For many businesses, tracking expenses involves endless menial tasks like chasing receipts, reconciling accounts, or just remembering which client dinner happened where. 

Today, 57% of small businesses, according to recent QuickBooks research, charge more than a quarter of all their monthly expenses to credit cards, making it even harder to stay organized without the right tools. 

This is valuable time that you could save by using an expense tracker that automatically imports, matches, and sorts expenses in seconds.

Find out exactly what expense tracking software does, how to choose the right option, and why QuickBooks is the leading choice for your business.

Table of Contents

What is expense tracking software?

How to choose expense tracking software

4 best expense tracking options for categorizing

Important key features of expense trackers

How to track and categorize business expenses automatically

QuickBooks: The leading expense tracking solution

Stay ahead of your small business expenses with QuickBooks

What is expense tracking software?

Time and expense tracking software is a digital tool that automatically records, categorizes, and analyzes your spending in real time, so you always know where your money goes. 

Even better, it takes the stress out of staying on top of your purchases and payments. Everything’s organized, accurate, and just a tap away on any device.

Main advantages:

• Time savings: Automation replaces the process of entering common business expenses manually and eliminates human error.
• Accuracy: Automatic categorization minimizes mislabeled expenses and missed deductions.
• Tax compliance: Automated, CRA-compliant reports make it easier and faster to file taxes.
• Cash flow insight: Tracking cash flow in real time shows you exactly where your money goes.

Basic apps only track receipts, but more advanced accounting software, like QuickBooks, can connect expense tracking to invoicing, payroll, and reporting. This way, you can have a full view of your business finances.

How to choose expense tracking software

The best tool for your business depends on how it operates, who needs access, and how much information you want about your spending.

Identify your business needs

• Single-owner or multi-user setups: Choose software that securely provides multiple users, like staff or accountants, with shared access to expense data.
• Industry-specific requirements: Service providers, retailers and contractors may need connections to project-based or inventory tracking data.
• Mobile access: If you travel or track your business expenses from anywhere, you need a reliable mobile app that can scan receipts.

Consider key features

• Expense categorization and reporting: The best expense tracking software comes with built-in tax categories and customizable rules.
• Bank and credit card integration: Opt for expense tracker apps that automatically import, categorize, and track your expenses—to reduce manual work.
• Automated workflows: Look for software that automates expense approvals or sets recurring expenses to stay up to date and accurate.
• Real-time dashboards: Select expense trackers that track real-time cash flow at a glance.

Ease of use and support

The expense tracking software you choose should be simple for everyone on your team to use, including non-accountants. Look for apps that offer tutorials, live chat support, and a vibrant user community to help you get set up quickly and keep things running smoothly.

4 best expense tracking options for categorizing

Canadian businesses use various expense tracking tools, from simple spreadsheets to advanced cloud-based software. Some companies prefer simple, single-function apps, while others need an integrated solution to manage expenses, invoicing, payroll, and financial statements all in one place.

The right choice depends on how much automation you need and how many people handle expenses across your business. 

To help you compare, we’ve highlighted four top-rated tools:

1. QuickBooks: Best all-in-one

Best for: Businesses that want it all, from expense tracking and invoicing to payroll and reporting, on one platform

QuickBooks can instantly track and categorize your expenses. Once you connect our expense tracker tool to your bank and credit accounts, your transactions sync automatically, and your receipts attach themselves to the right categories.

With customizable dashboards, bilingual support, and CRA-compliant reporting, QuickBooks brings together accounting, expense tracking, and tax tools in one place, so you can quickly and easily see where your money goes.

Key features:

• Automatic expense import and categorization
• Smart receipt scanning and matching
• Mileage tracking via a mobile app
• Real-time cash-flow dashboards
• Tax agency-compliant reports for tax time
• Integrations with hundreds of apps, from Shopify to PayPal

2. Float: Best expense control

Best for: Companies looking for local currency support, smart corporate cards, and instant visibility into spending

Float makes expense tracking effortless for finance teams. Its smart corporate cards offer real-time oversight and control, and its direct integration with Canadian banks keeps data accurate and up-to-date. 

Still, Float is more of a corporate card platform than full accounting software. It focuses on expense control rather than complete bookkeeping. Some users mention that deeper automation and reporting features require linking to QuickBooks.

Key features:

• Smart corporate cards with custom limits and spending controls
• Automatic receipt capture and real-time approval workflows
• Integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, and other accounting tools

3. SAP Concur: Best for enterprises

Best for: Large organizations that need policy controls and robust compliance

SAP Concur delivers enterprise-grade expense, travel, and invoice management with automation. It’s ideal for global companies that require complex approval chains, corporate card integration, and international compliance tools, all in one system.

Concur’s scale and complexity, though, make it less suitable for smaller businesses. The interface can feel dated, and setup takes time, which may slow adoption for teams that need to hit the ground running.

Key features:

• OCR and mobile receipt capture
• Customizable approval workflows
• Built-in compliance and audit features
• Integrations with SAP’s ERP and HR systems

4. Expensify: Best workflows 

Best for: Teams that need automated approvals and quick reimbursements

Expensify makes expense management faster and simpler. Employees can snap a photo of a receipt, and its SmartScan feature extracts and categorizes details automatically. With automated approvals and reimbursements, finance teams spend less time chasing paperwork.

Still, Expensify’s automation can be a little too aggressive at times, and customization is limited compared to larger platforms. It’s a decent fit for smaller teams but may fall short for companies that need deeper reporting.

Key features:

• SmartScan technology
• Policy and approval automation
• Direct reimbursement through ACH
• Integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, and NetSuite
• Corporate card management and spend limits

Important key features of expense trackers

It's not just about convenience when you select an expense tracker. The best apps also give you control over your finances—with core features that make bookkeeping easier, take the stress out of managing your finances, and keep your business tax-ready year-round, whether you work solo or manage a growing team.

When the time comes to compare expense trackers, look for these key features:

• Automated categorization learns your spending patterns to apply the right category to every expense, saving you time and making sure nothing slips through the cracks.
• Receipt capture and management turns paper clutter into digital records that are searchable, shareable, and stored to prevent you from losing receipts or missing tax deductions you can claim.
• Bank and credit card synchronization imports transactions directly from your bank and credit accounts, ensuring every expense you incur is tracked in real time.
• Mileage tracking automatically logs business trips via GPS, so you can claim every travel deduction without the paperwork.
• Integrations connect seamlessly with your payroll, tax, and banking apps to eliminate duplicate data entries and keep your finances in sync.
• Multi-currency support converts expenses automatically and provides accurate exchange-rate reporting for Canadian businesses operating in U.S. dollars or abroad.
• Reporting and analytics tools turn raw financial data into in-depth insights, so you can spot spending trends, control costs, and plan for future growth with greater confidence.
• Compliance keeps expense policies tax-ready and maintains accurate digital records year-round that make audits and tax season headache-free.

How to track and categorize business expenses automatically

Categorizing your expenses quickly and accurately helps you see where your money is going, spot opportunities to save, and stay tax-ready year-round. The easier this process is, the clearer your financial picture becomes.

If you’re still tracking your expenses by hand, take the next step and organize your spending with an expense report template. When you're ready, switch to an automated expense tracker that can do the job faster and more accurately, giving you a real-time view of your expenses.

The best expense tracker apps combine automated bank feeds, smart receipt scanning, and AI to take care of the tedious, time-consuming tasks of tracking and categorizing your spending for you. 

Today’s expense trackers turn what used to be endless manual chores into a simple, set-and-forget system that keeps your finances organized, your books current, your expense reports accurate, and tax season stress-free.

Automated bank feeds and rules

When you link your business bank accounts and credit cards, your bank can import transactions automatically. You can even set up bank rules for it to follow. 

With automated expense trackers like QuickBooks, you can, for example, automatically flag transactions containing the word “Staples” as an Office Supplies expense. This level of automation keeps your expense tracking consistent, reduces manual entry errors, and saves you hours of reconciliation work with a “business expenses” Excel template.

Smart receipt scanning with OCR

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is used by expense trackers like QuickBooks to pull important information from receipt images, such as the supplier's name, transaction date, and total amount. 

Next, automation takes over to match this image information to imported transactions. This means that you won't have to worry about losing receipts or entering expenses by hand anymore. All of your business's expenses are recorded and stored digitally (and securely).

Advanced AI and machine learning

AI-powered expense trackers can automatically update your expense data in real time, constantly learning from your spending habits. If, for example, you buy gas every Friday, artificial intelligence (AI) will start tagging your gas purchases automatically on Fridays. 

Even better, your daily or monthly expense tracker gets smarter and faster over time via AI, basically learning how you run your business transaction by transaction.

QuickBooks: The leading expense tracking solution

QuickBooks ranks as one of the best business expense tracking software tools on Capterra Canada, mainly because it’s easy to use and delivers real value. Reviews often talk about its intuitive dashboards, advanced automation and all-in-one accounting platform features.

“Makes my life a lot easier being able to put all of our incoming and outgoing financials in one place and organize them.” — Tanya, Retail Business Owner, Capterra

“It really does everything I need. From invoicing, to payroll, to taxes, to reporting, it covers everything.” — Mark, Media Production Company, Capterra

These are only two of the countless user reviews on Capterra Canada that highlight how QuickBooks makes it easier, faster, and more reliable to track expenses. 

Features that make QuickBooks the top choice for expense tracking

With QuickBooks, you have a top-rated all-in-one accounting solution to help you see how every expense fits within the bigger picture—across projects, accounts, and time periods—so your reports are always accurate and ready for any audit. Here's a quick rundown of what the software offers:

Stay ahead of your small business expenses with QuickBooks

Staying ahead of your expenses is all about keeping your books organized, accurate, and secure. When you can automatically record, categorize, and analyze expenses in real time on one secure platform, managing your finances is easy. 

QuickBooks makes tracking expenses effortless with automated categorization, real-time dashboards, and mobile access. It’s a reliable expense tracking software solution for business owners who need simplicity and flexibility.