6 must-have features for your expense reporting app
You’ve decided your business is ready to roll out an app to help manage employee spend and track expenses, but you’re not sure where to start. After all, how do you decide between a basic expense app and a 2026-ready expense platform? We’ve got you covered! We’ve highlighted a list of essential features that you should look for when comparing your options on the best expense management app on the market.
1. Accurate, AI-Powered Receipt Scanning
Manual data entry is a thing of the past. A top-tier expense reporting app should include AI-driven receipt scanning that captures details instantly and reliably.
Look for:
Multi-language and multi-currency support for global teams
Anomaly detection to flag blurry or duplicate receipts
Smart categorization with confidence scores, so finance teams can trust the data they receive
The ability to scan receipts with your phone’s camera helps save tons of time and minimizes the need to keep track of paper receipts when you or your employees are on-the-go for business travel.
Expensify pioneered the receipt scanning app space with its OCR technology, SmartScan. With a 98.6% accuracy rate, you’ll be able to rest easy knowing that the data scanned into the app is exactly what’s on your receipt. It can even detect currencies from around the world, so no matter where you are, your expense reports will always be accurate!
2. Transparent, flexible pricing models
Pricing shouldn’t be a mystery. Whether you’re scaling from 10 to 1,000 employees or rolling out new functionality, the best platforms offer:
Usage-based or flexible pricing tiers
Volume discounts that adapt as your company grows
Transparent billing dashboards so admins can forecast costs easily
This flexibility is especially important if you’re experimenting with AI-powered features that might scale usage over time. For example, Expensify offers customers a discount on their pricing if they use the Expensify Card for their corporate card solution, as well as 4% cashback!
3. Intuitive UX and onboarding across devices
If an app isn’t easy to use, people won’t use it, no matter how many features it has. Look for a clean, intuitive interface that works seamlessly across mobile and web.
Key things to check:
Progressive onboarding and in-app guidance for new users
Realtime syncing between devices
Personalized dashboards for different roles
Good UX isn’t just about aesthetics. It directly affects adoption rates and the quality of data finance teams receive. A good indicator of a user-friendly app is a solution that allows employees to submit expense reports quickly and easily for approval, without lots of red tape to close the books each month.
4. Custom workflows with built-in intelligence
Make sure your app has the ability to customize approval workflows. Expense reporting isn’t one-size-fits-all. Modern platforms let you tailor workflows to your policies and increasingly, use AI to enforce them.
Top apps offer:
Conditional rules (e.g. auto-approve low-value expenses)
Customisable approval chains by team, geography, or budget
Real-time alerts when something looks off
This combination of flexibility and intelligence reduces bottlenecks and keeps finance workflows running smoothly.You’ll also want to ensure your app has easy-to-use integrations.
6. Seamless integrations with cards, banks, and tools
Expense management doesn’t happen in isolation. Your app should plug into your existing ecosystem without friction.
Look for:
Real-time bank feeds and open banking APIs
Native integrations with your corporate card programme
Integration capabilities with ERP, CRM, or accounting tools such as Quickbooks, NetSuite, Uber, Xero, etc.
To make the entire process from receipt scanning to reconciliation seamless, look for a solution that has a direct integration to your preferred accounting system. This way, each expense submitted by your employees can be coded and categorized to match what’s in your accounting system with no extra work.
Explore all of Expensify integrations that align best with your business needs.
5. Automation & risk intelligence
In 2026, it’s not enough to automate data capture. You also need to automate oversight.
Leading apps now include:
AI-based fraud and anomaly detection to flag unusual claims early
Duplicate detection across departments and time periods
Predictive matching between receipts and transactions
Automated escalation rules for high-risk claims
By building risk intelligence into your workflows, you minimize manual review time while tightening compliance.
Lastly, use an app that has a connected corporate card or reliable bank feeds. Your expense management solution should offer a good selection of banking and credit card connections or a connected corporate card, so tracking receipts and payments are as simple as possible. The best apps offer:
Real-time transaction feeds
Automatic receipt matching at the moment of swipe
Policy enforcement tied directly to card usage
This ensures finance teams can close books faster with fewer headaches — no more chasing receipts at month-end.
Bonus points: if the app offers a corporate card that directly links purchases on the card to an expense report for easy employee expense approvals. The Expensify Card is a great example of this, where employees simply swipe their card and an expense is automatically created for them - no manual entry required!
The business impact: more than just features
The right expense reporting app isn’t just a tool, it’s an engine for better compliance, productivity, and cost control.
Teams using platforms with these features typically see:
Massive reduction in manual review time
Faster reimbursement cycles
Clearer audit trails and less risk exposure
Higher employee satisfaction due to reduced friction
Frequently asked: Can I get a demo of a tool that manages both travel bookings and expense reports for a small business?
Absolutely. Expensify’s Travel + Expense functionality lets small businesses book travel, capture receipts, and manage expense reports in one place. You can request a demo to see how it streamlines the entire workflow - from flights and hotels to approvals and reimbursements. It’s designed to help smaller teams operate with the same efficiency as large travel programs.
Ready to get started with the best expense reporting app on the market? If all of these criteria resonate with you, then Expensify will fit the bill as your expense reporting app of choice! To learn more about all of Expensify’s features, head over to use.expensify.com or download it right away for free!
