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Review: Business expenses apps

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11th Sep 2013
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Last month, we provided you with a host of business travel apps, for getting to and around your destination of choice. Rachael Power examines some apps that will help you record what you spend.

But as every good accountant knows, there’s not much point in travelling for business if you don’t record expenses.

Below, we’ve gathered four business expenses apps to help you keep track of various costs while out of the office.

MyBizTracker (free)

This app is Intuit-owned and a UK offshoot of the free Mint.Com personal finance cloud system used in the States.

It’s simple, doesn’t crash and is relatively quick - quite apt, as includes an ad for QuickBooks.

The app’s simple, clear interface holds a simple large balance display, with income and expenses beneath.

You can enter any income you may have received while on a trip (think commission) and, quite obviously, any kind of expense you encounter along the way too.

Useful tools include an option to export your data and a button to flick if you’re a CIS member.

Other uses include a resources section with HMRC information on expenses, and customisable reminders, so you can add in when your expenses need to be filed, and so on.

The good: Simple, free, does-what-it-says-on-the-tin type expenses app

The bad: Perhaps a little too simple and lacking in the functionality of other expenses apps

Shoeboxed (free)

The clever name of this app will ring a bell with most accountants.

This app is a receipt management tool that doubles as a mileage tracker.

When you’re out and about, just snap a picture of your receipt and it’ll go through the app’s scanning software to create a report at the end.

You have the option to choose what kind of expense it is (reimbursable, deductible, not sure) and add notes at the top of the screen.

Tab over to the trips section for a travel tracker akin to sports apps like ‘map my run’, where the app will track how far you drive, apply standard mileage rates, attach a map and archive it in your account.

It also includes a handy business card function, whereby you can take a snap of business cards, which the app will collate and digitise.

Somewhat randomly, you can also tab over to the tools section to get a code to show to a cashier if you’re asked for your email address for promotional purposes.

The app will process the receipts and store them, saving your email inbox (or the cardboard variant) from getting clogged.

The good: It’s quite a funky and easy to use app, and I really like the mileage tracker and OCR feature.

The bad: Not much bad to report, but some of the features seem a bit random for an expenses app

Freshbooks cloud accounting (free)

This app is a breath of fresh air (sorry) and not just for recording expenses. It allows you to add clients - up to three on the free version - projects, reports and time track too.

But for this review, I’ve taken a look at just the expenses and time tracking capabilities.

The expenses capabilities are more or less the same as other expenses apps; add what type, how much, what taxes apply and take a snap of your receipt to boot.

The timer could be good for time keeping, client meets and projects, but also perhaps for travel.

Users can add in taxes and currency, a PayPal account and company information as well as being able to produce reports on the go, including expenses reports which can then be emailed to their inbox.

The good: The range of features is diverse and plentiful, meaning it can be used for more than just expenses

The bad: It’s only got a 30-day free trial

Abukai Expenses (free)

Apps are wonderful things and for the most part well-designed, fully functional and simple.

Unfortunately this is not the case for Abukai.

It promises to “auto-magically” transform your receipt snaps into an Excel, PDF or OFX report and seems at first a useful report tool.

In a nutshell, you take pictures of receipts, add the bundle into a processed expense report which then gets sent to a chosen email address.

But this takes up to 24 hours (in my case, about two) and the app actually crashed while I was mid-use.

It’s free for 12 expenses reports encompassing 10 receipts, but paid for after.

The good: It’s an expenses report app that, when not crashing, works

The bad: It’s not very well designed and it has too many annoying ‘pop-up’ messages

What kind/category of app reviews would you like to see on AccountingWEB in October?

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