Expense management software for consulting firms

In a consulting firm, an expense claim is not just a refund: it is an engagement cost, and often a line to rebill to the client. BestConsultant reads the receipt with AI, attaches each expense to the project, routes it through a report for approval, then sends it where it belongs: the invoice if it is rebillable, the project's cost if not. The accounting export follows.

How does a photographed receipt become a filed expense?

The consultant snaps the receipt or drops in a PDF. AI fills in the line: merchant, date, amount, VAT, and a category taken from the firm's own list. They check it, pick the project from their engagements, and flag it as rebillable or reimbursable. The month's expenses are grouped into a report, which they submit for approval.

Who approves, and how do you track the refund?

Approval happens on the report, by the people whose access profile allows it: a manager, the finance or admin team. They approve, reject or ask for a correction. Each report keeps its status and history: draft, pending, approved, refunded, exported. Nobody has to chase an email thread to find out where a refund stands.

Why attach every expense to an engagement?

Because that is where it counts. The project's Expenses tab lists the team's rebillable and non-rebillable costs. Rebillable ones are picked up by the invoice, and their receipts export as a zip with an Excel summary, for the client and for the accountants alike. The rest weigh on the engagement's actual margin and on the firm's EBITDA.

Categories, VAT, accounting export: what the admin team sets

The firm defines its categories: hotel, train, meals, whatever it needs. For each one: VAT on or off, rebillable by default, reimbursable by default. For the accountants, selected reports export as one zip: an Excel file per report, with net, VAT and gross amounts and a total per category. A period export by accounting date rounds it off.

What this is not

• Accounting or payroll software.
• A corporate payment card.
• An expense spreadsheet the partner pastes back together before invoicing.

From staffing to invoice

Expenses hook onto the projects from staffing, next to the days entered in the timesheet. Invoicing picks up the rebillable ones on the engagement's billing schedule. The dashboard files them under cash out. No re-keying between the claim, the project and the invoice.