Best Apps to Track Your Business Expenses: Expensify and Mile IQ

My last article was about adding a communication platform using Slack to help you run your business. This week, it's about something most of us are terrible at doing--accounting and business expenses. I have been fortunate that a couple of my contract jobs used Expensify, and it made my job so easy by keeping records and recording expenses, so I wanted to share.

Expensify: What is it? Let me quote Expensify: "Our unique approach to solving a real-world problem allows people to spend less time managing expenses and more time pursuing their real goals."

Before I go too far, I always like to share other apps or programs that accomplish about the same task. The way I see it, Zoho Books, Quickbooks Enterprise and Xero are all alternatives to Expensify. If you are looking at adding a record keeping and expense managing program, I suggest you look at all four products, understand what each can do for you, compare prices and select the company that best suits your needs. The majority of the time I share free apps, but this time a couple of bucks a month makes these types of programs completely worthwhile. Plus, tracking your out-of-pocket expenses will end up paying for the monthly fee many times over.

Let me share my personal experience with Expensify. I was doing a lot of traveling and really dislike having to keep paper receipts. Most of the time, I used one credit card to pay for all my business expenses. When not using my credit card, I could take a picture of the paper receipts and store them in Expensify. Every two weeks, I would go to my credit card account on my phone and open each business charge, snap a screenshot and move it into Expensify. The company I was contracted with along, with my own accounting system, had copies of all my business expenses and a total for the time period I was completing. But just like your contact management, you need to be disciplined to keep up with your expenses so at the end of the year you are not digging around in shoe boxes preparing for your tax return!

While we are discussing business expenses, taxes and keeping track, let's add another app: MileIQ. This is an app I highly recommend and have been a fan since its release in 2013. Tracking mileage has always been a task most of us strongly dislike. We roll the dice with our accountant every year, picking a mileage number and hoping no questions or records were requested. MileIQ changed all of that for me and many of you—and what an easy, great app to have available.

To get started download, the free app from either Google Play or the App Store, either explore the app yourself or go to their website. Click on the "How It Works" tab and get started. One feature I really like, and has enabled me to either recover or track, is toll fees. Living in Florida, I have a SunPass, which automatically adds funds from my credit card to my account. A business trip to South Florida or the Keys can cost over $40 in turnpike tolls roundtrip. With a swipe on the app, I can add the toll charges from my account page on the SunPass website.

MileIQ has two levels of service: "Basic," which is free and tracks up to 40 drives a month, or the "Unlimited," which does it all. Not a bad deal—$4.99 a month if you pay for a year. I promise it will simplify your life and save you money!

Dick Betts is a national speaker, trainer and consultant. Learn more at www.DickBetts.com