Running a small business and managing cash flow can be a difficult job at the best of times. Thankfully, there are plenty of apps available to manage your business expenses. Check out our list below.
1. Quickbooks
This is a bookkeeping app with a range of features, including income and expense management, cash flow planning, receipt storage and mileage tracking.
All Quickbooks plans allow connection to multiple bank accounts and credit cards so that transactions can be automatically imported.
This is a great app if you struggle with your HMRC self-assessment. It comes with a self-assessment preparation feature and income tax estimator tool.
The three available plans are:
Simple Start (£12 per month plus VAT)
This plan includes all the basic features and is suitable for one user.
Essentials (£20 per month plus VAT)
This plan has all the features included in Simple Start. It also comes with multiple currency support and bills and payment management. It can be used by up to three users.
Plus (£30 per month plus VAT)
This plan has all the features included in Essentials. Additional features include stock management, employee time tracking, project profitability tracking and support for up to five users.
If you sign up for any Quickbooks plan, you will receive a 75% discount for the first four months.
2. Freshbooks
If you use double-entry accounting, this app can be used to manage your business expenses. This is because it applies this industry-standard bookkeeping method.
Even if you don’t, you can still use Freshbooks to create invoices and receive payments. Other features include a payment facility for debit and credit cards and a VAT return filing system.
The three available plans are:
Lite (£3.30 per month)
This plan includes all basic features and you can send unlimited invoices to up to 5 billable clients.
Plus (£5.70 per month)
You can send unlimited invoices to up to 50 billable clients. You can also automatically track expenses.
Premium (£9.00 per month)
You can send unlimited invoices to up to 500 billable clients. You can also automatically send late payment reminders and bill late fees.
Special offers include 60% off for 6 months, but this offer is available for a limited period only.
3. Wave
Wave is a great app to manage business expenses if you are just starting out with very little capital. It’s an accounting and bookkeeping app that can be used free of charge.
Accounting features include income and expense tracking, reporting on overdue bills and invoices, and cash flow monitoring. It also allows unlimited bank card and credit card connections.
Invoicing features include acceptance of credit card and bank payments and automatic synching of invoices.
For all credit card payments, Wave collects a fee per transaction from the person making the payment. This fee is 1.4% plus 20p per transaction for European-issued cards or 2.9% plus 20p per transaction for non-European-issued cards.
4. Expensify
You can use Expensify’s app to manage business expenses using real-time money monitoring. It works by automatically tracking and processing all expense claims.
It can be used with larger companies but can also be used with small to medium-sized businesses as well.
You can choose the ‘Track for Individuals’ plan costing £3.99 per month if you only want to track your own expenses.
A small business with more than one member of staff can use the ‘Submit for individuals’ plan, which is also available for £3.99 per month. With this plan, staff can submit receipts to a designated individual such as a manager or accountant.
Take home
All of these apps use the same level of encryption as that used by online banking and shopping applications. They will have read-only access to your bank accounts and no access to your money.
All of these apps, apart from Wave, offer free trials. It’s worth signing up for a trial if you are unsure about whether a particular app is right for your needs.
Be aware that you may need to submit your credit card details. Make a note of when the trial ends so you are not charged if you decide not to commit to the full plan.
