How to choose the right expense management software for your business

What is expense management software?

In simple terms, expense management software is a tool which helps your business manage any spending within the company. There are various types of company spending, which can come in the form of marketing and advertising spend, employee expenses, software subscription, and any non-payroll-related costs. 

By having visibility over your spending, your business can better track and manage finances, allowing for planning and forecasting of future spend and efficient management of cash flows.

Why is expense management software important for businesses?

Simply put, expense management software is a digital tool for streamlining various financial activities within a business, including tracking, reporting, analyzing, and controlling expenses. This software solves three critical challenges in the expense management process: manual workload, lack of budget control, and lack of spend visibility.

Without effective solutions, companies face serious financial implications that can jeopardize their long-term sustainability.

For example, manual processes such as processing invoices and recording transactions are not only time-consuming, but also highly susceptible to human error. Continued inaccuracies in these areas can lead to inaccurate financial data and therefore incorrect financial reports or forecasts.

By automating these processes, expense management software not only saves time but also improves the accuracy of financial data. This improvement is crucial as it helps companies make informed business decisions.

In addition, companies often struggle with expense fraud as they are unable to control or have a complete overview of their expenses. However, with the implementation of expense management software, expenses can be tracked and monitored in real-time. This gives companies a clearer insight into spending patterns, helping to prevent fraud and ensure financial integrity.

What you need to do before choosing expense management software

You have now understood why expense management software has become an important tool for business operations, and this has led you to believe that you really need it for your business.

However, you should think twice before using expense management software because you need to have clear reasons why you should use such software so that you can make the most of it.

To ensure that the software you choose truly benefits your business, you need to ask yourself the following questions: What expense management problems are you trying to solve? And what are your current business needs?

Identify the problems you want to solve

A good expense management platform must be able to solve your expense management problems. Therefore, you also need to identify several spend management issues that you are currently facing so that you do not have to deal with them anymore.

You can start identifying them by closely assessing your current expense management workflow and examining key processes such as the reimbursement process and expense tracking systems. This assessment will help you identify recurring issues, inefficiencies or bottlenecks in these areas.

By identifying these issues, you can better understand which features are most critical to your needs. For example, if delayed reimbursements are a common problem, you may want to choose software with optimized processing capabilities.

Understand your business needs

When choosing an expense management platform, it's important to understand the needs of your business in relation to its size. This is because the size of your business greatly influences your expectations and requirements of such a platform.

Large corporations, which incur a larger volume of expenses and manage a more extensive range of expense items, typically require software that is equipped with advanced features and functionality. These tools are designed to manage and control large financial transactions, making them ideal for larger companies.

For example, large organizations often struggle with managing travel expenses and SaaS subscriptions and therefore look for platforms that are robust enough to effectively control these specific spend categories.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), on the other hand, typically have fewer and less complex business needs to fulfill. Therefore, they benefit from expense management software that offers simpler, more straightforward features. These companies rarely have extensive travel expenses or manage numerous SaaS subscriptions, so they prefer software solutions that meet their immediate and modest requirements.

This difference in requirements emphasizes the importance of choosing an expense management solution that is aligned with the scope of your business, so that the software not only meets current needs but also complements your financial management strategies.

Once you have identified the reasons why you need such a solution, you can begin the process of selecting an expense management software. The next question is: 

What should you look for when choosing the right software for your business?

You need to keep in mind that every company has its own preferences based on its needs and priorities. However, in general, companies consider the following factors when choosing expense management software.

Integration

You need to make sure that your expense management software can integrate with your ERP and accounting software such as Xero, Quickbooks and Netsuite so that you can automatically record expenses and close your books faster.

Integrating your expense management solution with a business account is an added benefit as  this allows for seamless business cash flow all in one place. Moreover, all expenses can be deducted directly from your account balance without the finance leader having to do a manual top-up, as would be the case in a wallet system.  

You can also check if the expense management software can integrate seamlessly with other financial tools such as payroll services and travel booking platforms to streamline your expense management processes.

Customization

You can also check whether a platform's expense management system offers customizable workflows that are tailored to your expense policies. For example, if you are implementing a multi-level approval workflow for reimbursement approval, you should ensure that this workflow can also be integrated into the expense management system.

Customizable expense management software will prove beneficial in the future as your company continues to grow, as it can easily adapt to organizational changes and employee size. This means you will not have to buy new software as your business grows.

Pricing model

Expense management software providers usually offer different pricing options to suit your budget. More expensive expense management packages usually offer a wider range of features than their cheaper counterparts.

However, the best choice for your business should not be based on price alone. Consider your specific business needs, the size of your company, and the number of employees. These factors are crucial in choosing the right solution.

For example, a larger company with many employees may require a more robust system that can handle complex expense reports and approval hierarchies. In contrast, a smaller company might opt for a less expensive system with fewer features to meet their needs.

Security

An expense management platform must have robust security standards as it stores sensitive data. Therefore, you need to ensure that the software implements strong security measures such as encryption, multi-factor authentication, and data backup.

Features

You can also check whether the features offered by the expense management platforms really meet the needs of your business.

Generally, companies always look for these features when choosing the ideal software for their business.

Dashboard

A good expense management software should have a user-friendly dashboard that is not only intuitive but also makes it easy for you to access financial data. Automated and multi-level approval system

A good expense management software offers an automated and multi-layer approval process that can be adapted to your expense policy processes. With this feature, you can flexibly set budget and expense limits for different teams and designate budget owners so that you have full control over your expenses. A real-time dashboard also enables finance teams to know much their company has spent at any point in time. This allows them to get insights and forecast spending more efficiently.

Transaction fees for each expense

If you have a global workforce making multiple FX payments, hefty FX fees can quickly accumulate, resulting in unnecessary costs borne by the company. When considering which expense management solution to use, transaction fees and FX markup should be a primary consideration.

Receipt collection

A notable feature of modern expense management software is the ability to process digital receipts, a feature that streamlines the process of submitting and storing receipts. This feature, allows users to easily capture receipts and upload them directly into the system, greatly increasing the convenience and efficiency of expense reporting.

Mobile application

A good expense management software should be accessible via a mobile app so your employees can upload receipts, request reimbursements, and request additional funds anytime, anywhere.

Expense analysis and reports

Many expense management software now includes powerful analytics tools that provide real-time reports and insights into your expense data. This feature is invaluable for several reasons, as it improves your ability to monitor expenses, find savings opportunities, and make informed financial decisions.

Comparing expense management software providers

Aspire

Aspire is a fintech company headquartered in Singapore with a presence throughout Southeast Asia. It’s backed by world-class venture capitalists, including Lightspeed, Sequoia, Tencent, and Paypal Ventures, to name a few. Aspire is also trusted by businesses worldwide, including Endowus, Tech in Asia, Love Bonito, Glints, Grain, Y Combinator and more.

Key benefits:

• Advanced integration with Xero, Netsuite, SAP etc. 
• Multi-level approval flows
• Control spending with Budgets
• Automated receipt collection
• Best FX rates, up to 3x cheaper than banks
• Credit limit for card payments (subject to eligibility)

Aspire is currently the only player in the market to offer an expense management solution integrated with a business account. This means that your business can receive money and spend all-in-one, which makes managing your company’s expenses much more seamless, compared to other providers where you must manually top-up funds into a wallet to spend. Finance leaders can also achieve real-time visibility and control of their company’s spend with our automated hourly bank feed to sync transactions directly. On top of that, our competitive FX rates and zero markups make us a top choice for local companies with international employees. Click the link below to get started with our expense management solution today!

Expensify

Expensify is a fintech company headquartered in the US. They provide a payment application to help businesses worldwide simplify how they manage money. 

Key benefits:

• Customisable pricing starting from S$12/employee/month
• Create budgets for projects/teams
• Multi-level approval flows
• Automated receipt collection

Areas to note:

• One limitation of Expensify is that it requires companies to have an existing business account to be connected to their software. 
• This means that all business expenses must go through an external bank account, an additional step that will add time to the process.
• Additionally, there is no feature to reimburse international employees in the currency of their choice. Expensify reimburse international employees in USD, which they must convert into their desired currency before sending it to their local bank account. This translates to FX fees that have to be borne by the employee. 
• Expensify is one of the pricier options in the market. If you have a team of 100 - that’s a monthly subscription of S$1200, not forgetting any prevailing transaction fees. 

Volopay

Volopay is a fintech company headquartered in Singapore. They provide a business management solution to streamline expense workflows for businesses in Southeast Asia. 

Key benefits:

• Create budgets for projects/teams
• Multi-level approval flows
• Automated receipt collection

Areas to note:

• Volopay operates on a multi-currency wallet system on top of its expense management software. This means that the finance leaders of companies have to ensure that there are always sufficient funds in their digital wallet to reimburse employees. This is an additional step that adds time to the process. 
• Volopay also charges a 0.5% markup and up to a S$15 fee for international transfers. This can add up quickly with frequent international transfers, impacting your company’s bottom line.

Spenmo

Spenmo is a fintech company headquartered in Singapore. They provide an all-in-one software for businesses to manage their finances. 

Key benefits:

• Customisable pricing starting from S$99/month for 50 users
• Create budgets for projects/teams
• Multi-level approval flows
• Auto receipt reminders

Areas to note:

• Like Volopay, Spenmo operates on a multi-currency wallet system on top of its expense management software. This means that the finance leaders of companies have to ensure that there are always sufficient funds in their digital wallet to reimburse employees. This is an additional step that adds time to the process. 
• Spenmo also charges a S$0.50 fee for local transfers and an undisclosed markup for international transfers. This can add up quickly with frequent international transfers, affecting your bottom line.
• Additionally, Spenmo only has direct integrations with Xero and Jurnal, which may be a disadvantage for companies using other accounting software like Quickbooks or Netsuite.

Conclusion

In conclusion, choosing the right expense management software is essential to turning your investment into real value. The platform you choose should not only address current expense challenges but also align with your specific business needs. This strategic fit ensures every dollar spent contributes positively to your business operations. Additionally, scalability and adaptability is key. An effective expense management system should support your financial processes as your business grows and evolve with changes in structure or strategy to remain efficient and compliant. 

Choose Aspire for a seamless expense management experience

If you're looking for an expense management software that meets all your needs for functionality, customizability, and ease of use, Aspire could be just the solution for you. Keen to learn more about how Aspire can help you improve your organization’s financial operations and streamline workflows? Talk to our sales team today, or sign up for free to get started.