• Eoin Holohan
• April 8, 2020
• 4 min read

Expensify or Receiptbank – which is the better receipting software?

It seems like ages ago that Receiptbank raised £55 million to extend its product suite and continue its expansion in Europe, Australia and North America. British technology company Receiptbank announced the series C fundraising in Jan 2020 bringing total funds raised to $138m. This came on the back in which it reportedly doubled the number of businesses using the platform to over 360,000.

Expensify, the US company that also provides a receipting software, has been around a couple of years longer being founded in 2008. Expensify has raised less money $38 million in total with its last fundraising having taken place in 2015. With offices in the US, London and Melbourne, it boasts 8 million users around the world compared to 1.3 million Receiptbank users.

Let’s start with the question of do I need to use a receipting software?

If you’re expenses process still involves collecting paper receipts, manually entering data or printing out approval forms then the answer is YES.

How will receipting software make my process easier?

The process for getting receipting software setup is simple, however, if you need assistance, let us know and we can help with this.

1. Set up an account. Both offer free trials so you can do this and play around with it to see which you prefer.

2. Instruct claimants to download the app on their phones. They will use this to upload and send receipts for approval. The apps can use your phone’s camera to upload a copy of the receipt. Both apps have an autofill feature meaning they auto-populate the account fields from the receipt. The user has the option to add or edit any details.

3. The receipt claim will be forwarded on to someone for approval. These users will be set-up by the admin. Expensify offers multi-level approvals which will be useful for larger organisations. Also, Expensify offers a better reporting function making it easier for approvers to review and approve a larger quantity of receipts.

4. Once approved with the receipting software online accounts, expenses can be exported directly to your accounts package.

5. Both apps can be used for importing non-expense related invoices into the accounting ledger. Images of the invoice or receipt can be saved down with both applications.

Both receipt scanners work well however, we had some issues with Expensify picking up the correct currency from receipts and invoices. Both apps allow emails and email attachments to be scanned and submitted as expenses. Expensify has better-looking reports within the online application which makes reviewing and approving receipt runs easier.

Which accounting packages does it work with?

Expensify (left) and Receiptbank (right) work with the following accounting packages:

There is a difference in the way that both apps integrate with accounting software. Receiptbank pushes the information into your accounting software earlier. This gives the user more control over posting to the accounting ledger. Expensify has more reports within its own product however it does not give users the chance to review transactions in its accounting package before posting which can be a concern for control.

The approval view within the Expensify module is a better and more user-friendly presentation. It categorises the items by expense type allowing the approver to easily scan through receipts details and contains all photos on the same page.

How much does it cost?

Expensify offer a package that will do most of what you want for £4 per active user if you sign up for 12 months or £14 per active user billed monthly. Receiptbank take a slightly different tack and offer enterprise prices at 2 levels – 5 users and 300 scans or 20 users and 3,000 scans. It is worth noting also that Expensify becomes significantly more expensive if you do not sign up for an annual contract. It’s worth noting some small business accountants can obtain discounts on these prices. Here is a summary of the prices:

Expensify VS Receiptbank? It depends, however it is likely that Receiptbank will work out cheaper.

Conclusion

If you are considering if your business will benefit from implementing a receipting software to help with expense claims, then the answer is Yes it will. Get in touch with us to find out more about getting set up. Our North London accounting office provides assistance to businesses throughout the UK.

Around the decision of which accounting software is better to use, the answer is it depends on what you are looking for, but both can work really well for your business.

To put it in a nutshell, I think the Expensify team has created a better solution for larger organisations. That is not to say that it can’t work for smaller organisations. Given Receiptbank is likely to work out cheaper for smaller businesses we recommend this solution for SME businesses.