Author: Janessa Goulet

Managing corporate card receipts might not sound thrilling, but getting it right is crucial for keeping your business running smoothly. And as your business grows, those minor issues can snowball. Month-end delays can turn into quarterly reporting issues, missed insights and poor forecasting. 

Timely receipt submissions are a massive part of keeping an accurate eye on your current cash flow. This is especially true when 60% of businesses report ongoing challenges in managing cash flow, and 18% express challenges in tracking expenses and revenue, according to Canadian Western Bank. Our own SMB report found that 30% do not have good cash flow visibility and can’t accurately predict potential issues. Late submissions are a big part of this problem, slowing down month-end close while creating potential compliance risks and financial discrepancies. 

On the other hand, timely expense submission helps you stay audit-ready, prevents financial surprises, and ensures you can trust the numbers guiding your business decisions. 

The takeaway? Building smart habits and choosing the right tools now will save you a lot of headaches later. Let’s break down how to get it right.

Tools and tactics to streamline receipt submission

It’s time to move on from how you may have learned to handle corporate card expense reports, and technology is your best ally. Old-school methods like keeping paper receipts or manually entering data no longer cut it, especially for growing businesses. 

Investing in the right tools means employees can submit receipts quickly and accurately, and finance teams can chase less paperwork. The goal is to make submission so seamless that it becomes a natural part of the spending process, rather than a dreaded afterthought.

And the best way to make the submission a natural part of the process? Make it ridiculously easy for employees.

Use mobile-friendly receipt capture apps with OCR 

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology turns a quick photo into usable data. No more manual entry. Mobile apps that instantly capture and categorize receipts mean employees can snap and submit a receipt seconds after paying, from anywhere. 

Real-time prompts help ensure nothing gets forgotten in a car console or laundry cycle. Plus, OCR reduces human errors and ensures the information logged is accurate, minimizing reconciliation issues later.

Implement digital receipt management tools

Tools that automate and organize receipts are game-changers. Good platforms don’t just store photos; they categorize expenses, match them to transactions and allow finance teams to review instead of manually processing every entry. 

Digital receipt management tools also maintain a digital audit trail, which speeds up and simplifies compliance checks. Advanced platforms offer customization so businesses can collect project codes, client names, and departmental data at the point of spending, not after the fact.

Set up automated reminders and notifications

Even with great tools, people sometimes need a nudge. Automated notifications (like push notifications or email reminders) help employees stay on top of receipt submissions, so you don’t need to chase them down manually. 

These timely prompts and notifications reduce excuses and employees ducking when they see you coming down the hall. Even better, they help everyone build healthier submission habits.

Bonus: it’s a lot more effective than Post-it notes, email chains or your colleague’s famous “Oh yeah, I’ll send that later” promise.

Float’s real-time receipt capture solution, smart reminders and customizable policy enforcement (including the ability to pause cards for missing receipts) remove the friction of managing spend compliance. Smart automation supports your team with no awkward follow-up conversations or convoluted email threads.

Make expense management even easier

Streamline your business spending with automation tools built right into Float.

Learn More

Create a strong policy framework

Even the best tech won’t fix a broken process. A clear corporate card policy ensures everyone knows what’s expected and removes any ambiguity that could cause friction later.

An expense policy isn’t just a boring document your team signs once and never reads again. Done right, it’s like a user manual for spending—clear, consistent and blessedly drama-free.

To create a strong framework, you need to ensure that you:

1. Establish clear guidelines with submission deadlines and consequences

Set firm expectations about how quickly employees must submit receipts, whether immediately after the purchase, within 24 hours or by the end of the week. Make it crystal clear what happens if their submissions for corporate card expense reports are late or missing. 

(Hint: Those messages about paused cards get people’s attention fast). Without consequences, policies become optional and compliance crumbles.

2. Communicate policies company-wide and ensure accessibility

It’s not enough to create an expense policy and bury it in a forgotten folder. During onboarding, make sure every employee receives corporate card training. Host refresher sessions annually or whenever policies change. Keep the policy easy to find and understand. Plain language beats legalese every time.

3. Encourage accountability with feedback loops and recognition programs 

Acknowledge the teams or individuals who stay consistently compliant. A little positive reinforcement can drive strong habits. For those who slip up, use insights from your expense management platform to flag missing receipts automatically with no judgment and no nagging—just clear visibility. In time, compliance becomes second nature.

Why receipt submission policies matter more as you scale

Scaling a business without scaling your finance processes is like duct-taping your bumper to your car and hoping for the best. Sure, it’ll hold for a while, but not forever.

Small businesses often manage a few cardholders informally. But as you add employees, vendors and spending categories, those informal processes crack under pressure. 

Scaling a business without scaling your financial controls leads to:

• Delayed financial closes that impact strategic decisions
• Increased risk during audits because of incomplete or missing documentation
• Disconnected systems that require manual, time-consuming reconciliations
• Frustrated finance teams bogged down in detective work instead of analysis

Getting a strong corporate card receipt management system in place early protects your business’s financial health, allowing you to grow and stay competitive. You’ll be able to pivot faster, manage budgets more effectively, and operate without financial hesitation.

Float: Smart automation for smooth receipt submissions

Timely expense submission might seem like a small matter, but it has a massive impact on your financial health, compliance and growth readiness. Finance teams shouldn’t have to moonlight as private investigators. When submission is easy, compliance isn’t a battle. It’s just how things work.

Choosing the right tools, creating a strong policy and removing friction for employees make it easier for everyone to stay on track. You and your finance teams can move out of reactive mode and into strategic leadership.

Float can take the pain out of corporate card receipt management with receipt capture solutions that work for you and your teams. With real-time prompts, automated enforcement and smart spend tracking, you’ll spend less time chasing receipts and more time moving your business forward.

What would you do with more hours in a day? Does your list include anything related to your business’s expense report management? 

Likely not.

Expense report management has a bad rap because traditional methods are typically mundane, administratively heavy and inefficient. These methods tend to include manual data entry, scrounging for missing receipts and dealing with delayed approvals. Unclear expense reporting policies often make matters worse.

The result?

Wasted time and friction for both employees and departments.

However, staying on top of your expenses is critical. According to a recent Canadian Federation of Independent Business survey, financial concerns are the most reported pressing issue small business owners face. Among mid-sized companies, employee productivity is the most significant leadership concern. Modern expense report management can help mitigate both issues. We’ll walk through six expense management strategies to save you time on expense reporting so that you can focus on your strategic priorities as a business owner or finance leader. While we won’t promise you’ll ever use words like thrilling or dreamy to describe expense report management, we can help ensure it’s no longer slow or clunky.

6 proven strategies to cut expense report processing time

Streamlining expense report management may seem complicated (ever tried to balance your budget after a surprise team lunch—in Vegas?). Still, with these best practices, it can actually be pretty straightforward.

Here’s how you can reduce the time you spend processing expense reports to drive efficiency, gain better visibility into your business’s financial health, and experience less frustration.

1. Automate workflows

2. Establish and enforce clear policies

3. Implement real-time expense tracking

4. Streamline approvals

5. Ensure integration across existing internal systems

6. Leverage data to identify bottlenecks

 Let’s take a deeper dive into each of them.
 

1. Automate expense reporting workflows

You can leverage modern accounting software to automate administrative tasks like receipt collection and report generation. If you choose a solution with a mobile app, you’ll get the benefit of real-time receipt capture.

Automating expense reporting workflows means your employees no longer need to safeguard paper receipts or manually enter or upload them. As an added bonus, eliminating manual data entry means less human error. 

Tip: Selecting a system with built-in localization features, such as country-specific tax codes, will help you automate receipt categorization.

2. Establish and enforce clear policies

One of the best ways to ensure proper expense report management is to establish clear policies and communicate them throughout the organization. Key components of an expense policy should include:

• Eligible expenses (client lunch) vs. non-eligible expenses (birthday gift for your kid)
• How often expenses should be submitted (monthly vs. whenever you feel like it)
• How expenses should be paid (petty cash vs. corporate cards vs. personal cards)
• Spending limits (auto-approved vs. all spend requires managerial approval)
• Dispute resolution steps (if something is not approved or is flagged as requiring more details, what happens next) 

Tip: Check out our comprehensive guide on developing an expense policy, which includes a downloadable template to get you started.

3. Implement real-time tracking with smart corporate cards

Corporate cards are invaluable because they give managers and finance teams instant visibility into expenses and spending as it happens. Look for a corporate card with features like customized and individual spending limits, plus virtual card and payment options.

The end result?

Improved cash flow visibility and fewer end-of-month scrambles.

Best business credit cards

Compare top options, fees and benefits for

Canadian companies.

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Tip: Look for credit cards that provide cashback rewards so you earn even more.

4. Streamline expense report approvals

Eliminate bottlenecks in your expense report process by adding auto-approvals for smaller amounts and identifying default approvers when managers are away for corporate travel or vacation. If possible, take advantage of tools and apps that enable mobile approvals.

Tip: Faster reimbursement leads to higher employee satisfaction, driving better productivity.

5. Ensure integration across existing internal systems

Seamless data flow requires synchronization between your accounting system and your company’s key software solutions. So, find an expense management platform that integrates seamlessly with your other tools. 

Integrating software will help you minimize manual data entry and allow you to generate reports, complete monthly reconciliations faster, and ensure your business is prepared for audit requests.

Tip: Talk to your team to find out which tech solutions they use that may need to integrate with your accounting system.

6. Leverage data to identify bottlenecks

Access to real-time data can also help you streamline your expense reporting process by providing important feedback. You can start by tracking data such as approval turnaround time, reimbursement cycles by department, and submission errors or flags at the individual or team level.

These insights can help you make data-driven decisions and push for policy or system changes.

Tip: Flag repeat offenders or teams with low compliance and consider training options to help bring them up to speed.

‘Set it and forget it’ with streamlined expense report processes

Reducing the time you spend processing expense reports means you’ll free up precious hours and resources for your team to focus on high-value activities. They’ll have more time for building vendor relationships, risk planning, budgeting, and developing investment strategies.

The best part? You don’t have to settle for a one-size-fits-all solution. Modern expense management solutions feature a wide range of options. These systems allow for customization and flexibility, so you can ensure your business requirements and goals are met.

In addition to improved visibility into your finances and greater operational efficiency, other benefits of automating your expense reporting process include:

• Strengthened financial and regulatory compliance: A fully integrated expense management platform designed by Canadians for Canadian businesses means that tax codes and other localization features are built in. It also includes receipt tracking and consistent documentation that is quickly accessible to be audit-ready.
• Increased employee satisfaction: Employees feel empowered when they feel less burdened with mundane administrative tasks and can focus on the work they want and were hired to do. Clear policies, processes, and expectations related to their roles and responsibilities build trust and increase job satisfaction. And that’s essential for recruiting and retaining talent.
  

Make expense management even easier

Streamline your business spending with automation tools built right into Float.

Learn More

Ready to speed up expense reporting?

Forget tracking down expenses or trying to identify and fix errors. With a modern, automated expense management process, you can see how much money is being spent, by whom, and for what purpose. And now you know exactly how to reduce the time spent processing your company’s expense reports—talk about bottom line impact.

When you’re ready to take advantage of the benefits of streamlining expense management, we can help. We offer an integrated solution in a single platform that includes:

• Localized features designed specifically for Canadian businesses
• Comprehensive tools and services
• Features specifically designed to enable savings and earnings
• Access to fast and flexible capital
• Scalable and customizable options to match every stage of business

Get ready to accelerate your company’s momentum with better cash flow visibility, real-time insights on financial health, and improved efficiency. Contact Float for a demo today.

In small startups or lean finance teams, employees using personal credit cards for business expenses can feel like a necessary evil. It’s quick, familiar and avoids the complexity of setting up corporate cards—at least for a while.

But as your business grows, so do the risks of mixing personal finances with business. What starts as a simple workaround can quietly create financial blind spots, employee friction and policy headaches. Personal cards seem easier until receipts go missing, reimbursements lag and someone’s chasing down records for a $1,000 steak dinner.

So, which is right for your business?

Let’s walk through the pros and cons of both options, as well as smart steps you can take to make the shift without overhauling everything.

Why credit cards are used for business expenses

As your business evolves, so will your financial needs. With things moving at a faster pace, it’s natural for more transactions to move towards credit  cards. In fact, monthly credit card spend has gone up 18% on average for small businesses in Canada over the past few years. 

As an owner, using a personal credit card for company expenses might feel convenient, but it can blur the lines between business and personal finances fast. And any additional balance you end up carrying could hurt your chances of gaining the personal credit you need, like a mortgage or car loan.

On the other hand, the biggest reason employees use personal cards is simple: they don’t have access to company funds when needed. This shows up most often in time-sensitive situations like grabbing office supplies, taking clients out for lunch or covering travel expenses on the fly.
In many companies, only a few senior leaders have corporate cards. So when something comes up unexpectedly, employees do what they can: they put it on their own cards and submit for reimbursement later.

Should you let employees use personal credit cards or explore a corporate credit card program? 

From an operations standpoint, letting employees use personal credit cards for business expenses might seem harmless. Until it snowballs into various levels of chaos. 

Can it work at the beginning? Sure. Is there usually a tipping point where it’s no longer the best idea? Definitely.

Using personal credit cards for business in Canada

Letting employees use personal cards does offer short-term advantages. No setup or new systems are required, and employees can access funds immediately if they have credit room. 

And employees certainly do like earning those sparkly personal reward points.

But those benefits don’t hold up under pressure at a growing business, and suddenly your “simple” system is eating your month-end close alive before you know it. 

Here’s where personal cards become a liability:

• Equity and access: Not every employee can afford to front expenses. It can be presumptuous to assume all staff have personal credit available, especially for large expenses like flights or hotel bookings.
• Delayed visibility: Finance teams don’t see the spend until the expense report comes in, which often means late, incomplete or unclear financial data.
• Reimbursement friction: Employees can be left floating thousands of dollars for weeks while they wait for approvals and payroll cycles.
• Illusion of control: Many finance leaders believe reimbursements encourage frugality. In reality, once the spend has happened, there’s little recourse beyond a stern conversation. Most expenses still get reimbursed, and the money still goes out the door.

Providing corporate credit cards for business expenses

On the other hand, corporate credit cards (especially modern ones) give finance teams actual control and oversight through:

• Pre-set spend limits by person, team or category
• Real-time visibility into purchases
• Automated integrations with spend management tools
• Easier, faster reconciliation and month-end close
• No financial burden on the employee
• Company benefits tied to rewards related to spending (cash back, anyone?)

Of course, corporate cards aren’t a magic fix. Some finance leaders worry that giving everyone access to company money invites misuse.  

However, that concern is fading with more modern corporate credit cards options.  Today’s tools make it possible to issue credit cards for business expenses with as little as zero balance, only funding them as needed with strict and customizable rules.

Best business credit cards

Compare top options, fees and benefits for

Canadian companies.

Find your card now

What finance leaders should do about company expense management

You don’t have to go from zero to 100 overnight. There are smart and manageable steps finance teams can take to move away from personal card use and toward a more efficient, equitable system:

1. Start small with high-impact teams

Roll out corporate cards to a specific group like the sales team, execs who travel often or operations staff handling frequent purchases. Focus on the team with the most frequent or high-dollar spend to make the biggest immediate difference.

2. Use zero-balance cards as a safeguard

Give employees cards with no preloaded funds. When they need to make a purchase, approved funds can be issued instantly. This creates access without risk and keeps finance firmly in control.

3. Build clear policies before scaling

Don’t wait until you’ve distributed cards to create an expense policy. Define what’s allowed, who approves it and what the guardrails are. The more clarity you provide up front, the fewer issues you’ll have down the road.

4. Prioritize education and support

Corporate card programs are only as effective as the communication around them. Help employees understand when and how to use their cards and what to do if something changes. You’re not restricting spending; you’re empowering them with the right tools to do their jobs.

5. Use tools that give real-time oversight

Pair your cards with expense management software that shows transactions as they happen, not after the fact. This gives you tighter control, easier audits and way less chasing after receipts.

6. Revisit and adjust as you grow

Don’t treat your first rollout as the final answer. As your company evolves, so will your needs. Periodically review your cardholders, limits and policy to make sure your program is scaling with you.

Make expense management even easier

Streamline your business spending with automation tools built right into Float.

Learn More

Float: Corporate cards with flexibility built right in

Using personal credit cards for business in Canada isn’t the only option for your team. Reimbursements might work in a pinch, but they don’t scale. Corporate credit cards can flip the script, especially when paired with the right tools and policies. They make company funds accessible without giving up control.

Ready to see how simple spend management can be?

Float makes it easy to issue cards with custom limits, track spend in real time and scale your program at your own pace.

Despite the array of business expense tracker apps on the market, 42% of Canadian small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) still use spreadsheets to manage expenses. Tracking receipts, bills and invoices this way might seem simple, but it’s also time-consuming and prone to human error. Spending precious hours entering expenses into a spreadsheet—or working to resolve discrepancies at month-end or during tax season—takes you away from the important work of running your business. 

As your company grows and you need to process more invoices and payments, manual tracking can’t scale with you. Businesses that want to expand their operations and increase efficiency need to find a solution that automates expense tracking and unifies expense management across all of their financial systems. 

Let’s talk about how using an expense tracker can help you get insight into the health of your business and gain control over your cash flow. We’ll also go over a few small business expense tracking tools and how to choose the right one for you.

What is a business expense tracker?

A business expense tracker is a system or software that allows you to record and organize all of the transactions related to running your business. While you can use a spreadsheet to enter expenses manually—hey, we’re not here to rain on your parade—we promise it’s much better to use an app that has automated expense tracking and management built in. Accounting software often has integrated expense tracking features, but so do business finance platforms like Float.

How does a business expense tracker work?

In general, expense trackers allow you to input expenses and categorize them—often in a way that aligns with the expense categories reported on your taxes. Both business owners and bookkeepers or accountants can use them to keep an eye on spend and cash flow in the company. 

Manual expense trackers like spreadsheets and standalone accounting software require you to bring up your receipts, bills and invoices and enter each line item or total one at a time (fingers crossed you don’t make any typos). Then you have to organize and store your receipts somewhere else—which might mean that you’re juggling different digital files plus an office filing cabinet for physical paperwork. 

If you don’t track your expenses as transactions happen, you and your bookkeeper will find yourselves scrambling to hunt down receipts for validation and reconciliation with your bank and credit card statements at the end of each month.

On the other hand, a small business expense tracking app or accounting software that’s integrated with your business bank account and corporate cards automatically records and categorizes your expenses the moment a transaction occurs. 

An expense tracking app or software acts as a receipt tracker for business. These types of apps usually provide several ways to directly upload receipts and paper invoices or bills. In many cases, all you have to do to log your expenses is take a photo of the physical copy of a receipt. Using optical character recognition (OCR) technology, the details on the receipt are then analyzed and automatically translated into a standardized format so the expense can be categorized appropriately.  

The best business expense trackers also automatically confirm that the transactions recorded on your bank statements match the receipts you’ve uploaded into the system. This can help you or your bookkeeper close the books faster at month’s end.

Why expense tracking software is essential for small businesses

You’ve probably heard that tracking expenses is important, like eating your vegetables or walking 10,000 steps a day. The business version of those healthy habits, tracking expenses is a routine that really does pay off. Keeping an eye on what you spend can help you run your business more effectively and power growth.

Here’s how expense tracking can benefit you and your business: 

Get ready for tax season

You need to keep track of your expenses so that you can report them on your taxes. Expenses like office supplies, rent, utilities, insurance, fuel for work-related driving and inventory may be deducted from the year’s total revenue to lower your taxable income. You might also be able to claim business travel expenses if you (and your employees) track them correctly. You need to keep an accurate record of expenses in case you’re ever audited by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). 

Improve cash flow

Sixty percent of Canadian SMBs face challenges managing cash flow. Tracking expenses gives you the chance to see where your money is going so you can be proactive about balancing spending and income. Staying on top of expense tracking helps you see when cash moves out of your business, so you can make sure you send invoices to customers and follow up on payments in time to cover your own bills. It also enables you to identify areas where you’re spending too much without seeing return on investment (ROI). 

Optimize pricing strategy

Understanding how much it costs to run your business helps you make sure that you’re charging enough for your products or services to generate a profit. Tracking expenses allows you to calculate your cost of goods sold (COGS) so you can sell items for more than it costs you to produce them. This allows you to experiment with pricing strategies like creating bundles or offering dynamic pricing during busy seasons. 

Plan for growth

Knowing your current expenses helps you refine your budget so you can make room for meaningful investments in your business. With clarity around how much it costs to run your business today, you can get a better understanding of how much it will cost to grow. If your revenue isn’t going to cover your projected expenses, you can make strategic decisions around seeking funding from investors or look into business financing options to take your company to the next level.

Qualify for business loans 

You may want to get a business loan so you can make large investments like purchasing new equipment or renovating your storefront. You might also want to use a business line of credit or credit card from a bank to help cover ongoing expenses like inventory or payroll. Many traditional banks need you to provide financial statements and projections to confirm your creditworthiness before offering you a loan. You’ll need a record of your expenses to show the bank how your business is doing to qualify for good interest rates.

Make expense reporting easy

Grab your free Google Sheets expense report template.

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Key features to look for in a small business expense tracking solution

✓ Easy photo receipt capture and upload options and accurate OCR 

✓ Automatic categorization, GL coding and tax coding

✓ Automatic expense policy enforcement, set spending limits and approval controls

✓ Intuitive interface that makes it easy to see transaction details at a glance

✓ Real-time transaction visibility, reporting and automated insights 

✓ Integrations with your bank and credit card accounts and accounting software

✓ Secure storage for receipts, bills and invoices

Finding the best app for small business expenses

1. Float

Float is a free business expense tracker and expense management platform built for Canadian businesses. It offers corporate cards, photo receipt capture and reimbursement features, as well as vendor invoice intake and payments to bring all of your expenses together. Float makes it easy to see where your money is going in real time across your entire team. Plus, you never have to worry about manually entering expenses—sorry, spreadsheets! Every transaction that moves through Float is tracked, matched and recorded in the platform and your integrated accounting software. 

Cost for small businesses: $0

2. Credit Karma (Mint)

Credit Karma, formerly known as Mint, is an expense tracking tool for personal finance, but it can work for freelancers and sole proprietors as well. It’s a good option if you’re looking for a very simple, free business expense tracker that’s just a step up from using a spreadsheet. 

Cost for small businesses: $0

3. QuickBooks or Xero

QuickBooks and Xero are both leading accounting software options that include expense tracking features and can be integrated with other expense tracking solutions. QuickBooks requires expenses to be entered manually unless you have a connected tracking app that automates the process. Xero has photo receipt capture, automated approvals and seamless reimbursement features built in.

Cost for small businesses: 

QuickBooks: $24–$160 /mo. 

Xero: $20–$67 /mo.

4. Expensify

Expensify is expense management software best known for its travel booking features. It has cash flow features like automatic bill pay and outgoing invoicing, not just vendor invoice intake. Similar to Float, it also provides corporate cards. Expensify offers 1% cash back on all purchases.

💡Pro tip: Psst… Float offers 1% cash back plus 4% interest on Float Balance funds.

Cost for small businesses: $5–$9 USD per user/mo.

5. SAP Concur

SAP Concur is geared towards larger companies and enterprises that need to manage frequent employee expenses including fuel, meals, and travel. It offers photo receipt capture and automated expense reporting as well as customizable approval flows. It also provides integrated accounts payable (AP) features including invoicing and vendor payments. 

Cost: Custom pricing based on business size and invoice volume. No public pricing available.

How to choose the best app to keep track of small business expenses

Frankly, the best app to keep track of small business expenses is the one that you’ll actually use as a part of your everyday workflow. A great app should take care of the manual process of logging and organizing receipts and transactions so that you can focus on high-value tasks that contribute to your business growth. 

Look for business expense trackers that are intuitive to use and integrate seamlessly with the other software solutions you use to run your business and manage your finances. Check out reviews from businesses that have similar operations or ask a financial professional what they recommend. Ultimately, you’ll only know if an expense tracker will work for you if you give it a try. Find solutions that offer a free business expense tracker or a free trial that you can experiment with before making an investment. 

Simple, seamless expense tracking with Float

Float keeps all of your business expenses in one place, from corporate card spending to vendor invoices and payments. With Float corporate cards, you can track employee expenses in real time and it’s easy for employees to submit receipts directly within the Float mobile app. You can also receive vendor invoices and pay them through Float, which means you can unify all your expenses in a single solution. 

Float is more than a business expense tracker. It’s an end-to-end solution that powers better business spending with payments and record-keeping orchestrated seamlessly in one intuitive platform. 

Still stuck in spreadsheets, managing expenses manually? Try Float for free and control your cash flow through a single pane of glass.

The end of the month is drawing near. For small and medium-sized business owners handling month-end close of their books, that means one thing: crunch time. Lots of strong coffee and too many extra work hours.

Canadian business owners allocate 20% of their time to financial management, down from 30% in the past. Our own State of SMB report found that half of businesses are spending 10 to 40 hours a month on payments and reconciliation. These are hours that owners could be devoting to growing their businesses and staying ahead of competitors.

Closing the books accurately and efficiently is the key to maintaining accurate financial records, avoiding costly mistakes and giving owners the insights they need to make smart decisions.

These decisions matter to small business owners, who are still working to find solid ground after a challenging few years that left nearly a third of them struggling with managing cash flow and overall business spending. 

But let’s be honest: month-end closures in most businesses can feel like a full-out scramble. Whether dealing with manual reconciliations, tight deadlines or data inconsistencies, this guide will walk you through the most significant challenges and the best strategies to overcome them.

What is month-end close?

Month-end close is the process businesses use to wrap up their financials from the previous month. It’s all about ensuring you account for every transaction, correctly categorize every expense, and prepare accurate financial reports. Yep, you’re chasing receipts, random charges on cards and whatever that scrap of paper from your sales lead was supposed to mean.

For many businesses, this means reconciling accounts, reviewing bank statements and adjusting journal entries. You’ll be managing mileage reimbursements, expense reimbursements and per diem calculations when needed. It can be a tedious process, especially when done manually. You may need to coordinate with other people in the company or other teams to gather the necessary information. 

However, managing month-end close efficiently gives business owners the financial clarity they need to make informed decisions and comply with regulations.

Understanding the accounting month-end close process

Month-end close is an opportunity to wrap up numbers regularly throughout the year, but its impact goes beyond simple calculations. A structured process means fewer errors, smoother reporting and a clearer picture of your company’s financial health. 

The clarity gained from your month-end close ensures financial stability and clarity for your business. When done efficiently, it can save valuable time and allow you to make faster, more informed decisions. 

Without a solid month-end process, businesses risk inaccuracies, delays and missed opportunities to optimize their finances.

What are the steps for month-end close?

A smooth month-end closing process doesn’t happen by accident. Instead, it requires a clear, repeatable set of steps that keeps everything on track. Without structure, it’s easy to overlook key details, leading to delays, errors, and frustration for everyone involved. 

Understanding the steps in your month-end close procedures and why they matter can help you ensure accuracy. 

Here are the essential elements of a month-end close and what they entail:

1. Organize and prepare for the process

Set deadlines, assign responsibilities and gather all necessary financial data upfront.

2. Consolidate your financial data

Ensure you have complete revenue, expenses, payroll and accounts payable/receivable records.

3. Reconcile your accounts

Match transactions to statements to catch any discrepancies before they become more significant problems.

4. Adjust entries as needed

Account for items like accrued expenses, depreciation and prepaid costs to keep everything accurate.

5. Create and review financial statements

Generate your balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement to finalize the process.

6. Review for accuracy

Ensure you’ve captured all relevant information, double-check that your month-end close is clean and review statements before distributing them.

How long does month-end close typically take?

A few factors will impact how long it takes you to work through each month-end close: company size, complexity and whether you’re using manual or automated processes. Some businesses can wrap up in a few days, while others might take up to two weeks. 

💡Pro tip: Businesses using automation tools have reduced close time from days to a few hours. Sounds like magic, we know, but nope, it’s doable.

Speeding up the month-end close isn’t just about saving time. It directly impacts a business’s ability to make timely and informed decisions. A faster close means businesses can review performance sooner, identify trends earlier and make smarter choices before the next month is already halfway over.

Challenges faced during month-end close

Do your stress levels spike every time the end of the month approaches? If month-end close feels like a constant battle, you’re not alone. Many business owners struggle with data inconsistencies, tight deadlines and inefficient manual processes that make closing the books stressful and time-consuming. 

Inaccurate financial data or rushed reconciliations can lead to reporting errors that impact decision-making. Understanding these challenges is the first step in overcoming them and making month-end close smoother and more predictable—and getting a solid night’s sleep.

Let’s look at some common challenges and barriers to a streamlined month-end close:

Data accuracy and consistency

Nobody wants to scramble at the last minute to fix errors. But without a solid process, inaccuracies creep in. Manual data entry, missing transaction details and last-minute adjustments can throw everything off, leading to delays and frustration.

Time constraints

Anyone handling month end books operates under tight deadlines. Company owners need accurate financials promptly to make business decisions. Without automation, it’s easy to get stuck in a cycle of reviewing, adjusting and chasing down missing information, making it hard to close the books on time.

Manual entry and reconciliation

Are you still relying on spreadsheets? That’s a recipe for long hours and potential mistakes. Manual reconciliations take up valuable time, and when details are missing, you or your bookkeeper have to track down employees for clarification. It’s inefficient and stressful.

Disconnects or lack of context 

An external bookkeeper may not have the context needed to reconcile every transaction. Guessing risks accuracy, but asking for details causes delays. Recurring expenses may take too much time, leaving fewer opportunities to find and examine more serious inconsistencies. 

Effective strategies to improve your processes

A chaotic month-end close can be frustrating and have real consequences for business operations. The good news is that you can streamline your workflows, reduce stress and improve accuracy with the right strategies. 

Let’s dial down the adrenaline a few levels. Leveraging automation and standardizing procedures allows you to spend less time on tedious tasks and more time driving financial insights that add real value to the business.

Automation

It could be time for an upgrade if you’re still doing most of your month-end close manually. Tools like Float bring corporate cards, expense management and bill payments into one system, making reconciliations automatic. With pre-set rules for transaction coding, businesses can drastically cut down on manual work, speeding up the close process.

Standardize financial procedures

A set process for tracking expenses, coding transactions and handling reconciliations makes a huge difference. A comprehensive expense policy that covers the most likely situations can also help reduce errors and murk. The more standardized your financial workflows are, the fewer surprises you’ll run into at month-end.

Schedule regular financial reviews

Catching errors early saves headaches later. Monthly reconciliations help prevent financial inconsistencies from snowballing, making your books cleaner and more accurate over time.

Close sub-ledgers periodically

Waiting until the last minute to reconcile everything? That’s a surefire way to make month-end more stressful. Instead, closing sub-ledgers throughout the month keeps everything in check and prevents a backlog of work at the end.

Collaborate and communicate

Finance isn’t an island. Expense reports, approvals and coding all depend on other teams. The better your communication with employees, the easier it is to keep things running smoothly.

Set realistic deadlines

Reverse-engineering your timeline can help you close on time. Start with your final reporting date and work backward, setting clear deadlines for each step of the process. This keeps everything on track and prevents last-minute chaos.

Month-end checklists

A well-organized checklist can shift your month-end closing process from a stressful scramble into a smooth, predictable process. A structured approach helps businesses reduce errors, maintain compliance and ensure financial clarity. 

Having a clear list of financial records to gather and key tasks to complete makes it easier to stay on track and avoid last-minute surprises. 

Here’s what you’ll need in two handy month-end checklists.

Key financial records:

✅ Revenue and sales data

✅ Accounts receivable and payable reports

✅ Expense receipts and supplier invoices

✅ Bank statements and reconciliations

✅ Payroll data

✅ Inventory totals (if applicable)

✅ Balance sheets

✅ Income and expense accounts

✅ General ledger and sub-ledger reports

Key tasks to complete:

✅ Enter all invoices and transactions into the accounting system

✅ Reconcile all bank accounts and financial records

✅ Review and adjust journal entries as needed

✅ Generate and review financial statements

✅ Close the period in the financial system

✅ Distribute reports to key stakeholders

How Float can help simplify your month-end process

The end of the month doesn’t have to be a headache. You can eliminate the complexity of closing your books by automating transaction categorization, reconciliation, and reporting. 

By integrating corporate cards, expense management, and bill payments, Float helps businesses eliminate manual tasks and speed up financial workflows.

With Float, you can:

• Automate transaction coding, which means no more manual expense categorization
• Gain real-time visibility to track spending and reconcile transactions instantly
• Save time on reconciliation and reduce close times from days to hours
• Lower bookkeeping costs by automating processes and reducing reliance on external accountants

If you want to reclaim valuable time and improve accuracy, Float is the smart choice for making month-end close easier and more efficient.

Tracking business expenses shouldn’t feel like a never-ending paper trail. Yet for many Canadian companies, managing spending still involves manual processes, scattered receipts and reactive budgeting. The result is wasted time, financial blind spots and compliance headaches that slow down growth and frustrate staff—but thankfully, modern expense management solutions are here to stay. 

By digitizing and automating how your business tracks, categorizes and reports expenses, you can save time, reduce risk and optimize budgets, all while making it simpler for your team to spend like they need to.

In this guide, we’re breaking it all down so you can learn:

• What is expense management? 
• Why modernize expense management?
• How does expense management work?
• Expense management vs. spend management
• Types of common business expenses and examples 
• The benefits of an expense management system
• How to track business expenses 
• Best expense management software

Let’s dive in. 

What is expense management? 

Expense management is the process businesses use to track, categorize, approve and report company spending. It ensures that all employee purchases and expense reimbursements are accounted for and aligned with company policies.

Traditionally, expense management involved paper receipts, spreadsheets and manual approvals, making it slow, error-prone and frustrating for both employees and finance teams. Lost receipts, delayed reimbursements and lack of real-time visibility meant businesses often struggled to keep spending under control. Many businesses still operate this way today. 

Modern expense management solutions eliminate these inefficiencies by automating the entire process. With features like real-time transaction tracking, digital receipt uploads, automated approvals and integrated reporting, businesses can gain full visibility and control over their expenses, without the administrative burden.

Get Your Free Expense Policy Template 

A clear expense policy is the foundation of good expense management. Not sure where to start? We’ve got you covered. 

This free template will help you: 

• Save time with a ready-to-use policy framework
• Customize it to fit your company’s needs
• Stay compliant with clear expense guidelines

Download your free Expense Policy Template for Notion or Google Docs and take the guesswork out of managing employee expenses. 

Why modernize expense management? 

Outdated expense management processes waste time, increase errors and limit financial visibility. According to a Float study, 66% of Canadian SMBs say their team spends too much time on manual data entry, and 50% spend 10 to 40 hours a month on payments and reconciliation. These inefficiencies add up, draining resources and slowing down growth.

Instead, here’s what modern expense management can do:

• Eliminate manual inefficiencies – Paper receipts and spreadsheets lead to delays, errors and unnecessary admin work. Automation removes these bottlenecks. 
• Improve accuracy and compliance – Automated approvals and real-time tracking ensure expenses are tracked correctly and follow company policies, reducing the risk of non-compliance.
• Enhance financial visibility – Businesses get real-time insights into spending trends, making it easier to track budgets, control costs and make informed financial decisions.
• Speed up reimbursements – Employees no longer wait weeks for expense approvals and payments, improving cash flow and reducing frustration. Faster processing also means fewer payroll headaches for finance teams.
• Reduce fraud and errors – Digital tracking flags duplicate transactions, unauthorized expenses, and out-of-policy spending before they become costly mistakes. 

Learn more about Float

Get a 10-minute guided tour through our platform.

See a Demo

How does expense management work?

Modern expense management systems streamline spending by automating the entire process—from capturing expenses to reporting and analysis.

It starts with capturing expenses. No more lost paperwork or digging through inboxes, because employees can snap a photo of a paper receipt, upload a PDF or forward a digital copy via email to a receipt inbox. Their transactions are then categorized automatically, ensuring business expenses—whether for travel, meals or office supplies—are tracked in the right place.

Once submitted, expenses go through approvals and policy enforcement, following company guidelines to prevent unauthorized spending. Employees then receive faster reimbursements, eliminating long wait times and reducing frustration.

Finally, finance teams can leverage real-time reporting and analysis to gain visibility into spending trends, optimize budgets, and identify cost-saving opportunities.

Expense management vs. spend management

Expense management and spend management serve distinct functions in your organization’s financial strategy.

Expense management focuses on tracking and processing employee expenses, such as travel, meals, office supplies and reimbursements. It ensures that individual spending follows the company expense policy and is properly recorded for accounting and compliance purposes.

Spend management takes a broader approach by overseeing all company expenditures—including vendor payments, procurement, software subscriptions and operational costs. It’s about controlling and optimizing how money flows through the business to improve cash flow, budgeting and cost efficiency.

Here’s a quick comparison:

Feature	Expense Management	Spend Management
Focus	Employee expenses: • Travel • Meals • Office supplies	All business spending: • Vendor payments • Procurement • Software • Operations
Objective	Streamline reimbursement and compliance	Optimize overall spending strategy
Scope	Individual transactions	Company-wide financial oversight
Benefits	• Faster reimbursements • Policy compliance • Accurate tracking	• Cost control • Better cash flow management • Improved vendor relationships

While expense management ensures that employee spending is efficient and compliant, spend management gives businesses a holistic view of all financial outflows, helping you control costs and plan smarter. For growing businesses, using both is key to financial stability.

Types of common business expenses and examples

Businesses spend money in a lot of different ways. Keeping those expenses organized by type makes it easier to track spending, enforce policies and stay on budget. Here are some of the most common expense categories: 

Operational expenses

OpEx are your everyday costs for running the business, like office supplies, utilities, software subscriptions and equipment maintenance. Keeping track of operational expenses helps you manage overhead effectively.

Travel and entertainment

This accounts for flights, hotels, meals and client entertainment when employees are on the road. Some businesses opt to reimburse individual receipts, while others use per diems—a daily fixed amount to cover travel-related costs.

💡Pro tip: If your business offers a per diem, make sure it aligns with per diem Canada rates set by the CRA. Following these guidelines helps ensure compliance while simplifying expense tracking for both employees and finance teams.

Employee reimbursements 

Employees often pay for work-related expenses out-of-pocket and submit claims for reimbursement. This can include mileage, meals or office supplies purchased for business purposes.

💡Pro tip: If your employees drive for work, use our free mileage calculator to maximize the benefits of the mileage reimbursement Canada offers. 

Corporate card expenses

Purchases made on company-issued corporate cards, such as team-wide software, client gifts, or office expenses. Unlike traditional credit cards, corporate cards offer built-in spend controls and automated approvals, making credit card expense management more efficient.

💡Pro tip: Using corporate cards with pre-set limits and real-time tracking helps businesses prevent unauthorized purchases and simplify credit card expense management, eliminating the need for manual reconciliation and chasing receipts.

Recurring vs. one-time expenses

Some expenses happen regularly, like subscription fees for software, memberships and service retainers, while others are one-time purchases like new office furniture or event tickets. Keeping these expenses organized helps businesses budget more effectively.

Of course, every business has unique spending needs, and these are just a few of the most common categories. A modern expense management system helps you track and organize all expenses in a way that makes sense for your business.

Benefits of an expense management system

Managing expenses manually is slow, tedious and error-prone. A modern expense management system automates the process—and that comes with its perks.

Save time

One of the biggest advantages is time savings. With a modern system in place, expenses are categorized instantly, approvals move faster, and reimbursements happen without delays. Your finance team no longer spends hours on tedious data entry, freeing them up for more strategic work and helping boost productivity.

Reduce risk

The right expense management system also reduces financial risk by providing real-time insight into company spending. With better tracking and dashboards, your business can prevent overspending, improve cash flow management and gain visibility into trends that impact profitability. Cost optimization improves, because you have the information readily available to make smarter spending decisions.

Stay audit-ready

At the same time, compliance becomes simpler, because you can enforce spending policies, catch duplicate or non-compliant expenses, and keep your business audit-ready. With automated approvals and policy controls, it’s easier to ensure every expense follows both your internal guidelines and regulatory requirements.

At its core, a modern expense management system smooths friction, makes spending simpler for everyone in the business, and boosts employee morale. 

Learn more about Float

Get a 10-minute guided tour through our platform.

See a Demo

How to track business expenses

For employees, business expense management should be simple. A good expense management system makes it easy to submit purchases, get approvals and receive reimbursements without unnecessary back-and-forth.

In short, here’s what employees need to do:

1. Capture the expense – Snap a photo of the receipt, upload a PDF or forward a digital receipt via email.
2. Confirm the details – Review automatically categorized expenses to ensure accuracy.
3. Submit for approval – Expenses that follow company policy move forward quickly, while flagged items get reviewed.
4. Get reimbursed – Once approved, you’ll get reimbursed quickly. 

With the right system in place, it’s truly that simple! 

How to choose the right business expense management software

With so many tools available, you may be wondering what’s the best app for managing business expenses?

Not all tools are created equal. The right software for expense management should make tracking and managing expenses effortless while aligning with your business needs.

Here’s what to look for when choosing a solution:

Feature	Does the solution…
Ease of use	☑️ Allow employees to submit expenses easily via receipt photos, PDFs or email?
Automation	☑️ Categorize expenses, enforce policies and streamline approvals without manual work?
Real-time tracking	☑️ Provide live updates on spending so finance teams can monitor cash flow instantly?
Accounting integration	☑️ Sync with your existing financial systems to simplify reconciliation?
	☑️ Enforce company policies, flag unauthorized expenses and keep the business audit-ready?
	☑️ Ensure employees get reimbursed quickly without delays?
	☑️ Grow with your business without becoming clunky or outdated?

The right software for expense management will check off everything on this list and make your finance team look like the rockstars they are.

Best expense management software

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for business expense management. Many software options on the market act as point solutions, meaning they handle only one part of the full expense management equation—whether it’s receipt tracking, approvals, or reimbursements—requiring businesses to connect multiple tools to cover their needs.

The best expense management software for your business depends on factors like company size, spending habits, and integration needs. Some platforms are built for small teams looking for simple receipt tracking, while others cater to larger companies in need of advanced automation and compliance controls.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the top options in Canada:

Expensify: A global business expense management software with receipt scanning (vs automatic receipt capture via text or app), automated approvals and integrations with accounting software. A viable option for businesses that need international functionality. Cost is a factor here, with per user rates as high as $36 per user per month.

SAP Concur: A more robust enterprise-level solution with travel and expense management features, ideal for larger organizations with complex reporting needs. No corporate card or rewards available.

Emburse Certify: Offers automated expense reporting and reimbursement tools with policy enforcement and mobile-friendly receipt capture.

QuickBooks Online: A small business accounting system whose mobile app offers basic expense automation like receipt snapping and email inbox forwarding.

Float: (That’s us!) We’re a Canadian-built platform offering one central solution for smart corporate cards, automated expense tracking and real-time spending controls—eliminating the need to stitch together multiple tools.

Why Canadian businesses choose Float

Float gives companies complete control over their finances, all within one platform. Unlike traditional corporate cards and expense tools that encourage spending, Float expense management is designed to help businesses spend smarter, not more.

Key features that set Float apart

Finance leaders love how much time and effort Float saves. Just ask Zach Hill, Director of Finance at Athennian:

“We’ve been able to reduce our number of manual expense reports by 80% even with our company headcount growing nearly 40%.”

Zach Hill, Director of Finance at Athennian

Here are just a few reasons why:

• Corporate cards, built for control – Issue company cards with custom limits and automatic compliance controls, so there’s no risk of overspending.
• Real-time expense management – Employees submit receipts instantly, while finance teams track spending in one easy-to-use platform.
• Automated approvals – One-click approvals streamline spend requests, keeping purchases in check without back-and-forth emails.
• Integrated accounting – Direct integrations with QuickBooks, Xero and NetSuite make reconciliation seamless and cut down month-end workloads.
• Cost-saving features – Earn 1% cashback, 4% interest on deposits and avoid FX fees with USD cards.