounting software
Accounting integration with expense management software for small businesses will save you time and energy. Instead of manually entering your data across multiple software or checking between different software
You can automatically perform two-way sync to ensure that your accounting software data matches your expense management software data and vice versa.
You want expense management software that is compatible with any accounting software and supports direct integration with many accounting software.
If your accounting software can’t be directly integrated with the expense management software, you want to ensure that you choose expense management software for small businesses that supports Universal CSV and export your data onto your accounting software.
Interesting read: How to control employee expense fraud in hybrid work culture?
Manage your business expenses efficiently with Volopay
There are many features that you should consider when picking expense management software for small businesses.
From corporate credit card integration to approval workflows to reimbursement systems, you want to choose expense management software that can help you manage your business expenses efficiently.
Operating in India, Volopay is your ideal solution for expense management. Offering corporate cards, easy reimbursements, and vendor management, the platform is your one-stop shop for managing all your business expenses.
Expense reporting will be made easy with the help of a mobile application that your employees can log into and record the expenses that they make as they go.
On top of that, Volopay also has direct integration with some of the most popular accounting software like Netsuite, Quickbooks, Xero, Tally, and Zoho Books.
If you use another accounting software, Volopay offers Universal CSV to export your data according to the format of your accounting software.
All your expense management processes can be made easy with the right software. Get the best expense management software for small businesses and enhance your business processes with Volopay.
Related read: How to manage petty cash transactions for Indian businesses?
Simplify expense tracking with Volopay
FAQ's
Instead of making your employees create long expense reports at the end of the month, a company using Volopay can simply let its employees use our mobile app to instantly create a reimbursement claim, add the necessary info, and attach the relevant receipts.
If your company uses Volopay corporate cards or our money transfer feature to make payments, then all these transactions are automatically recorded in ledgers within our system with all the necessary details. This automated expense reporting helps employees and finance & accounting teams save a lot of time.
Since Volopay is a completely online platform, the need to maintain a physical paper trail is completely eliminated. All the tracking, approval, rejection, and management of expenses are done within the platform itself.
Yes, any purchase you make using Volopay virtual cards is instantly recorded and reflected on your dashboard. Real-time tracking of expenses across the organization helps the finance and accounting team maintain visibility over budget utilization.