We hear from our app partner of the month: Expensify

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Every month at Xero, we recognise one of our 500 app partners for their contribution to our ecosystem and the great work they are doing to help businesses thrive.

This month it’s Expensify.

Expensify delivers cloud-based receipt and expense management through a user-friendly web and mobile application. It combines user-centric design with powerful compliance features. Therefore it is the best choice for both employees and the finance department.

Its top-rated direct integration with Xero allows administrators to quickly approve reports, export data, reimburse employees, and easily close the books on time. Whether you’re a single user, a small business, or an accountant with multiple clients, Expensify will make you fall in love with expense reports – and leave the paper receipts behind!

We hear from Robert Ladue, Business Development and Partnerships at Expensify about the integration, and how small businesses can overcome some common expense management pitfalls.

1. What are the common mistakes small business owners make when it comes to keeping track of your employees’ expenses?

When it comes to expense management, some of the most common mistakes that we see include:

Tracking expenses manually
Manual data entry is not only time consuming, but prone to human error and mistakes. Subsequently these can have compounding negative effects on small businesses.
Delayed reimbursements
A slow and manual accounting process can result in delays, forcing unhappy employees to float the cost of business expenses.
Closing the books late
Expenses, especially those made on corporate cards, are rarely tracked throughout the month. This causes last minute reconciliations to delay month end.
Not being audit-ready
Without automating any of the accounting process, unorganised expenses and accounting data can quickly pile up throughout the year, leaving your financials in disarray when the time comes for an audit.

2. Do you have any tips overcoming these challenges?

For any small business struggling to keep track of their expenses, we recommend diving headfirst into the cloud-based app ecosystem. By using automated solutions like Xero and Expensify you can:

Automate expense tracking
Expensify’s SmartScan feature eliminates the need for manual data entry. No more holding onto piles of receipts so you can manually enter them later.
Utilize free, next-day reimbursement
Instead of waiting for ACH or payroll reimbursement, using an expense management tool like Expensify ensures that employees are reimbursed within 24 hours.
Store audit-ready files in the cloud
Finding and providing auditors with supporting documentation is a hassle. Instead, store your expense and accounting data in a secure cloud environment that allows you to access all your files at the drop of the hat.
Work with a pro
ExpensifyApproved! Partners and Xero Advisors can help get your business onto cloud-based processes & technology. They’re pros in the space and will make sure that you have the perfect accounting setup so that you can focus on growing your business.

3. Why did you choose to partner and integrate with Xero?

Xero’s innovative product and promotion of cloud-based solutions made our partnership and integration a no-brainer from the start. We love that Xero offers users:

A “cloud-first” product

Xero’s accounting solution started in the cloud, meaning that their customers truly understand the benefit of using cloud-based apps. Because of this, translating the value of our integration to our joint customers is easy!

Global support

Similar to Expensify’s Approved! Program, Xero has an extensive network of Advisors and Champions around the globe. We love that our users can rest easy knowing that they’ll always have experts available to help set up their backend processes.

Industry-leading technology

Xero and Expensify share similar views on innovative technology. We were both the first in our respective industries to provide features like corporate card feeds, machine learning, and AI to our customers. It’s exciting to be partnered with a company that continues to challenge the industry by offering the most cutting-edge technology to its users.

4. How does your app’s integration with Xero make life easier for small businesses?

Instead of holding onto handfuls of receipts and wasting time manually filing reports each month, our integration with Xero allows users to finish their expense process in just a few clicks! In addition to being the easiest way to track expenses, the Xero-Expensify integration offers users:

Simple expense coding

Our two-way sync enables customers to pull in all of their Xero coding into Expensify. Consequently this allows employees to easily and accurately label expenses with chart of accounts, tax rates, tracking categories, cost centres, and regions!

Data that’s always up-to-date

Expensify pulls in any changes made in Xero on a daily basis. Therefore this ensures that mutual customers always have the most up-to-date information available for their employees, and allows them to have insight on their true spend at any time.

Exporting made easy

Finally, by utilizing Xero’s APIs, we’ve simplified the exporting process by enabling accountants to send expense data from Expensify to Xero in just one click. With our direct integration, users can be sure that reports will be sent to the correct Xero accounts. Subsequently, this will minimize human error and duplicate data.

Want to learn more Expensify’s modern approach to expense management? Head over to use.expensify.com/xero for more info!

The post We hear from our app partner of the month: Expensify appeared first on Xero Blog.