Guide to the Best Expense Management Software in New Zealand

Key takeaways

• Expense management software automates how your business tracks, approves, and reimburses employee spend, replacing spreadsheets and paper receipts with a single, auditable system.

• Global businesses need more than basic expense tracking. Multi-currency support, corporate cards with local issuance, and multi-entity management are non-negotiable when your team spans multiple countries.

• Modern fintech platforms like Airwallex combine Expense Management, Corporate Cards, and global payment rails in one place – so finance teams don't need separate tools for each market.

Managing expenses across borders is harder than it looks. When your team spans multiple countries, currencies, and legal entities, the cracks in a manual process show up fast – in reconciliation errors, out-of-policy spend, and month-end chaos. The right expense management software closes those gaps before they become costly.

This guide covers what expense management software actually does, what to look for when your business operates globally, and how the leading tools compare.

What is expense management software?

Expense management software is a system that automates how your business tracks, approves, and reimburses employee spend. Think of it like a digital paper trail – every purchase is logged, routed for approval, and synced to your accounting system without anyone having to chase it manually. For finance teams, that means fewer errors and a clear record of where money went.

Here's where the distinction matters: expense tracking just logs what was spent. Expense management goes further – it enforces spend policies, routes approvals to the right people, processes reimbursements, and pushes data directly into your accounting or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Here's how a typical workflow runs:

1. Submit: An employee makes a purchase and submits a receipt through a mobile expense manager app or web interface – usually by snapping a photo.

2. Approve: The expense routes automatically to the relevant approver based on your company's rules – for example, anything over A$500 goes to a department head.

3. Sync: Once approved, the expense syncs to your accounting system and the employee is reimbursed, with no manual re-entry required.

How do the top expense management tools compare?

The expense management market is crowded, and the right tool depends on your size, your geography, and how you manage spend. A tool that works well for a domestic team of 20 may fall apart when you're managing spend across five countries and three legal entities.

Here's how the leading platforms stack up:

The information in this table has been reviewed to be accurate as of 9 April 2026.

Pricing and features can change – verify the latest details directly with each provider before making a decision.

Which expense management software is best for global businesses?

Not every expense tool is built with cross-border operations in mind. We picked the platforms below based on how well they handle the specific challenges that come with operating across multiple countries or entities.

Airwallex

Airwallex is a global financial platform that brings Expense Management, Corporate Cards, Bill Pay, and multi-currency wallets together in one place. It's not a bank – it's a financial operating system built for you if you're moving money across borders regularly.

The key advantage for you is that everything sits on the same infrastructure. Your employees can spend from multi-currency balances on their Corporate Cards, submit receipts through the mobile expense manager app using AI-powered optical character recognition (OCR) — which reads and extracts receipt data automatically — and have those expenses route through multi-conditional approval workflows before syncing directly to Xero, MYOB, or NetSuite.

• AI-powered OCR receipt capture: Employees snap a photo of a receipt and the platform extracts the amount, date, merchant, and currency automatically.

• Multi-currency corporate cards: Cards issued in 40+ markets let employees spend from balances held in multiple currencies, so they're not paying conversion fees on every purchase.

• Multi-conditional approval workflows: Set rules based on spend amount, department, entity, or expense category — so the right person approves every time.

• Accounting integrations: Two-way sync with Xero, MYOB, and NetSuite keeps your books up to date without manual exports.

• Multi-entity management: Manage cards, policies, and reporting across subsidiaries from one dashboard.

Card availability varies by market — you can check the latest coverage for your region on the Airwallex site.

Ready to see it in action? Get started with Airwallex today.

Weel

Weel is an AU/NZ spend and expense management platform that combines corporate cards with expense controls. It's a good fit if your team wants faster roll-out and clearer spend visibility without a heavy enterprise implementation. If you have significant cross-border operations or international payouts, it's worth checking whether Weel's global coverage meets your needs.

Zoho Expense

Zoho Expense digitises receipt capture, approvals, reimbursements, and reporting for distributed teams. Its configurable policies and cost-effective plans make it a reasonable fit whether you're a smaller team or scaling up – particularly if you're already using the Zoho ecosystem. That said, its card and payments experience can vary by region, and teams that need a tightly integrated spend, foreign exchange (FX), and payouts platform may find it limiting.

Workday Expenses

Workday Expenses is an enterprise expense module within the broader Workday suite. It's built for large organisations that need standardised policies, clean audit trails, and tight centralised control – especially where approvals and employee data need to stay connected to HR records. The trade-off is cost and complexity – implementation typically takes longer and may require a dedicated IT team.

SAP Concur

SAP Concur is a widely used platform for travel and expense (T&E) management, with deep ERP integrations and solid compliance coverage. It works for teams of different sizes with subscription-style pricing, and is particularly well suited to organisations with complex T&E workflows and existing SAP infrastructure. But if you're growing, the implementation complexity can still be a hurdle.

Expensify

Expensify is a widely used expense tool known for its SmartScan receipt capture and straightforward approval flows. It's a strong fit if you're a small or mid-sized team, or if you're dealing with high reimbursement volumes, and also offers integrations with enterprise systems. Its corporate card is available in the US, UK, and EEA, though coverage across other global markets (including New Zealand) is more limited.

What should global businesses look for in expense management software?

Choosing expense software gets more complex when your team spans multiple countries, currencies, or legal entities. A tool that handles domestic reimbursements well may not cope when an employee in Singapore submits a receipt in Singapore dollars, needs approval from a manager in London, and the cost needs to land in a NetSuite entity based in Auckland.

Here's what to look for:

• Multi-currency support: Without it, every international purchase triggers a currency conversion, adding cost and reconciliation complexity. Look for something that lets your employees spend and submit in local currencies without manual adjustments.

• Corporate cards with local issuance: Cards issued in the markets where your team operates mean employees spend locally without incurring cross-border fees on every transaction.

• Approval workflows: Global teams need conditional, multi-level approvals that reflect different entities, departments, and spend thresholds — not a single approval chain that applies to everyone.

• OCR and AI receipt extraction: Reduces manual data entry, especially when employees are submitting receipts in different languages or formats from different countries.

• Accounting and ERP integrations: Expense data should flow directly into your accounting system — whether that's Xero, MYOB, NetSuite, or SAP — without manual re-entry or CSV exports.

• Multi-entity management: Finance teams managing subsidiaries across multiple countries need to set different policies, card limits, and reporting views for each entity from one place.

• Mobile app: Employees travelling internationally need to submit receipts in the moment – not at month-end when the details are fuzzy and the receipts are lost.

Here's why global businesses choose Airwallex

Most expense tools are built for domestic teams and bolted on to international use cases as an afterthought. Airwallex is different because Expense Management sits inside a broader financial platform — meaning cards, FX, global payouts, and accounting sync are all connected from the start.

For finance leaders managing spend across multiple countries, that matters. You're not stitching together a card provider, an expense tool, a reimbursement system, and an FX provider. It's one platform, one login, and one source of truth.

Here's what that looks like in practice:

• Expense Management with AI-powered OCR receipt capture and automated categorisation

• Corporate Cards issued in 40+ markets, spending from multi-currency balances

• Batch reimbursements to employees across 200+ countries via our global payout network

• Bill Pay for domestic and international vendor invoices, with AI data extraction

• Purchase Orders for intake-to-approval-to-payment workflows (availability varies by plan)

• Integrations with Xero, MYOB, and NetSuite for two-way accounting sync

Businesses like Bilue have saved approximately 20% on accounting costs by consolidating their spend management on Airwallex. And, because our platform runs on its own global payment rails — not a patchwork of third-party providers — transfers are faster and FX costs are lower.

If consolidating your financial operations on one platform sounds like the right move, get started with Airwallex today.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between expense management and spend management?

Expense management covers employee reimbursements and expense reports. Spend management is broader – it includes corporate cards, bill payments, purchase orders, and all company spending. Some platforms, like Airwallex, cover both within the same system.

Can expense management software handle multiple currencies and entities?

Not all tools do it well. Multi-currency and multi-entity support varies significantly by platform, so if you have international operations, check this before committing. Platforms built for global use, like Airwallex, can support spend in multiple currencies across entities from one dashboard.

Do global businesses need both corporate cards and an expense reimbursement tool?

Corporate cards let employees spend without going out of pocket, while reimbursement tools cover expenses employees pay personally. If you're operating globally, you'll likely need both. Some platforms, including Airwallex, handle both within the same system so you're not managing two separate tools.

Which accounting integrations should expense management software support?

The most common integrations are Xero, QuickBooks, and NetSuite, with SAP required for larger enterprises. Make sure the integration is two-way so your data flows automatically, not just via a CSV export that someone has to upload manually.

How long does it take to set up expense management software?

Set-up time varies. Simpler tools are up and running in days, while enterprise platforms like SAP Concur can take months. Platforms like Airwallex are typically up and running in weeks, with implementation support included.

Is expense management software secure enough for financial data?

Any platform you trust with financial data should hold the right certifications. Airwallex is PCI DSS Level 1 certified and SOC 1 and SOC 2 compliant, and Airwallex safeguards funds in line with local regulations in each market it operates in.

Sources

1. https://letsweel.com/pricing

2. https://www.zoho.com/au/expense/pricing/

3. https://www.workday.com/en-au/homepage.html

4. https://www.concur.com.au/products/concur-expense

5. https://www.expensify.com/

The information in this article is based on our own online research. Airwallex was not able to manually test each tool or provider. The information is provided for educational purposes only and a reader should consider the specific requirements of their business when evaluating providers. This research is reviewed annually. If you would like to request an update, feel free to contact us at [[email protected]]. Airwallex (New Zealand) Limited is registered with the New Zealand Financial Service Provider Register (FSP No. 1001602) to provide a range of financial services in New Zealand.