Last week I visited a client for a consult on a new project. It was an hour drive and then we went to lunch. The good thing about these expenses is that they are tax deductible. But here is what will happen next year when I start doing my taxes…”when did I go there? how much was that lunch? how many miles is that trip?” Those are the questions I would be asking myself if I don’t have a great way to track these expenses.
Travel Expense for Android is one app that can be used to track those travel expenses. Today I’m looking at it to see if it can replace my current method of tracking expenses (spreadsheet).
Travel Expense Features
- Display total amount of travel expense in home and local currency
- Expense report in csv, html and excel xml
- Export/Email expense report
- Backup and restore database to SD card, Dropbox™ and Google Docs
- Auto backup database when exit
- Manageable currency
- Configurable date, time format.
- Add new record with default value.
- Password protection
- Default email address for receiving report
- Add new expense with default value
- Camera receipt
- Sorting, Filtering data
In using Travel Expense the first thing I notice is that it is well laid out and fairly intuitive. You begin by adding a trip. You give your trip a title, description, budget, currency, start and end dates. For me, I place the name of the client in the title and the reason for travel in the description. The budget is what I hope to spend…but I’m not sure that is a necessary field.
Once you have added your trip, can now begin entering expenses for that trip. You can enter Airfare, Entertainment, Hotel, Meals, Misc, Phone, and Transport expenses. You then simply enter the amount, account type (cash, credit card, check), comments, and date/time. You also have the option of snapping a photo of the receipt. I like this feature since then I don’t feel like it’s necessary to hold onto the receipt for tax purposes…I can just store it and print it if necessary.
Really the only thing Travel Expense is missing is the ability to track mileage. I really would like a simple entry for starting/ending mileage or at least total mileage for the trip. This would make the app complete and I believe make it worth double what it costs now.
All in all I really like the app and I recommend you give it a try. It may not have a lot of bells and whistles but it does what it says and that’s really all we can ask of any app.
[pb-app-box pname=’com.aadhk.tvlexpense’ name=”Travel Expense’ theme=’light’ lang=’en’]
Screenshots
