Business expense management software for Australian SMBs

Keeping tabs on your spending is hard enough at home, let alone at the office. Bundles of scrunched receipts, half-completed spreadsheets, and tedious manual reconciliations make tracking expenses a pain in the neck.

But with the right business expense management software, you can automate these arduous tasks, catch errors in their tracks, and give your finance guru a clear overview of where the money is going.

In this post, we’re covering the key features, benefits, and considerations of expense management software for Australian SMBs. We’ll also introduce Wise Business, a tool for tracking card payments and lowering cross-currency transaction fees.

What is business expense management software?

Business expense management software is designed to capture, track, approve, reconcile, and export company-wide spending data. Expenditure can include employee expenses, such as corporate card and travel spending, as well as other business-related costs, such as infrastructure, marketing, resource management, and property maintenance.

• Capture: Employees upload photos of receipts, forward invoices, or submit automated card feeds.
• Track: Optical Character Recognition (OCR) extracts data from receipts or invoices, while software scans card feeds and bank accounts to match expenses.
• Approve: Automatically sends matched and categorised expenses to the correct manager for approval, based on authority, budget, cost type, or entity.
• Reconcile: Scans for missing documents, policy violations (i.e., per diem limits) and compliance issues (GST or FBT), and then reconciles approved expenses.
• Report: Exports expenses with tax codes, tracking categories, and identifiers into an accounting program.

Expense management software for the Australian market should calculate GST and FBT treatments and integrate with leading small-business accounting programs.

Employee expense management software is narrower in scope, only covering staff-related expenses. Business expense management software typically includes employee expense management capabilities.

Key features of expense management software

Corporate expense management software can include a range of features. Some may be of little value to your business, while others might prove indispensable.

• Card issuance & control: Order virtual or plastic corporate credit/debit cards that draw from a nominated business account, with pre-configured individual limits.
• Auto categorisation: AI automates expense categorisation and can flag anomalies, including possible compliance issues, for further review.
• Mobile receipt scanning: Employees upload receipt photos to an app, and the software uses OCR to automatically extract and export data.
• Customisable policies: Managers can customise approval hierarchies and spending limits to align with business needs.
• Spend tracking: Receive real-time spending alerts and expense overviews to keep tabs on accumulating expenses and potential policy violations.
• Audit trailing: Automated audit trails and compliance reporting maintain a record of every employee's input to improve transparency and tracking.
• Integrations: Sync data and export reports into compatible accounting or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.
• GST & FBT support: Automatically apply treatments for relevant Australian taxes, such as GST and FBT.
• Mileage-tracking tools: GPS-assisted tools automatically calculate and submit distances to streamline travel expense claims.
• Cross-currency support: Multi-currency accounts to pay overseas suppliers with low international transaction fees using the mid-market exchange rate.

Benefits of expense management systems for Australian businesses

The software is designed to optimise spending, reduce admin costs, and mitigate the risk of costly compliance mistakes.

• Fewer manual processes: Automate expense captures, approval workflows, and reimbursement processes to reduce admin.
• Spend policy compliance: Customised spend policies and enforcement can reduce policy violations and employee fraud.
• Negotiation: Evaluate spending patterns and cost-cutting opportunities to negotiate better supplier deals.
• Easy reconciliations: Automated expense matching, accurate reporting, and near-instant end-of-month reconciliations.
• Real-time data: Managers can review real-time company expenses data to make better-informed decisions.
• Compliance: Spend policies and audit trails aid compliance with regulatory requirements.

While expense management software has monthly subscription fees, the reduced admin costs and compliance risks make it worthwhile for many Australian businesses.

Top expense management software in Australia

Here are some of the top options for Australian SMBs with varying business needs.

Note that available features differ by plan, and many providers offer significant sign-up discounts.

Wise Business (Alternative)

Wise Business offers useful expense management tools that are relevant to global businesses with cross-currency transactions.

Managers can issue virtual or physical Business Cards and create a multi-currency account for bank transfer payments in 23+ currencies. When paying overseas suppliers, businesses enjoy low international transaction fees and access the “real” mid-market exchange rate.

Account users can set sending limits and monitor usage in the app, which updates transaction details in real time. For reporting, receipt capture, and approval automation, Wise Business integrates with expense management software such as Xero, QuickBooks, Zoho Books, Expensify, and Spendesk.

• Best for: Reducing international payment costs, business card expense tracking, global business transaction management
• Costs: One-off 65 AUD fee, no ongoing fees, first card free, low per-transaction fees for cross-currency payments

Xero Expense Management App

Xero offers a user-friendly Expense Management App primarily designed for small Australian businesses, including start-ups, sole traders, landlords, and non-profits.

The app lets employees instantly capture and upload receipts on their phones. Managers receive a notification for each receipt, allowing them to track, approve, and repay expenses, or delegate them to a colleague. Xero automatically populates most expense claim fields – the employee only needs to review and submit.¹

Users can also use a budgeting app for monitoring and cash flow forecasting, as well as a mileage expense tool that uses GPS data to automate log entries. All apps integrate with Xero accounting tools.¹

• Best for: Existing Xero users, expense tracking, budgeting, and cash flow forecasting
• Costs: Ignite $35/month, Grow $75/month, Comprehensive $100/month, Ultimate 10 $130/month¹

Intuit QuickBooks

Intuit QuickBooks is a popular business expense management tool in Australia – Aussie businesses captured $310 million through the program in 2023.²

The software integrates with various payment platforms, including banks, credit cards, Square, and PayPal. The mobile app includes a receipt capture tool that automatically stores and categorises expenses, enabling rapid reimbursements and easier accounting at tax time. Users can also update mileage for work trip-related expenses through the app.

Real-time transaction data simplifies cash flow monitoring and end-of-month reconciliations. Intuit QuickBooks offers a free 45-minute onboarding consultation to teach managers how to connect accounts, customise invoices, and automate expenses, among other tasks.²

Best for: Receipt capture and budget forecasting; SMBs seeking help learning the software.

Costs: Simple Start $33/month, Essentials $60/month, Plus $8428/month, Advanced $125/month²

Zoho Expense

Zoho Expenses serves businesses of all sizes and is used by millions of customers across 150+ countries.³ This comprehensive travel and expenses solution covers corporate travel, including bookings and compliance controls, as well as automating end-to-end expense reporting, card reconciliation, and expense submissions.³

The brand claims customers spend 90% less time on admin, and have a 95% satisfaction rating. Other features include GPS-powered mileage records, rapid expense reporting, and a high level of customisation over approvals, budgets, policies, and audits.³

Zoho offers country-specific compliance configurations and integrates with a broad range of software suites and tech ecosystems. Billing is per-user, per-month, which may offer savings for smaller businesses with fewer employees.⁴

• Best for: Larger businesses or companies seeking comprehensive expense management solutions.
• Costs: Free $0, Standard $5.50 user/month, $9.90 user/month⁴

How to choose the right expense management solution for your business

Managers can take several steps to analyse their business requirements and find the right expense management solution.

Analysing expense types

Think about whether you’re primarily dealing with travel, client entertainment, subscriptions, or international transactions.

Auditing workflows

Identify bottlenecks in your expense management process and assess how much time is lost to manual data entry, receipt categorisation, and reimbursement processing. Do those costs exceed an expense management software subscription?

Prioritising features

Which features would benefit your business most? Some companies need receipt-capture apps and OCR to automate expense capture, while others require corporate cards with predetermined spending limits – and many want both.

Australian tax compliance requirements

Look for AUD-optimised products that can handle BAS and GST extractions, as well as process FBT treatments. Automating tax calculations reduces the risk of human error and non-compliance.

Integrations with existing software

Does your expense management software integrate with your accounting and ERP software? Non-compatibility could create huge administrative headaches and whittle away any productivity gains.

Evaluate UX & employee familiarity

Is the product easy enough to use? Does your finance team have a preferred software suite they already know how to use, or a favourite SaaS developer?

Trial periods

Many expense management programs offer a free or heavily discounted trial period. Businesses can test key features, including the mobile app, receipt scanner, and OCR, to see if developers deliver on claims.

Cross-currency payments

Does your business regularly send or receive money from overseas? As reconciling global money can often be confusing, finding a solution that supports and offers flexibility to manage cross-border transactions will come in handy.

Wise Business: Simplify global business expense management

Managing everyday company expenses becomes even more challenging when your business deals with overseas suppliers or global software subscriptions.

Wise Business helps solve these multi-currency headaches for Australian SMBs through its corporate card features and borderless account tracking.

By enabling teams to spend globally using the real mid-market exchange rate, it keeps international transaction costs low while giving managers instant visibility over individual card limits.

A Wise Business account allows users to can send, receive, and hold in multiple currencies. Experience hassle-free global transactions by transacting like a local business. Here's what you get with a Wise Business account:

• Free to register — Hold and convert between 40+ currencies. Send to 140+ countries
• Debit cards for you and your team, which you can use in 150+ countries
• Multi-user access for team members, with ways to control and manage permissions
• Pay up to 1,000 recipients at once with the Wise batch payments feature
• Integrate with your favourite cloud accounting solutions like Xero, QuickBooks, and more
• Get account details to receive in 8+ currencies for a one-time fee of 65 AUD
• Earn potential returns** on your everyday money through Wise Interest

Sign up for the Wise Business account! 🚀

This general advice does not take into account your objectives, financial circumstances or needs and you should consider if it is appropriate for you.
**Capital at risk, growth not guaranteed. Interest is the name of a custody and nominee service provided by Wise Australia Investments Pty Ltd in partnership with Franklin Templeton.

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FAQs

1. What is the difference between expense management software and accounting software?

Expense management software captures receipts, enforces policies, and issues reimbursements, while accounting software handles record-keeping, accounts payable, taxation, and general ledgers.

2. Is expense management software worth it for small businesses in Australia?

It depends on your specific situation. Some small Australian businesses find the software worthwhile, though others will not.

3. How does expense management software help with ATO compliance?

Expense management software can help your business remain ATO compliant by enforcing tax deductions and calculating GST and FBT treatments.

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Sources:

1. Xero: Claim Expenses
2. QuickBooks: Expenses
3. Zoho Expense: Expense
4. Zoho Expense: Expense pricing