The 12 best expense management software platforms for finance teams in 2024

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Processing expenses can be time-consuming businesses of all sizes, especially those relying on email, spreadsheets, or paper-based processes to manage them.

Today, roughly 30% of organizations have adopted expense management software to automate this process – with adoption growing by the day.

This practical guide is designed to help businesses evaluate options on the market and determine the best expense management software for their business needs.

What is expense management?

Expense management is a systematic approach businesses use to track, analyze, and control spending that supports day-to-day company operations. Some companies pay for expenses using company corporate cards or prefer employees to pay and submit reimbursement requests.

With either method, expense management involves monitoring transactions, navigating approvals, setting clear policies, budgeting, ensuring compliance, reconciling transaction data, and recording journal entries supporting month-end close.

Did you know? Rho makes it easy to issue Rho corporate cards to your employees with strict spend controls, including merchant restrictions, and can process reimbursements in seconds.

Here’s a brief breakdown of the process – and potential bottlenecks that could slow it down:

Process	Description
Expense data collection	Collecting expense receipts, transaction data, job or project codes, associated budgets, and any other helpful information for bookkeeping purposes.
Journal entries	Entering data in the general ledger of your accounting software or ERP and ensuring accuracy on an ongoing basis.
Approvals	Gathering the proper approvals for processing expenses in compliance with the expense policy and organizational guidelines.
Employee reimbursement	If applicable, handling intake of reimbursement requests, ensuring proper documentation, and processing payment of funds back to employees.
Credit card payment	Facilitating payment for expenses using corporate cards that are either centrally managed or assigned to employees.
Recordkeeping	Adequately storing receipts and other documentation for future reference.
Analysis	Performing cost and expense analyses to identify cost savings areas and keep spending within budget.
Reconciliation	Doing data entry and quality assurance for accuracy of records in support of month-end close.

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With the right process and supporting technology, expense management can be relatively quick, given the nature of the steps outlined above that are involved.

Five common expense management problems

Ask yourself if your business experiences any of these challenges. If you do, you’re not alone!

1. Enforcing your expense policy

Finance teams spend hours building expense policies that clearly outline rules that employees should follow when purchasing goods and services needed for their jobs. The problem is that these documents can be long, making it difficult for employees to know what is and isn’t compliant.

A recent survey found that almost half of employees didn’t know an expense was non-compliant before their purchase. This can be frustrating for finance teams that spent hours developing these policies in a good faith exercise to help their business.

2. Administering corporate cards and controlling business spend

Every company is different, especially regarding how they prefer to pay for expenses.

For companies that use corporate cards, it’s understandable that giving every employee a corporate card can make a finance team nervous, especially when you consider many legacy card providers like Amex and Capital One don’t provide customizable controls.

So, many companies elect to give a handful of company cards to a select few employees – usually owners and senior finance team members – but this can slow down the spending process.

3. Processing reimbursements

Employer reimbursements involve out-of-pocket expenses that full-time or part-time employees pay upfront with their own money and later seek to recoup via direct deposit or check.

Many companies elect to reimburse employees for business expenses using personal credit cards. As this article points out, reimbursement delays can cause employee frustration and reduced productivity.

Reimbursement may need more stringent policies for business-related expenses than those purchased with a corporate card—with the emphasized need for documentation, business purpose details, and approval checks—to avoid potential misuse. However, enforcing a separate expense reimbursement policy can be time-consuming.

4. Delays getting receipts and expense reports submitted

Getting employees and contractors to submit expense receipts promptly is a real challenge. For busy finance teams simultaneously managing multiple projects, chasing down receipts adds unnecessary time to their month-end closing process and makes real-time reporting difficult.

In our recent expense management survey, we found a significant reason for this friction stems from many midsize organizations relying on manual processes like static spreadsheets, email, and paper filing to manage expense reporting and reimbursements.

Email is not an efficient tool for communicating about expenses. Poor communication makes it difficult to resolve problems and approve legitimate expenses.

5. Late credit card billing statements

Many legacy corporate card providers provide credit card statements several business days (sometimes weeks) after the end of each month. Even if a business is using an expense management platform, that is still a long time to begin collecting documentation.

These delays add up as finance teams work long hours to reconcile transaction data and close the books. Delays make expense approvals more difficult, journal entries are posted later, and the month-end close takes far longer. Learn why Northpoint Roofing switched to Rho for this very reason.

Why is expense management important?

When expenses are properly reviewed and approved, this unlocks several benefits to organizations:

You can better track your expenses as you look to expand your margins and manage your cash flow.
You simplify tax preparation and establish a clear audit trail, eliminating the minutes and hours spent rifling through paper documents that hinder a productive tax preparation process.
Thanks to an easier process that doesn’t detract from doing high-impact, engaging work, your finance team and other employees will benefit.
You ensure your employees promptly get the materials they need to do their jobs.
You can uncover opportunities to save money and eliminate wasteful or redundant spending.
Your reporting is more likely to be accurate, preventing issues that could surface during close and future audits.

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What is expense management software?

Expense management software automates businesses' tasks to adequately pay for goods and services, track and control costs, and account for purchases during bookkeeping events like month-end close.

When applied in a way that augments your business’s processes and delivers a delightful user experience, the right corporate credit card expense management software can save your finance team (and other employees) hours each month and optimize your margins.

That’s one reason why it’s understandable that PWC reports that 53% of CFOs plan to accelerate digital transformation using data analytics, AI, automation, and cloud solutions. Well-managed businesses take advantage of automation.

How does expense management software work?

While it depends on your expense management platform, the first step after signing up is to connect your platform to your corporate card providers – unless you have an integrated tool like Rho that provides both corporate cards and expenses in one platform.

Then, you will add account admins and users who, with the right enablement, should begin to use the software to process their expenses after purchasing goods and supplies. Examples of steps they will follow include uploading expense receipts, coding transactions under the right budgets, and submitting for the appropriate approvals.

Throughout the expense submission process, expense management tools will automate some or all aspects of the process, from syncing submitted data to the platform to sending automatic notifications reminding approvers that there are expenses that need their attention.

‍Did you know? Rho automates the entire process, making it easy for your employees to pay for goods with Rho Cards, submit their expenses via SMS or the Rho mobile app, and all transaction data will be synced into the Rho platform. This data will sync seamlessly with your accounting software or ERP in one click.

Who uses expense management software?

In our recent data survey, roughly 30% of organizations use some expense management software today, but this number is quickly growing.

Every hour your salespeople spend on expense reporting reduces the time spent on sales opportunities. So, why are so many companies not using automation for expense reporting?

Reasons why organizations continue to use paper-based processes or emails and spreadsheets – despite inefficiencies – include:

Level of comfort – many cite that existing processes are “the way we’ve always done it” and may resist change despite the benefits.
Perception of control – some businesses may have owners or senior staff that like the perceived control of approving all checks and controlling the corporate card.
Lack of awareness – many businesses are too busy operating successful businesses to know what expense management software might be out there to help them.

Any entity that incurs employee expenses can benefit from expense management software, including non-profit organizations and government entities. Businesses with traveling salespeople are heavy users of expense management software to help track the travel expenses.

Unsurprisingly, many businesses stick with the processes they’ve always used — it’s human nature. Others may not be aware of expense management software options, and using software can also be expensive.

How much does expense management software cost?

As you’ll see in the software reviews below, expense management providers offer various pricing models. Companies may charge by the seat or based on the number of transactions.

Note: The Rho platform is free, with no user or platform usage fees. Rho only charges a 1% fee on FX payments and a wire recall fee.

What to look for in expense management software

The right expense management platform is the one your employees enjoy using that doesn’t add significant costs to your operational expenses, automates all or some of your expense processes, and gives you the control and visibility to run your business efficiently.

Here are just a few questions you should consider as you evaluate different offerings:

How does the platform work, and does it meet my requirements?
Does the platform’s workflow mesh well with my organization, or will some change management be required?
What level of customizability does the platform offer for my organization?
What positive (or negative) downstream effects could the platform have on my business’s other finance processes, like month-end close?
Does the platform integrate with my ERP?
What features does the platform offer?
What are the drawbacks of the platform?
How much does the software cost?
Is there a mobile app for employees on the go?
Will my employees love the experience?

Next, we’ll cover the top expense management platforms today.

The 12 best expense management software tools for accounting teams in 2024

1. Rho

Rho is a comprehensive finance platform thousands of American middle-market businesses use to automate their CFO suite: payables, expenses, treasury, banking services, accounting, and more.

Rho Expenses gives finance teams the tools to easily manage Rho Card spending, process expense reimbursements, and automate expense management.

Features

Starting with the Rho Card, Rho allows businesses to create unlimited virtual and physical corporate cards and assign strict spend controls to each, including limits, merchant and category controls, and more.

In the Rho platform, admins can also create customizable spending rules that create automated approval workflows based on the level of spend and budgets involved. When a Rho Card is used, employees receive notifications via SMS or the Rho mobile app to upload their receipts and other expense data synced to the platform.

All transaction data then syncs live into Rho and can be sent to your ERP in seconds, thanks to our native integrations.

‍Pros

‍End-to-end finance: Rho offers expense management and other capabilities like AP, banking services, treasury, and corporate cards – all in one platform. ‍
Holistic spend management: With T&E expenses and AP automation in one platform, organizations using Rho get a full picture of spending.
Free service: The Rho platform is free to use.
Robust multi-entity capabilities: Rho is designed for scale, from 10-person growth-stage startups and 200-plus employee, multi-entity businesses.
24/7 customer support: Available to assist with implementation and questions.

Cons

Straight cashback vs. points: Some companies prefer legacy corporate card solutions like Amex or Capital One for the point rewards they offer, even if that impacts process speed.

Integrations

Rho integrates with QuickBooks Online, Oracle NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, and Sage Intacct.

Rho also supports flat-file CSV exporting, so you can automatically tailor transaction categorization to your business needs. Read more about our accounting integrations here.

‍Pricing & Fees

The Rho platform is free, with no fees for users, payments, accounts, or the overall platform.

2. Navan

Navan is a popular travel management and expense platform alternative to SAP Concur, thanks to its strong, user-friendly UI, ability to adapt to your corporate card solution, and built-in travel booking capabilities.

‍Features

Navan’s platform automates transactions processed with Visa and Mastercard or using a Navan corporate card or your corporate card. Transactions are categorized and reconciled automatically. Employees are reimbursed within days across 45 countries and 25 currencies.

Users can set controls for employee spend and have access to real-time analytics.

‍Receipt submission: Users can take a photo of a receipt after making a payment, and the software automatically posts the related expense.
Notifications: Cardholders receive a notice to upload a receipt immediately after each purchase.
Spending controls: Once management sets spending controls, cardholders are kept aware of the limits in place.

Integrations

Navan offers accounting integrations with QuickBooks, NetSuite, Xero, and more.

Pricing

Expense management is free for a company’s first 50 monthly active users. Navan requires you to book a sales call to get a specific quote for businesses with more than 50 monthly active users.

Why Navan + Rho

Did you know that Rho and Navan work well together? Pair Rho’s corporate card, banking, AP automation, and treasury with Navan’s best-in-class expense management and travel booking platform. Learn more today.

3. SAP Concur

SAP Concur is a cloud-based travel & expense management platform companies use to manage travel booking and employee expenses. Concur Expense provides automated expense management with customized workflows, approvals, and reports.