Managing receipts and reimbursements doesn't have to be a headache anymore. Expensify takes the pain out of expense tracking—for employees, employers, and even accountants.
Expensify is an app that we like to use as accountants here at LedgerGurus. The app accomplishes three main things regarding expense management:
- Reporting of expenses
- Approval of expenses
- Reimbursements of expenses
You can use both corporate and personal cards with Expensify. If you're comparing your full toolkit for bills and expenses, our roundup of business bills and expense management apps covers where Expensify fits alongside the others we recommend.
In this Expensify app review, I'm going to show you why it's great for employees, employers, and accountants.
Expensify is great for employees
Ah, the joy of traveling for work and keeping track of all those reimbursements. Many of you “road warriors” have probably had the enjoyable experience of trying not to lose receipts. Then taping the dang receipts to paper and scanning them in for reimbursements. Maybe you've used spreadsheets somewhere in that solution or tried some awful apps.
We like Expensify for employees for the following reasons:
- Receipt capture
- Credit card connection
- Reporting
Receipt capture
Expensify makes it easy to snap a picture of receipts and upload those receipts to the app. You can also forward email receipts to a specified email, which will upload the receipt automatically. Now, there are apps out there that do this. But Expensify also extracts information from receipts and can automatically categorize them. In addition, you can also setup rules for automatic categorizing of expenses.
Credit card connection
You can connect your credit cards to Expensify. Then, credit card transactions will automatically be imported to the app. It's easy to then go in and mark which transactions are personal and which are business-related. Expensify will then automatically attach your uploaded receipts to those business transactions.
Reporting
Finally, reporting your expense reimbursements to your employer is easy with Expensify. Simply finalize any other needed info in the app, and submit. If your employee doesn't need any additional information, you can automate submissions. No need to run paper copies to someone at work or send an unneeded email. All reporting is completed right in the app. In addition, Expensify will automatically identify missing info before you submit. Just in case you missed a receipt or forgot to categorize an expense.
Expensify is great for employers
The second part of our Expensify app review covers why employers will love the app:
- Approval workflow
- Policy compliance
- Reimbursement transactions
Approval workflow
You can setup Expensify for your company's approval process needs. You may only need one person to approve a certain employee's expenses. Or in some cases, you may need the approval of an employee's manager, in addition to someone from the accounting department. However many levels of approval are needed, employers can determine and manage this process with Expensify.
Policy compliance
Employers can setup policies on Expensify. Such as rules on the following:
- The nature of expenses that can be reimbursed
- Max reimbursement amounts
- Dollar amounts that require receipts
- Information that employees need to include
These policies don't just help employees. Policies also allow approvers to skim for the necessary information when approving.
Reimbursement transactions
After reimbursements are submitted by employees and approved by the necessary people, Expensify makes it easy. Employees can connect their bank accounts and employers can do the same. Reimbursements are then transferred from the employer's account to the employee's account. Easy as pie.
Expensify is also great for accountants
Finally, we can't give an Expensify app review without talking about how it has helped us as accountants. Expensify makes it incredibly easy for information to be automatically transferred to your accounting software. Expensify integrates with a variety of accounting software including QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, Xero, Sage, and more.
We use QuickBooks Online with Expensify, so we can speak specifically to that integration. Expensify exports all key information to QuickBooks Online. You can determine what information you want Expensify to require from employees. Then, that information is automatically transferred to QuickBooks online. Everything is automated, categorized, and clean.
One distinction worth making: Expensify handles employee expense reimbursement, not vendor bill pay. If you're looking to automate paying your vendors and suppliers instead, that's a different tool entirely, see our Bill.com review for that side of the equation. Many of our clients run both side by side.
So, when is Expensify a good fit for companies? We recommend Expensify if you are trying to accomplish any of the following:
- Reviewing and approving of expenses
- Automating receipt capture
- Streamlining reimbursement
Expensify will help you accomplish all these things with ease and accuracy.
Frequently asked questions
What does Expensify actually do?
Expensify handles three core pieces of expense management: reporting, approval, and reimbursement. Employees submit expenses by photographing or forwarding receipts, employers set up approval workflows and policies, and the whole thing syncs cleanly to accounting software.
How does Expensify handle receipt capture?
Employees can snap a photo of a receipt or forward a receipt by email, and Expensify extracts and categorizes the expense automatically. Connecting a credit card also lets transactions import automatically, so all that's left is marking personal versus business and attaching the matching receipt.
Can employers customize the approval process in Expensify?
Yes. Employers can set up anything from a single approver to multi-level sign-off across managers and accounting, and can enforce policy rules like reimbursable expense types, dollar limits, and receipt requirements automatically.
Does Expensify integrate with QuickBooks Online?
Yes, along with QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, Sage, and more. LedgerGurus uses it directly alongside QuickBooks Online, and expense data lands in your books already categorized, with no manual re-entry.
Is Expensify a good fit for my business?
If you're trying to review and approve expenses more efficiently, automate receipt capture, or streamline reimbursements, Expensify is worth using. It works well for companies of varying sizes, since the approval chain and policy rules scale with how many layers of oversight you actually need.
Get help implementing Expensify
Expensify is a great tool, but it only pays off when it's set up right: the right approval chain, the right policies, and a clean connection to your accounting software. LedgerGurus has implemented Expensify for many ecommerce companies, and we can do the same for you, so expense reporting, approvals, and reimbursements run on autopilot from day one.
