Today, American Express (NYSE: AXP) has launched AmexExpense, a new, fully digital expense management tool for businesses. Available for all UK Business Gold and Platinum Cardmembers, the free-to-download app simplifies the expense administration process by eliminating the need to save paper receipts and undertake lengthy manual reconciliation.

The AmexExpense app, powered by technology platform Findity, significantly reduces time spent on reconciliation by allowing anyone in the business to digitally capture receipts which are then automatically matched against the actual transaction. The data can be fully integrated with leading accounting service providers Xero, Quickbooks, and Sage ensuring seamless matching with ledger codes and expense categories. 

As businesses start to get back to more ‘normal’ levels of operation and business spending, an increase in the number of expense claims being made is also likely to be anticipated. AmexExpense makes processing these expenses easier for finance departments and employees alike, giving back crucial time that can be better used to help run and grow the business.

Businesses using AmexExpense can also generate expense reports that provide detailed insights into employee spending. Business Cardmembers can use this analysis to increase visibility of employee spending for compliance departments to decide whether to implement appropriate card controls and spending limits, reducing the risk of bad employee spending and fraudulent expense claims. What’s more, AmexExpense generates these full reports in as little as 60 seconds[2] – a crucial time saver to the lengthy end-of-month expenses process.

And it’s not just businesses themselves who benefit from the app’s efficiency – employees, who often spend hours every month filing expenses, can process each expense in just seven seconds by following four easy steps:

1. Take a photo. From lunches and business trips to goods and services, Cardmembers simply upload a photo or a digital version of their receipts to AmexExpense, straight from their smartphones, eradicating the need to hold on to physical receipts altogether
2. Let AI fill in the detail. Rather than manually entering in receipt and transaction details, AmexExpense uses AI technology to access transaction information directly from Cardmembers’ accounts and pairs that with the receipt. And if there’s no receipt, expenses can be filed using just the transaction data – a welcome feature saving everyone from having to track down lost receipts
3. Get real time approvals. Finance managers receive a notification on their phone or device to review and approve the expense in real-time, or at the end of the month
4. Faster reimbursement. AmexExpense generates a complete, categorised expense that can be reimbursed instantly – so employees are no longer waiting weeks for their money back

AmexExpense users can also rest easy knowing their transaction data is protected by American Express’s leading safety and security systems, with all information safeguarded, retained, and easily accessible for auditing purposes.

Evan Lubeck, VP Commercial Products at American Express, said: “The accurate and prompt filing of expenses is an important part of any smooth-running business, but misplaced receipts and manual data entry can take hours out of the day for both finance team and employees. That’s why we created AmexExpense, to take the hard work and stress out of the process, making it simpler from start to finish. As many businesses plan for growth in the coming months, freeing up time to focus on boosting the bottom line will be more important than ever.”

The launch of AmexExpense comes in addition to the recently boosted Membership Rewards, flexible benefits, savings, and discounts available to American Express Business Gold and Platinum Cardmembers. To find out more about how AmexExpense can improve efficiencies and empower businesses and employees to take control of expense management, search AmexExpense or go online here.