“Have I paid that vendor yet?” you ask yourself as you sort through the dozens of invoices you’ve received this month. Definitely not the way you wanted to spend your Friday afternoon.
As your small business grows, manually managing accounts payable (AP) processes becomes more challenging, time-consuming and error-prone.
Enter accounts payable software. These platforms can automate processes like invoice management and payment processing while syncing to your accounting software to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
This article offers an overview of the six best accounts payable software solutions for small businesses so you can find just the right platform for your needs. We’ll also give you a list of the features you should look for when choosing a platform, plus tips for how to make your decision.*
Financial admin eating up too much of your time? We can take it off your plate
Automate your accounts payable processes with Juni and free up your day for more impactful work.
*The information about all the platforms discussed in this article was collected between 9 January 2024 and 11 January 2024. This article was written and approved by Juni and is intended as marketing material.
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Whenever you’re researching software, whether that be an accounts payable solution or inventory management platform, you need to be clear on what functionalities your business needs. So before we get into our list, here are some features you should prioritise when selecting accounts payable software:
Let’s take an in-depth look at our list of software. For each platform, we’ll list its features (as well as its limitations), explain how pricing works and point out what kind of business it’s best fit for.
Juni’s platform for ecommerce entrepreneurs comes with automated accounts payable features that can help you run simpler, tighter and more accurate financial admin. With Juni, it takes just seconds to auto-collect, pay and even finance your invoices.
By collecting and scanning your invoices automatically, then pre-filling all the important payment details, Juni saves you time and reduces the risk of human error. You can also automatically import your receipts and invoices with your dedicated Juni inbox for effortless spend management, plus match receipts to transactions.
What’s more, if you need to reduce pressure on your cash flow cycles, Juni offers financing options for certain types of payments, giving you up to 120 days to pay.*
The platform goes beyond accounts payable features, also offering business accounts and cards, features to optimise cash flow management, powerful accounting automations, fast transfers and storefront integrations.
Most suitable for: Ecommerce entrepreneurs and small businesses
Juni has two plan options:
You can try our Scale plan for free for the first 30 days.
Based in Copenhagen, Pleo is a business spending solution with built-in AP automation software. Pleo’s invoice management features make it easy to capture, process, approve, pay and bookkeep invoices in a central location. With over 50 supported currencies, Pleo users can seamlessly pay vendors across the world.
Most suitable for: Companies that need to pay invoices in several currencies
Pleo has three plan options:
Spendesk is a spend management platform with accounts payable features like invoice automation and approval workflows, giving you greater control over the invoicing lifecycle and your AP processes. By using Spendesk, you can minimise (or eliminate) manual data entry for your invoicing processes, plus get real-time insights into your spending patterns.
Most suitable for: SaaS, tech and fintech companies
Spendesk doesn’t list its pricing options, so you’ll have to reach out to sales to get a quote
Sage Intacct’s cloud-based invoicing software helps small business owners and finance teams automate invoice management with the power of AI. For example, simply upload or email an invoice, and the software will automatically extract details and populate fields for your approval. The platform can also detect duplicate invoices, helping you stay in control of your expenses and avoid costly errors.
Most suitable for: Businesses that need powerful analytics tools
Sage Intacct has three plans for its accounts payable software. All plans come with three months free:
While SAP Concur isn’t specifically designed for small businesses, it’s still a good fit for solopreneurs and SMBs looking to automate their AP processes. The platform automates invoicing processes, meaning you can pay suppliers quickly without constantly having to double-check invoices and complete transactions yourself.
Most suitable for: Businesses with immediate plans to scale
SAP Concur doesn’t list its pricing options, so you’ll have to reach out to sales to get a quote.
Visma is the parent organisation for a number of accounting and invoicing solutions across Europe. It has designated products for 15 different EU countries, such as Visma eKonomi, its designated Swedish accounting platform. Visma eKonomi has basic AP features for paying vendors, but it has a range of other accounting features that can help you streamline your financial admin as a whole.
Most suitable for: Small businesses in Sweden
Visma platform prices range depending on which country you operate in and the Visma product you select. Visma eEkonomi has three plans that come with supplier invoicing features:
You can have all the software comparison guides in the world available to you, but if you aren’t intentional about your decision, you may end up choosing software that falls short for your needs. Here are a few steps you can take to help you make the right decision when selecting an accounts payable platform for your small business.
By digitising the traditionally paper-intensive process of handling invoices and payments, AP software is not only more efficient than manual processes, but also minimises the possibility of errors, like a missed or incorrect payment. Having more visibility over invoices, due dates and your general spending patterns can help you maintain tighter control over your financial operations.
But to get the most out of a platform, you need to make sure you’re choosing the right one for your needs. For example, if you run an online storefront, you’ll want to choose a solution like Juni that has the specific needs of ecommerce entrepreneurs in mind.
By choosing a software solution that’s a good fit for you, you’ll make your business more agile, resilient and competitive. Meanwhile, you’ll get back more time in the day to focus on what you most love about running your company, whether that’s marketing your product, interacting with customers or finding ways to scale.
Financial admin eating up too much of your time? We can take it off your plate
Automate your accounts payable processes with Juni and free up your day for more impactful work.
*Juni Invoices is available for EU-based companies only. Media financing is available for companies registered in NL, SE, DE, FR, ES, IT, FI and NO, upon eligibility. Fees and terms and conditions apply. Click here for more details.
Accounts payable automation software helps businesses manage and track the money they owe to suppliers, vendors and other parties. Essentially, this type of software helps business owners and finance departments handle their payment processes by recording invoices, tracking due dates and organising information.
While you can manually manage your accounts payable process, this approach can be time-consuming and error-prone. A better way to keep track of accounts payable is by using specialised accounts payable software that tracks and pays your invoices for you.
You can automate accounts payable processes by using specialised software. These platforms handle a number of tasks, including:
"Only six more to go," you tell yourself as you upload yet another receipt to your accounting software. We all know the pain of searching for receipts across emails and platforms and trying to match them to expenses.
This becomes even more challenging the larger your business becomes and the more vendors you have to pay. You can avoid most of that frustration and wasted time with the right spend management software.
But not all spend management platforms will be a good fit for your business. For example, digital commerce companies need solutions that take into account sector-specific expenses like ad receipts and multiple platform payments, while small businesses need tools that simplify their financial admin, not complicate it.
This article takes a look at the six best spend management software solutions so you can find just the right platform for your needs. We’ll also give you a list of the features you should look for when choosing a platform, plus tips for how to make your decision.*
Spend less time on spend management
With real-time spend overviews, receipt matching automation and powerful integrations, Juni will make you forget what a hassle managing your expenses used to be.
*The information about all the platforms discussed in this article was collected between 17 January 2024 and 19 January 2024. This article was written and approved by Juni and is intended as marketing material.
Before taking a closer look at the tools on our list, here are six features your spend management software (also known as expense management software) should come with:
Bonus: Look out for spend management platforms that come with built-in accounts payable and invoice automation features, which will help you centralise your financial admin and save time.
Now, let's explore the solutions on our list in depth. For each platform, we’ll list its key features (as well as its limitations), explain how pricing works and point out what kind of business it’s best fit for.
Juni helps businesses in digital commerce manage their cash flow, track their expenses and optimise their profits with features that are specifically designed with ecommerce companies in mind.
While it’s not specifically expense management software, you can use the platform for your spend management needs. Juni's goal is to give everyone in digital commerce, from the CFO to the accounting team to marketing managers, everything they need to focus on business growth.
Juni’s expense management features are especially valuable for users who have multiple receipts coming from different media buying channels and online transactions. With Meta and Google Ads integrations, plus powerful receipt matching, expense management suddenly becomes easy. On top of that, you can also manage your unpaid invoices and accounts payable processes within Juni, bringing your financial admin under one roof.
All of this comes with easy access to media and inventory financing for up to 2 million EUR, helping you free up your cash flow and grow your business.*
*Juni Invoices is available for EU-based companies only. Media financing is available for companies registered in NL, SE, DE, FR, ES, IT, FI and NO, upon eligibility. Fees and terms and conditions apply. Click here for more details.
Most suitable for: SMBs and mid-market companies in digital commerce
Juni has two plan options:
SAP Concur helps you streamline processes to deliver efficiency savings, with a focus on eliminating manual data entry, lost receipts and unclaimed VAT refunds. As such, it’s best suited to larger organisations. The platform helps you reduce the risk of human error and compliance issues with automations, plus the software can identify potential mistakes and discrepancies in real-time.
Most suitable for: Larger and enterprise organisations
SAP Concur doesn’t list its pricing options, so you’ll have to reach out to sales to get a quote.
Zoho Expense is the business expense tracking app from the Zoho suite of business tools, which means it integrates with Zoho’s other financial management apps. It’s a reasonably priced platform suited to handling all aspects of expense management and reporting for SMBs. Zoho Expense automatically records expenses from receipts, simplifying and automating the expense reporting process.
Most suitable for: People already using other Zoho products (namely Zoho Books)
Zoho Expense has three plans for its spend management software:
Expensify is a spend management solution for keeping track of business expenses on the go. Most of the expense management functionality can be done on your phone, while a series of handy integrations help to automate and streamline processes around uploading and allocating receipts. Plus, it’s easy for employees to create and submit expense reports for quick reimbursement.
Most suitable for: Small businesses with lots of employee expenses
Expensify has two plans:
One of the many features of smart accounting software QuickBooks is its built-in expense management tool. There are obvious advantages to expenses being handled via your accounting platform, like how easy it is to claim business expenses for tax purposes. And when you connect your bank to the platform, QuickBooks automatically matches and organises your receipts to transactions.
Most suitable for: Businesses who want more comprehensive accounting tools built into their spend management software
Quickbooks has five plans:
Fortnox is a cloud-based accounting software platform based in Sweden that helps businesses manage their accounting and bookkeeping processes, as well as other financial admin like spend management. Users can take photos of receipts and instantly upload them via a mobile app, and the platform automatically fills in date, amount and VAT.
Most suitable for: Businesses that operate in Sweden
Fortnox has three plans:
The information in this guide can help you make your decision, but ultimately, you need to factor in considerations about your business and its needs when choosing a platform. Here are three things you can do to ensure you’re choosing an ideal solution.
As you’ll notice from the list above, different software solutions are more suitable for different business industries and sizes. For example, Juni is spend management software built with the needs of ecommerce companies in mind. So when researching a platform, pay close attention to what type of business (big or small, ecommerce or SaaS) it’s best suited for.
While it shouldn’t be the only factor that guides your decision, you can’t ignore pricing when choosing a solution. You need to find a healthy balance between a platform you can afford (and doesn't go over budget) that still gives you all the key features and functionalities you need to run smarter, more efficient financial admin.
You may be a small business now, but if you have plans of scaling in the future, you want to make sure your expense management solution can scale with you. Juni, for example, caters to both SMBs as well as mid-market companies, meaning we can provide the solutions you need from the time your business is founder-led to when it has 100+ employees.
While you can never remove expense management from your to-do list, you can find a platform that does most of the work for you. The best spend management software is one that not only simplifies financial operations but also contributes to strategic decision-making and the long-term financial health of your organisation.
To find a platform that does all that, you need to make sure you’re making your selection with the unique needs of your business in mind. For example, if you operate in digital commerce, you want to choose a solution like Juni that comes with ecommerce-specific capabilities, like features designed specifically for media buying and online transactions.
So take your time finding the right platform—doing so can lead to significant time savings and valuable insights into spending patterns, helping you improve the overall financial health and success of your business.
Spend less time on spend management
With real-time spend overviews, receipt matching automation and powerful integrations, Juni will make you forget what a hassle managing your expenses used to be.
Spend management software is a platform or tool that helps businesses manage and control their expenses. This type of solution usually includes features for receipt management, expense reporting and approval workflows. Plus, these platforms often integrate with accounting software, as well as sync with banks and credit cards.
There are a number of benefits to using spend management software to control your expenses, including:
The price of expense management software varies depending on the size of your business and what industry you operate in, as this will impact which platform you choose. Prices range from as low as £7 per month to almost £100, and some spend management systems also offer free plans to certain users.
Your business is growing, with new hires joining your team and projects moving forward at lightning speed. Your latest product launch was a resounding success, and your customers are raving about your services. However, despite the forward momentum, managing expenses is a drain on resources.
Every time an employee submits an expense report, policies are unclear and approval workflows fragmented, leading to inefficiencies and discrepancies that have to be resolved.
You can address this with a well-crafted employee expense policy that streamlines processes and ensures accuracy.
In this article, you'll discover:
However, even with the most carefully structured and implemented expense policy, you'll still likely experience issues like bottlenecks with the reimbursement process, a lack of visibility into spending, and limited controls over where your resources go.
So, we also discuss how tailored spend management solutions like Juni allow you to skip the reimbursement process altogether and give you full control over your spend.
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An employee expense policy is a set of guidelines to manage and reimburse expenses incurred by employees while performing their duties. These policies are designed to provide clarity on what types of expenses are permitted, the documentation required for reimbursement and the procedures for submitting expense claims.
The goal is to make sure that employees are reimbursed fairly and promptly while maintaining control over company finances.
By specifying allowable expenses and setting limits, an expense policy helps maintain financial discipline.
It ensures spending aligns with a predetermined budget, reducing the risk of overspending and financial mismanagement. Additionally, it plays a crucial role in preventing fraud related to expense reports, safeguarding the company’s resources and promoting integrity.
For example, your finance team is in charge of managing the budget for a rapidly growing company. As the business scales, so do the expenses related to travel, client meetings, and office supplies. Without a clear employee expense policy, the finance team starts to notice inconsistencies and excessive spending across departments.
By implementing a comprehensive employee expense policy, your finance team can establish clear guidelines for all employees. The policy sets limits on travel and accommodation expenses, specifies the documentation required for reimbursement, and outlines the approval process for expense claims.
Despite clear policies, businesses often face challenges with expense claims that push the boundaries—potentially leading to significant financial leakage. For instance, when claims and reimbursements make you lose money to hidden expenses. For example:
Accommodation upsells: Opting for higher-tier hotel rooms or extending stays without clear business justification.
Incidental expenses: These can range from minibar charges to fast internet charges in hotels, which might not be covered under the policy.
Excessive entertainment expenses: Charges for drinks or entertainment can add up, especially if not strictly necessary for business purposes.
Below, you’ll see what you need to create an employee expense policy, then we look at solutions to gaining custom financial controls so you don’t even need a claims or reimbursement process at all.
A well-crafted expense policy enables all employees to effectively carry out their duties by providing clear guidelines and necessary resources. In essence, this approach involves establishing predefined limits while giving employees the freedom to make decisions within these set boundaries.
While there's no one-size-fits-all expense policy template, here are the key components of a solid employee expense policy:
Eligible expenses: A list of authorised expenses, such as travel, meals, accommodation, entertainment, subscriptions and office supplies.
Expense limits: Specific limits or caps on certain types of expenses, such as daily meal allowances or maximum hotel rates.
Submission process: The steps employees need to follow to submit an expense claim, including required documentation like receipts and invoices.
Approval process: The workflow for approving expense claims, detailing who is authorised to approve expenses and any required levels of review.
Reimbursement timeline: The timeframe within which employees can expect to receive reimbursement once their claims are approved, if they aren’t using a company card.
Non-reimbursable expenses: A clear outline of expenses that are not covered by the company, such as personal expenses or unauthorised travel upgrades.
Compliance and auditing: Procedures for ensuring compliance with the policy and conducting periodic audits to prevent fraud and abuse.
Creating a robust employee expense policy is crucial for maintaining financial control. However, it doesn't guarantee employee compliance or remove process-related bottlenecks. This is where spend management platforms come in: they can help you take back control of your cash flow with real-time visibility and controls.
By following these five essential steps, and selecting the right financial platform, you can establish a clear and effective policy that benefits your organisation and its employees. Here's how to get started:
Building a solid policy involves understanding your team and company's needs and day-to-day expenses. Effective spend management begins by identifying the most common expenses employees incur and considering industry standards.
For instance, if your company frequently sends employees on trips, typical business travel expenses might include airfare, hotel accommodations, meals, transportation (such as car rentals or ride-shares) and incidental expenses (like tips and internet access fees).
So, identify allowable expenses and limits. Start by going through expense categories such as travel, meals, accommodation, office supplies, and professional development. Then, clearly define allowable expenses in each category to prevent confusion and set clear expectations.
You also need to establish specific limits for different types of expenses. For example, set daily meal allowances, maximum hotel rates and mileage rates for personal vehicle use. These limits help control costs and ensure spending stays within the company’s budget.
Depending on company and employee needs, integrating business expense cards can help keep expense management efficient and transparent.
This is because it allows employees to make allowable purchases without using personal funds, which means there’s no need for reimbursement. You’ll also have a single source of truth for employee and company spend.
For example, with Juni, you can create as many virtual credit cards as you need in SEK, GBP, EUR, or USD. You can set specific controls to monitor, limit, or block spending at the card level, providing increased visibility and control for both managers and your finance team.
Additionally, Juni Capital offers fast and flexible financing solutions to help boost your cash flow when needed.*
*Capital for cards is available for companies registered in UK, NL, SE, DE, FR, ES, IT, NO and FI, upon eligibility. Fees and terms and conditions apply.
To streamline admin surrounding the business expense policy, your expense management software should integrate with your accounting tool. This can simplify the process of tracking employee spending, reduce manual data entry and minimise errors.
For example, it lets you save time manually uploading transactions and receipts and provides real-time insights into your financial health, helping you make informed decisions.
Integrating accounting software to your spend management platform directly connects the flow of data between your virtual card controls and financial systems. Now, you can start automating key tasks, as discussed in the next step.
Automating expense management streamlines your expense tracking and reimbursement process. Automation reduces administrative workload, accelerates the reimbursement process, and can boost compliance with your expense policy.
For example, tools like Juni can automatically capture receipts, match them to invoices and settle them in seconds. This means you don't have to think about paper receipts or manual data entry. Plus, as we already mentioned, employees won't need expense reimbursement at all saving valuable time.
Implementing a robust system to track and report all expenses is crucial for maintaining financial transparency and control. For example, use a financial platform like Juni, your accounting software, or ERP to monitor company spend and the effectiveness of your expense policy.
This practice helps identify spending patterns, ensure compliance with the expense policy, and make data-driven financial decisions. Regular tracking and reporting also facilitate audits and provide insights into areas where cost-saving measures can be implemented.
Juni matches your paid invoices to the right transactions, so you don’t have to. You can also automatically import your receipts and invoices with your dedicated Juni inbox for effortless spend management, and match receipts to transactions.
Let's take a look at some ways Juni makes expense management easy:
Seamlessly integrate Juni with your existing accounting software: This makes sure all expense data is accurately recorded, reducing errors and simplifying financial reporting. For example, Juni integrates with Xero to automatically sync your bank feed. You can also do seamless exports to software like Netsuite or Fortnox.
Take control of your media spend: Implement specific controls on each Juni virtual card to monitor, limit, or block media spending. This ensures that all expenses are within budget and aligned with company policies. Juni also collects and scans your Google Ads and Facebook Ads invoices automatically and pre-fills all the payment details with our integrations.
Access fast and flexible financing: If you need to boost your cash flow, Juni Capital offers quick and flexible financing solutions. This ensures you have the necessary funds to keep your business operations running smoothly.
More visibility leads to better decision-making and ultimately, a healthier financial environment for your business.
The same is true when creating and implementing your employee expense policy. The more clarity you have when managing common expenses, the easier it gets to implement reasonable spend limits and controls – and the fewer issues there’ll be with employee compliance.
By creating a strong policy structure and empowering your team with virtual cards you can create a policy that manages costs effectively. Plus, companies that leverage automation and integrate their accounting software can enhance spend control, reduce administrative burdens, and ensure compliance.
More than that, you can support your employees in performing their roles efficiently and confidently.
In addition to Juni’s accounts payable automation features, receipt matching and flexible financing options, Juni can help you achieve transparency and control for a seamless and effective employee expense policy.
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