Business spending comes from two places.
Employees spend money on travel, meals, mileage, and day-to-day items.
Departments spend money with suppliers using purchase orders, invoices, and payment runs.
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Most tools focus on one area and ignore the other.
This creates blind spots.
It also slows down finance teams, who have to chase receipts, track budgets, and manually reconcile supplier invoices.
A better approach is to pair an expense management app with Zahara’s purchase-to-pay tools.
Together, they give you a complete spending system — one that manages employee expenses and supplier invoices in one controlled, auditable process.
This guide explains the benefits, reviews popular expense apps, and shows why Zahara is the missing piece that creates full spend visibility.
What an Expense Management App Does
An expense management app helps employees submit expenses through their phone.
It replaces spreadsheets, email chains, and lost receipts.
Most apps support:
- Receipt capture
- Mileage tracking
- Company card feeds
- Simple approval workflows
- Reimbursements
- Policy checks
- Integration with accounting software
These tools are essential for managing employee-level spending.
But they don’t manage supplier costs, purchase orders, or invoices.
That’s the finance team’s biggest gap.
The Limitations of Expense Apps Alone
Expense apps only record spend after an employee makes a purchase.
This means:
- No control before the spend
- No PO approval
- No supplier invoice workflow
- No budget enforcement
- No 3-way matching (PO → delivery → invoice)
- No supplier payment scheduling
They are great for receipts.
They are not built for full spend control.
This is why Zahara sits alongside them — not instead of them.
Top Expense Management Apps (2025)
Below are some of the most trusted and widely used expense management apps on the market.
Each solves employee expenses well and integrates with popular accounting systems.
Highly Rated Expense Management Apps
| App Name | What It Does Well | URL |
|---|---|---|
| Expensify | Fast receipt scanning, automated reporting, reimbursements, card feeds. Widely used by growing teams. | https://www.expensify.com |
| Pleo | Ideal if your team uses smart cards. Real-time spending, instant notifications, easy approvals. | https://www.pleo.io |
| Zoho Expense | Cost-effective and simple. Good for small to medium businesses needing receipt capture and basic workflows. | https://www.zoho.com/expense |
| Ramp | Corporate card-first tool with strong insights, spend policies, and AI-powered controls. | https://www.ramp.com |
| Rydoo | Excellent for travel-heavy teams. Multi-currency support and smooth mobile experience. | https://www.rydoo.com |
Each one is strong in its area.
But none manage supplier invoices, purchase approvals, or multi-step workflows.
This is where Zahara comes in.
What Zahara Does: Full Purchase-to-Pay Control
Zahara manages supplier spending before money leaves the business.
It gives you a clear, repeatable, and auditable process for every supplier invoice.
Zahara’s core features
- Raise purchase requests
- Send purchase orders
- Set multi-level approvals
- Capture invoices with OCR
- Match invoices to POs (2-way or 3-way matching)
- Track budgets across departments and projects
- Run scheduled supplier payments
- Provide audit-ready records
- Integrate with systems like Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, and Business Central
Where expense apps record spend after it occurs, Zahara stops overspending before it happens.
Why Businesses Use Both Tools Together
Combining an expense app with Zahara gives you visibility across all types of spend — not just employee claims.
1. Full coverage of employee and supplier spend
- Expense app → receipts, card transactions, reimbursements
- Zahara → supplier invoices, POs, approvals, budgets
Nothing falls through the cracks.
2. Better spend control
Expense apps show what has been spent.
Zahara enforces rules before spend occurs.
Together you get:
- Fewer errors
- Fewer surprises
- Better cost control
3. Cleaner month-end
Finance teams avoid:
- Missing receipts
- Incorrect GL coding
- Lost invoices
- Duplicate supplier payments
Everything flows into the accounting system smoothly.
4. Faster processing
Automation reduces manual work:
- Employees submit claims quickly
- Zahara matches invoices automatically
- Approvals run without email chains
5. Better reporting
Department heads and managers see:
- Employee expenses (from the app)
- Supplier spend (from Zahara)
- Budgets
- Projects
- Trends
A complete picture for forecasting and decision-making.
Zahara + Expense App: Side-by-Side Comparison
| Spending Type | Expense App | Zahara |
|---|---|---|
| Employee receipts | ✔ Yes | ✘ No |
| Mileage tracking | ✔ Yes | ✘ No |
| Corporate cards | ✔ Yes | ✘ No |
| Supplier invoices | ✘ No | ✔ Yes |
| Purchase orders | ✘ No | ✔ Yes |
| Multi-step approvals | Limited | ✔ Full |
| Budgets | ✘ Basic | ✔ Strong |
| Invoice matching | ✘ No | ✔ Yes |
| Supplier payments | ✘ No | ✔ Yes |
| Audit trail | ✔ Partial | ✔ Full |
They don’t overlap — they complement each other.
How Zahara Enhances Popular Expense Apps
Expensify + Zahara
- Employee receipts
- Supplier invoices
- Full PO workflows
- Audit-ready AP automation
Pleo + Zahara
- Smart cards + budgets
- PO approvals before supplier spend
- Improved project-level controls
Zoho Expense + Zahara
- Low-cost employee expense tracking
- Strong AP automation for growing teams
Ramp + Zahara
- Powerful card controls
- Deep visibility into supplier spend
Rydoo + Zahara
- Travel expense clarity
- Supplier invoice control
Rolling Out Zahara With an Expense App
1. Start with employee categories
Define simple expense categories in your chosen app.
2. Set rules in Zahara
Build approval workflows for all supplier and invoice activity.
3. Connect both tools to your finance system
Zahara connects to:
- Xero
- QuickBooks
- Sage
- Dynamics 365 Business Central
4. Communicate the new process
Explain:
- Employee expenses → through the app
- Supplier invoices → through Zahara
5. Use dashboards for reporting
Monitor spending patterns and budgets across both systems.
FAQs
Is Zahara an expense management app?
No. Zahara focuses on supplier spend, not employee receipts.
Do I still need an expense app if I use Zahara?
Yes — if your team submits staff expenses.
Can Zahara prevent overspending?
Yes, with PO approvals and budget tracking.
What if I only want to manage supplier invoices?
Then Zahara alone is enough.
Does Zahara integrate with my accounting software?
Most likely. Zahara integrates with major finance systems.
Take Control of All Business Spend
An expense management app handles employee receipts.
Zahara handles supplier invoices, purchase orders, and approvals.
Use both together and you get a complete, controlled, and audit-ready spend system.
Explore how Zahara helps finance teams work faster:
👉 Accounts Payable automation software
👉 Automated invoice processing
👉 Zahara AP Automation features
👉 Pricing
