Which of the following is most useful in monitoring expenses

Budgets are one of the most important business financial statements. If planned and managed well, a budget allows you to monitor the financial impact of your business decisions and operational plans.

What is a profit and loss budget?

The profit and loss budget is a summary of expected income and expenses. It's usually prepared annually but the period can be shorter or longer depending on what you're using the budget for.

For your profit and loss budget, income and expense information is set against the business operating plans for the budget period.

Your accountant can help you prepare your budget, but it's useful if you at least understand:

• how it's been developed
• how to track if your business is achieving your goals and staying within budget

Start by understanding your business goals and involve relevant staff. This will help make sure your budget is aligned to your goals, and is prepared and reviewed by the appropriate people.

Document and follow a process for preparing an annual budget. The process might include steps such as these:

1. Review the approved business operating plan and note all necessary activities for the budget period.
2. Separate activities into existing and new for the new budget period.
3. Document all assumptions made for the budget period.
4. Review the previous year's profit and loss statements by regular periods, such as monthly or quarterly.
5. Use the following financial statements template to prepare the profit and loss budget for the selected period.

If you prepare your profit and loss statement (P&L) on a monthly basis, your budget will need to be separated into months for the budget period.

Monitor your budget against actual results regularly. This will help show whether your business is on track to meet the goals you were aiming for when you first prepared your budget.

When the actual results vary from the budget

At the end of each month:

• compare the actual results from your P&L with the budgeted results
• analyse and note down explanations for variances
• categorise all variances as either a 'timing' or 'permanent' variance

A timing variance is where the estimated result did not occur but is still expected to happen at some point in the future.

A permanent variance is where the expected event is not likely to occur at all.

This information will help minimise future variances. You will be able to try new or improved activities to make sure you can still achieve the strategic goals of your business.

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Most people know the importance of keeping business receipts in case they’re audited. The problem with paper receipts is that it’s easy to lose such an important document. By immediately uploading these into an expense tracker app, you save space and time instead of having to dig through a shoebox full of receipts come tax time.

Many of these expense tracker apps do more than receipt tracking. You can monitor your credit, send invoices, create a budget, reconcile accounts, track the performance of investments, and create mileage records. Most of these apps are free or very low cost. 

We reviewed 30 different expense tracker apps to determine the best options available. Each app should have the ability to sync and categorize account transactions, be reasonable in price, and offer reporting tools to better leverage your personal and business financial health.

Mint is the best overall expense tracker app because it’s free, and you can monitor all of your accounts in one place. Set savings goals, keep tabs on your credit, and track investments. If you need advice from a financial professional, you can get a Mint Live Subscription.

Pros

• Track investments and create savings goals

• Monitor your credit

• Connect accounts to categorize transactions

Cons

• Not all banks allow Mint access

• No receipt uploading

• Accounts sometimes need re-authorization to sync

Owned by Intuit, Mint is a personal finance app geared toward helping people organize and manage their finances and credit. It’s the best expense tracker app because it gives an in-depth look at personal finances and offers tools to grow your net worth and pay down debt.

Most expense tracker apps can integrate with your bank and credit card accounts, just like Mint can. However, this app also helps you avoid late fees by notifying you of upcoming bill due dates. It will even notify you if your account balance is running low so you can avoid an overdraft fee, or if you’re close to your credit card’s limit. 

With Mintsights, you can see how your subscription spending changes month-to-month. This way, you can cancel subscriptions you’ve forgotten about or maybe even negotiate a lower rate with the provider.

We chose QuickBooks Accounting as the best expense tracking app for small businesses because users can send and track invoices and automatically track mileage. It also has a built-in photo tool to snap pictures of receipts—all on-the-go.

Pros

• Automatically track mileage and snap pictures of receipts

• Send and track invoices in multiple currencies

• Link bank and credit card accounts

Cons

• One of the more expensive expense tracker apps

• E-signature is available only on the app

• No chat support

Owned by Intuit, QuickBooks is a leader in business accounting and bookkeeping. Its app helps small businesses track expenses, send invoices, and manage most financial aspects of a business.

QuickBooks Accounting offers a free 30-day trial with no credit card or commitment required. And, if you have QuickBooks online, the Accounting app is free. Otherwise, choose from a variety of plans starting at $7.50 per month. 

Some popular features for small business owners include:

• Integrations with over 650 apps, like inventory management and advanced CRM
• Give your accountant access 
• Customize invoices with your logo and business info
• Create and track invoices in multiple currencies
• Generate profit and loss reports
• Photograph receipts and attach them to expenses
• Track sales and customers on-the-go
• Categorize expenses
• Mileage tracking uses GPS without draining the battery
• Forecast cash flow over 90 days and use Envelopes to set aside money for business payroll and taxes
• Connect bank and credit card accounts to track revenue and expenses

The best expense tracker app for investors is Personal Capital because you can view all of your investment and bank accounts in one app. It gives investment tools, advice, expense categorization, and helps you stay on top of upcoming bills.

Pros

• Reporting tools make it easy to see the asset allocation and performance of your investments

• Offers strategies to lower your tax burden

• Recession simulator shows how your investments would’ve performed in historical recessions

Cons

• No account reconciliation

• Some financial institutions won’t sync with the app

• Must have over $100,000 in investable assets for advisory services

Personal Capital is a personal finance and wealth management company founded in 2009. This app is free and gives you a clear snapshot of your financial health.

If you have over $100,000 in investable assets, you’re eligible for advisory services with Personal Capital. After linking your accounts, receive a free initial consultation with one of their financial advisors. Compared to similar companies, its annual fee for investment management is high. You will pay an annual fee of 0.89% if your assets are over under $1 million. If it’s over $1 million, your annual fee is 0.79% to 0.49% depending on the total assets. 

This app is still beneficial if you don’t have $100,000 in investable assets, though. Take advantage of its investment management tools to link accounts, plan for retirement, set a budget, and see your cash flow. Each of these services is free with the app or its web interface.

When looking for an app for receipt saving, go with Expensify because its app automatically scans, reads, and imports receipt details for you. It also works great for travel—get trip reminders, flight delay notifications, and change notifications sent right to your phone.

Pros

• Automatically reads and imports receipt details for you—even if it’s foreign currency

• Categorize, tag, and group expenses into a report

• Automatic mileage tracking using GPS

Cons

• Uploading PDF receipts can be difficult to do

• Automatic receipt reading sometimes takes longer than it would to manually type in the info

Expensify is an app launched in 2008 meant specifically to manage receipts and expenses. It allows 25 scans per month for free, and beyond that, you’ll need a paid account. Pricing starts at $4.99 per month, or $9 per user per month if your company needs expense reporting, card management, approvals, and reimbursements.

This app is targeted toward business users because it has tools to submit receipts directly to a manager or accountant. From there, they can approve or reject expenses right from the app. Expensify even offers a corporate Visa card and a corporate travel assistant.

Integrate accounting apps like QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, and Sage Intacct. Next-day reimbursement is a favorite feature of Expensify because employees get their money back quickly. 

One of the best features for international travelers is how Expensify works with global currencies and taxes. An app that’s globally compatible makes month-end closing seamless.

With Everlance, create an IRS-compliant mileage log and sync your bank accounts and credit cards for expense and receipt tracking. This app is particularly popular with those who are self-employed.

Pros

• GPS used to create an IRS-compliant mileage log

• Syncs to bank or credit card for expenses and receipts

• Export mileage and expense reports in PDF, CSV, or Excel formats

Cons

• The app creates a new trip if you’ve stopped for 10 minutes

• Premium features cost far more than other expense tracker apps

• Notifications are cumbersome if manually tracking trips

Founded in 2015, Everlance is an app designed to track mileage, expenses, and receipts. When you download the app, you automatically start a seven-day Premium trial. At the end of the trial, you’ll revert to a free account unless you choose to upgrade. 

To track expenses, sync your credit cards and bank accounts. With one swipe, you can categorize business and personal expenses. For recurring expenses and transactions, users can set custom expense rules. With Everlance, tracking revenue is easy, too—even if you have income from multiple sources. 

Everlance uses GPS technology to automatically chart your trips. However, you can also turn that feature off and manually track trips. While the app does advertise you can set it and forget it, user reviews suggest it’s best to double-check your trip is recorded, as GPS errors have caused the app to miss some trips. 

There are three packages available with Everlance:

If you want to get a handle on your personal finances for free, download the NerdWallet app. With it, you can see all of your accounts and their transactions in one place, keep tabs on your credit and net worth, and get helpful reports on your cash flow.

Pros

• Track income and expenses

• Monitor your credit and net worth

• It’s completely free

Cons

• Limited transaction management

• Credit score is only provided by one bureau—TransUnion

• Must link your account to reconcile transactions, rather than it pulling from your credit report

NerdWallet is a personal finance company founded in 2009. Its app gives a complete look at your personal finances and tools to help manage your money. It’s completely free and doesn’t offer in-app purchases. 

Link your accounts and categorize your transactions to get a picture of how you spend your money every month. From there, set goals to help pay down debt, invest for your future, and save money. 

When you link a debit or credit card, you can receive offers from retailers to get cashback. Receive your payout once your cashback balance reaches $10. NerdWallet also offers calculators and editorial content to help you make smart financial decisions. 

The app offers tips based on your own personal situation. For example, if you're using a high amount of credit on a credit card, the app tells you to make multiple payments per month on that specific card to keep your balance low.

Expense tracker apps help you gain control of your personal and business finances. Many of these apps also monitor your credit, help you pay down debt, and send invoices to customers. If you want to try out the basic features and functionality, go with a free option with no credit card required. On the other hand, if you need to migrate your record-keeping practices to your phone, you may want to spring for something with more robust features.

We recommend Mint as the best expense tracker app because it offers credit monitoring, expense tracking, and budgeting tools. Best of all—it’s free.

An expense tracker app allows you to monitor and categorize your expenses across different bank and investment accounts and credit cards. Some of these apps also offer budgeting tools, credit monitoring, mileage tracking, receipt keeping, and advice to grow your net worth.

Expense tracker apps vary in cost, although many are free. Paid apps are typically less than $10 per month, although if you want business features like invoice creation and management, you’re more likely to pay well above that. Before paying for an expense tracker app, check to see if there’s a free trial. A lot of apps offer 30 days to test drive all of their features.

Many expense tracker apps are free or low cost, so explore your options and decide if you need a paid app. These apps can help you gain control of your finances, pay down debt, and grow your net worth. Some even allow you to upload receipts, track mileage, and send invoices, which are all helpful if you run a business.

We looked at 30 of the best expense tracker apps available and narrowed it down to the best options based on several features and considerations. We considered pricing, features, reviews, and accessibility. In each case, we evaluated how robust the features were for day-to-day and power users and whether the app was easy to use.