The global expense management software market has been growing rapidly in recent years. This growth is inspired by the need to focus on more effective economic units, the increase in distance work, and the increase in focus on business transactions. Companies want to reduce fraud, save time, and improve the accuracy of their financial reports. As a result, businesses or startups prefer to build their own expense management software by utilizing a white label solution.
However, expense management software is becoming popular and in demand among startups and entrepreneurs. The mobile application enables companies to monitor and control their financial transactions more efficiently. With its advanced features and functionalities, companies can now streamline their financing management, saving time on manual processes.
What Do You Understand About Expense Management Software?
The expense management software is a digital method to help companies manage, track, and control employees' expenses. From offering registration expenses, submitting claims, receiving approval, to performing the reimbursement process, the software plays an important role in helping the company manage its expenses in real time. The software also generates financial reports that provide insight into the expense pattern, which helps companies to make better decisions about the budget.
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An Effective Working Model of Expense Management Software
To understand how the expense management software works, let's explore its step-by-step working model below. Just have a look:
1. User Registration and Access Control
The first step in using software is user registration. The software facilitates employees, managers, and financial team members with different features and functionalities. This ensures that everyone has access to only the features they need.
2. Expense Submission by Employees
Employees can enter the amount used by uploading the receipt, uploading the expenses, and providing other relevant details. Software makes it easy to present more expenses in a report.
3. Approval Workflow by Managers
The feature enables the assigned manager to review the details, check whether the expenses are in accordance with the company's guidelines, and approve or reject claims accordingly.
4. Reimbursement and Payment Processing
After approval, the financial group processes reimbursement. Software can integrate employees with a system or payroll services to make direct payments.
5. Analytics and Reporting
The software also produces a detailed report that helps the company understand where the money is going. This includes data, food, office supplies, and data on other categories.
6. Audit and Compliance
The feature ensures that every transaction is safely stored and can be reached for audit purposes. This enables the businesses to follow financial rules and maintain transparency.
Benefits of Investing in White Label Expense Management Software?
Utilizing a white label solution to build an expense management software is a scalable and proficient decision for businesses and startups. It offers numerous benefits that help your business in terms of growth. Just have a look at the points below.
1. Faster Time to Market
It may take months or years to develop software from scratch. With a white label solution, you can quickly go to the market and start offering your service without delay.
2. Cost-Effective Solution
Building software involves a high initial investment. A white label platform protects you from this cost and lets you invest more in marketing and customer purchases.
3. Custom Branding
You can fully customize your software to reflect your brand identity. From logo to user interface colors, everything can be rebranded to create software as your own product.
4. Focus on Growth, Not Development
Since the core software has already been created and maintained by the white label solution provider, you can focus on improving the customer base, offering excellent support, and improving the user experience.
5. Scalable Business Model
White label solutions are usually designed to accommodate the growing number of users. As the customer base increases, software can scale with your business.
6. Tested and Reliable Platform
White Label software has already been tested in the market. This reduces the risk of errors or performance problems and ensures a stable user experience.
Features and Functionalities of Expense Management Software
Expense management software offers a wide range of features and functionalities that typically facilitate three main panels: Admins, Managers, and Employees. Have a look at the list below to get a detailed overview of the features of the software.
Admin Panel
1. User Management
The administrator can create, accept, approve, edit, or remove users. They can assign different roles to users, such as employees, managers, or the CFO.
2. Role and Access Control
Different users require access to different tasks. The administrator can control who can review or see the task, depending on the role of their job.
3. Expense Categories
Administrators can install different categories such as travel, food, housing, and office supplies. This makes it easier to systematically analyze the expenses.
4. Policy Settings
The policy setting related to expenses can be defined and used. For example, to determine the expense limit for food or travel.
5. Integration Settings
The administrator can connect software to external systems such as probation, accounting software, or bank accounts.
6. Dashboard and Reports
The dashboard and reports feature applications, total expenses, pending approval, and other data for admins.
7. Notification Settings
With the help of this feature, admins can configure when and how users get a wake-up, reminder, or status update.
Manager Panel
1. View Submitted Reports
This feature enables the managers to check all the expenditure reports presented by their team members within the application.
2. Approve or Reject Claims
The manager can review the details of each report and either approve or reject it. This will help to reduce false or fraudulent claims.
3. Commenting and Notes
The manager may leave the answer or ask for further information from the employees if something is unclear.
4. Policy Violation Alerts
If an employee presents an expense that does not follow the company's rules, the policy violation alerts feature warns the manager.
5. Team Expense Tracking
The feature of team expense tracking helps managers to review how much each member of each team uses the expense compared to others.
6. Multi-Level Approvals
In terms of a large event, the expense may require more than one level of approval, and the expense management software handles it evenly.
Employee Panel
1. Submit New Expenses
With the help of this feature, employees can add or submit new expenses by entering the date, amount, category, and purpose.
2. Receipt Upload
Users can attach digital copies of receipts by uploading them from their phone or computer, utilizing the feature of receipt uploading.
3. Expense Report Creation
By utilizing this feature, employees can fulfill several expenses in a report and send it to the managers for approval.
4. Track Status
With the help of this feature, users can see or track the status of submission, including that it is waiting, approved, or reimbursed.
5. Notifications
When an expense report is approved or rejected, employees get notified. This will help keep employees updated on important information.
6. Reimbursement Details
This feature indicates that when a report is approved, the employees can see when the refund will be processed or paid.
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Explore the Advanced Features of Expense Management Software
With the help of advanced features, businesses can easily attract a wide range of audiences. This approach is only achievable with the help of an experienced mobile app development company. A list of advanced features of the expense management software is discussed below.
1. Optical Character Recognition
With the help of these features, users can easily take and upload images of a receipt, which are further scanned by the OCR in order to fulfill the basic information. This will, however, save time and reduce the risk of manual entry errors.
2. Multi-Currency Support
For companies operating in multiple countries or employees who travel internationally, multi-currency support is a necessary feature. Software can automatically change expenses in the company's basic currency by using real-time exchange rates.
3. Real-Time Notifications
Users receive real-time updates on the status of the expenditure report. Whether a report is approved, rejected, or sent back for modification, the system informs all users via notice, push notifications, and email messages.
4. Mobile App Access
It enables users to upload receipts, track reports, and communicate with managers from anywhere. This is especially useful for field employees or frequent travelers.
5. Integration with External Systems
The software can be integrated with various other platforms such as payment systems, accounting software, ERP systems, and banking platforms. This integration helps to automate financial workflows and remove the need for double input.
6. Smart Analytics and Spending Insights
The software uses analysis tools to provide insight into the company's expenses. This can expose consumption trends, identify high-cost departments, and propose improvement areas. This insight helps with better financial planning and decision-making.
7. Cloud-Based Data Storage
All data is stored safely in the cloud-based data storage because it prevents data from being lost due to hardware failure or human error.
8. Role-Based Access Controls
Each user should not have access to all data. The software ensures security by providing permits based on the user's role. It protects sensitive financial information and just looks for those who need it.
How to Build an Expense Management Platform with a White Label Solution?
To build an expense management platform with a white label solution, businesses can follow several development methods. The most relevant development process is discussed below, which will help your business build the best expense management software for small businesses. Have a look:
1. Research and Select a Trusted White Label Provider
The first and most noteworthy step is to find a reliable white label expense management software provider. Look for corporations that provide a usable, safe, and scalable solution. It is over and above that to assess if they provide customization options, customer support, and nonstop updates.
2. Reflect Your Brand Via Customization
You can customize the expense management software to reflect your business identity. By adding new and unique color, fonts, and UI/UX, businesses can achieve the goal to attract a wide number of users.
3. Configure Expense Categories and Policies
Enter all necessary categories corresponding to your business or customer requirements. You should also define guidelines as limits, required fields, and approval stages. This will help in platform function according to specific business rules.
4. Integrate with Other Business Tools
If your client or corporate accounts use accounting software, payroll, or bank platforms, they should be associated with your white label expense management platform. Most suppliers provide integration assistance or an API to make this process easier.
5. Test the Platform Thoroughly
Before you start the platform for users, do a complete test. Make sure all the features work properly and that there are no errors. You should test expenses, approval, information, refund, and report generation.
6. Launch the Platform and Onboard Users
When the test is complete, you are ready to start your platform. Ask users to record and guide them through the use of the software. You can also provide workouts or documentation to improve adoption.
7. Provide Ongoing Support and Improvements
Be sure to provide technical aid to users after launch. Achieve a response from your customers and continue to change the platform by adding new functions or improving existing ones.
Tech Stack to Build an Expense Management App
There are several technological stacks that are required to build a feature-enriched expense management app. The information below includes all the essential tech stacks that experienced software development companies use to build the app.
| Category | Tech Stack |
| Frontend Technologies | HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
React, Angular, or Vue.js React Native, Flutter, or Swift (for iOS) and Kotlin (for Android) |
| Backend Technologies | Node.js, Python (Django or Flask), Ruby on Rails, Java, and PHP
MySQL or PostgreSQL RESTful APIs or GraphQL |
| Cloud and Hosting | Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud
Docker and Kubernetes |
| Security | SSL/TLS
OAuth, JWT (JSON Web Tokens), or Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) GDPR or PCI DSS |
Use Cases of Expense Management Solutions
The expense management application is versatile and can be used by a wide range of businesses and organizations. Here are some general use cases:
1. Corporate Travel Management
Companies with software for expense management facilitate their users to easily browse expenses for airline tickets, hotels, and food. At the same time, the managers monitor the budget and approve the requirements quickly.
2. Employee Reimbursements
Many companies refund employees for pocket expenses. The software simplifies timely payment and accurate itemization, simplification, and approval.
3. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
SMEs often do not have a dedicated financial team. The software automates a lot to reduce financial tracking, time savings, and errors.
4. Non-Profit Organizations
Non-profit businesses need to maintain openness to donors and regulators. Thus, the application helps them to track how funds are used and report quickly.
5. Project-Based Expense Tracking
Companies that run several projects can use software to distribute project expenses and help with budget control and profitability analysis.
6. Educational Institutions
Schools and universities use the expense management software to manage research, events, and operations related to operating costs.
7. Remote and Distributed Teams
Together with teams working from different places, cloud-based software allows employees to submit expenses at any time and from anywhere, making financial procedures comfortable.
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How to Generate Income from Expense Management Software?
There are several ways to generate a good income from the expense management software. But only the right monetization strategies will help you to do so. Therefore, below is a detailed explanation about how you can generate revenue from the app for a high ROI.
1. Subscription-Based Model
Charge businesses monthly or annual fees to use the software. This fee may be level-based on the number of users, features, or transactions. Membership models provide stable, approximate revenue.
2. Freemium Model
Provide a free basic version with limited features and the cost of premium features, such as advanced analysis, support, or integration of multiple currencies. This model helps attract a large user base before converting to any paying customers.
3. Per-User Pricing
Charge a specific fee based on the number of active users or employees using platforms. It is popular with companies that want to pay by size.
4. Transaction Fees
Take a small fee or percentage at the expense of each refund. It works well when integrating payment processing into the platform.
5. Add-On Services
Provide consultation, training, or prioritized support, such as add-on paid services. Many businesses are willing to pay for extra help to maximize software investment.
6. Advertising and Partnerships
Suppose your platform has a large user base. In that case, you can work together to offer targeted ads or referral programs such as travel book companies, credit card issuers, or accounting firms.
7. Data Insights and Reporting
Provide detailed expense analysis and insight as a premium service. Some companies are willing to pay for a better understanding of their financial patterns.
The Cost to Build an Expense Management App
The total cost that businesses need to spend on the development of an expense management app starts at $7,000. This cost is applicable only when businesses utilize a white label solution for app development. However, this can be increased as per your additional requirements or customization in the application. Apart from this, businesses that are willing to build the best expense management software from scratch need to pay more. The cost and deployment time of custom app solutions are significantly higher.
Why Approach Hyperlocal Cloud?
Partner with Hyperlocal Cloud to get the advanced and feature-enriched expense management software at a budget-friendly price. Our specialty is delivering on-demand app development solutions that tailor to our clients' business requirements. Our team of tech experts utilizes advanced technologies like AI, AR/VR, and third-party integrations to make the software robust, scalable, and efficient. We ensure that the software is built with top-notch functionalities that glorify the platform's performance. To get a detailed overview of the same, contact us now!
