ExpensePath review

ExpensePath is a robust expense management solution with good features and great support

Top Ten Reviews Verdict

First rate support, customization and admin controls make ExpensePath worthy of serious consideration, especially for smaller businesses. More fiddly receipt capture is one downside.

Pros

  • +

    Very easy to use and very well supported

  • +

    Good range of customizations

  • +

    Flexible pricing may suit SMEs well

Cons

  • -

    Manual input during receipt capture

  • -

    Less suited to larger businesses

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ExpensePath promises to make the tedious and time-consuming job of expense reporting easier for everyone involved in the process, from employees to the finance department. The idea, of course, is to let everyone get on with more important tasks, like making money for your business. It does a very good job of it. ExpensePath is full-featured and easy to use, with excellent integrations with credit cards and accounting software. It may not have all the bells and whistles of rivals like Expensify, but very small business users in particular may regard this as an advantage. Small companies will also appreciate a flex pricing model based on either usage or users which automatically applies the lowest of two possible amounts.

Features

  • Comprehensive and useful admin controls
  • Flexible pricing
  • More manual data input required than some rivals
ExpensePath specs

Free trial: Between four and six weeks (but you have to contact the company)
Software type: SaaS
Mobile: iOS, Android
Support: Live chat, email

Charging for ExpensePath is based on the lesser of either users per month or activity (which is the number of expense reports created). User pricing starts at as little as $5 per month.  It’s a good system, and especially useful for businesses with users who only rarely submit expense reports. In that case, the system may charge you for activity rather than simply the number of employees registered on the system.

User features 

Users are well catered for with ExpensePath. The nicely designed mobile apps for Android and iOS let your staff capture receipt information wherever they are, and also let them create, edit and submit expense reports direct from the app. Alternatively, users can prepare expense reports from the fuller desktop interface.

Users can waste a lot of time submitting expenses that turn out not to be compliant with company spending policies, and having to amend them and resubmit as appropriate. A nice touch with ExpensePath is that users are given a drop down overview of company expense policy in the mobile app, cutting down on the frustration of rejected expense submissions.

Creating a report is easy enough, though the process is a little less automated than with solutions like Zoho Expense and Rydoo. The issue is that, while you can capture a receipt with your smartphone camera, ExpensePath doesn’t automatically fill in vendor and price details. These have to be entered manually.

Other solutions make a big play of their Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, and though OCR is not 100% accurate in all cases it does take much of the mundane data entry out of receipt capture. ExpensePath does not offer this benefit, a feature that is likely to be missed by frequent business travellers, for instance. If your company doesn’t have many of those, it isn’t such an issue.

Otherwise, the user experience with ExpensePath is excellent. In fact, the software’s ease of use has given it hardcore of evangelical fans, despite being a less recognised name in the space than Certify or Expensify.

(Image credit: ExpensePath)

Admin features

ExpensePath has all the tools accountants, administrators and managers might expect. The chief concern admins tend to have is keeping control of company spending, making sure certain limits are never breached, and making sure a solid approval process is in place for each employee and each transaction.

ExpensePath does this side of things very well. Admins can create expense policies specific to department, locations and seniority levels, and violations of these rules can be set to automatically flag to approvers. In fact, ExpensePath goes further, letting you set a rule to block submission of an expense that violates company policy. This can save considerable time and frustration, cutting out the inevitable back and forth of explanatory emails.

Rule setting in ExpensePath was among the easiest and most flexible we’ve come across, letting you set time limits on expense claims (so you’re not faced with a barrage of expenses at quarter or year end), and asking for an email to be sent to approvers when a claim is ready for review. You can also insist on preauthorization for especially large sums of money - if the sales team is travelling en masse to an out-of-town event, for example.

This is all good, sensible stuff, and it is backed by a comprehensive approval workflow feature. ExpensePath lets you set approval pathways by employee, role, seniority or any other relevant criteria. An approval pathway can be set to automatically change if a sum of money is breached - so the more you spend, the more senior approval your claim requires.

Managers can approve expenses with a single click, and initiate reimbursement through payroll, Automated Clearing House (ACH) or one of a number of other methods. Corporate credit cards can be linked to the software and transaction information downloaded and mapped to each card holder.

Admins can also set an auto reimbursement rate, meaning trivial spending by trusted employees can bypass the approval process altogether. This is another nice time-saving touch. At the other extreme, ExpensePath also lets you set a rule forcing approvers to comment on both approvals and rejections, giving accountants even more information on the purpose of a specific expense.    

Interface and usability

  • Easy to use - even for inexperienced staff
  • Free managed set up  

On the whole expense management software does a very good job of making the user experience as simple and intuitive as possible. But even with the bar set high, ExpensePath stands out. It claims to suit users with “any level of comfort with technology” and in our experience the claim rings true.

Both the web and mobile interfaces are well designed and easy to get to grips with. Creating expense reports in each is convenient, quick and efficient.

Setup is similarly straightforward because ExpensePath takes care of most of it. For small businesses, the process won’t take longer than a couple of hours, after which admins can invite users to the system and get underway. Setup is free of charge. Many rivals only offer self-setup, so ExpensePath may be a good choice for businesses that either need a little extra help getting started or that have specialized needs. 

You will need to contact the company for a free trial, but once you do the experience is first rate. ExpensePath works with you during the trial, making sure all the systems and integrations work to your satisfaction through one cycle of expense reports. A free trial therefore typically lasts between four and six weeks, as long or longer than the trials of any of its competitors. 

Performance

  • Much praised customer support
  • Nice range of integrations

ExpensePath allows admins to produce clear expense analysis reports that help small businesses better target their corporate spending.

It also features a range of useful integrations, especially with financial systems and institutions. ExpensePath syncs with Sage Intacct, NetSuite, and all versions of QuickBooks (desktop and online). It links with payroll solution Netchex and accounts payable package GEP. Customers on Dynamics, Sage, BlackBaud and almost any other system can export ExpensePath data into their accounting package. 

Credit card integrations include Visa, MasterCard and American Express.

Customers tend to praise the quick and responsive support they receive from ExpensePath. Support is available through live chat during business hours, and is considered amongst the best in its field. Support agents are praised for their friendliness, product knowledge and preparedness to go the extra yard to help customers fully exploit the software.

If performance is about responsive customer service and a determination to ensure you are using the package in the very best way for the specific circumstances of your business, ExpensePath scores highly.

Verdict

ExpensePath is a very capable expense management solution that will suit many SMEs down to the ground. 

We particularly liked the software’s excellent admin and control tools, useful integrations and ease of use. Flexible pricing is a very nice touch and ExpensePath scores highly for a range of customizations that let you mold the package to the precise needs of your business.

Customer support is another major plus point for ExpensePath. From setup through to everyday use, the company invests time and effort to guide you through its features, help you customize them for your circumstances, and quickly resolve any issues you may have. You never feel you are on your own with ExpensePath.

The one issue for businesses that process a lot of expense claims is the extra manual input required when capturing receipts. Typing in vendor, price and date details may not sound much of a chore, but if you’re a regular business traveller with scores of expenses to process every month, the limitations of the ExpensePath system may quickly become apparent.

Nevertheless, ExpensePath is well designed, powerful and well supported, making it a very good choice for SMEs. 

Hugh Wilson

Hugh Wilson writes about business and the interface of business and technology for a range of titles including The Guardian, Telegraph, Independent, The Times, BBC and MSN. He has written a large number of articles for Top Ten Reviews about insurance matters, accounting, and some business-to-business software and appliances.