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Megan Burnham

Guidance on HMRC Record Keeping in the UK

HMRC record keeping

HMRC can fine you up to £3,000 per tax year for inadequate records—and that’s before any additional tax assessments or penalties that follow. For most business owners, poor HMRC record keeping isn’t a deliberate choice; it’s something that quietly gets out of hand when there’s no clear system in place. 

Whether you’re a sole trader, a partnership, or a limited company, the requirements are largely the same: keep accurate, complete, and accessible records that show exactly what’s coming in and going out of your business. Get it right, and tax returns become straightforward, compliance checks become manageable, and you have real visibility over your financial performance. 

This guide covers what you need to keep, how long to retain it, and how to manage it efficiently.

Legal requirements and timeframes for HMRC record keeping 

Let’s start with the basics—how long do you need to keep your records? HMRC’s requirements vary depending on your business structure and the type of records you’re dealing with. 

Retention periods by business type 

  • Limited companies: Keep records for at least 6 years from the end of the financial year they relate to. 
  • Sole traders and partnerships: Keep records for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline for the relevant tax year. 
  • VAT records: Generally, retain for 6 years. 

You may wish to keep records longer than the minimum, especially if you are aware of ongoing or potential disputes, investigations, or claims.  

What do you need to keep? 

You must keep records that allow you—and HMRC—to accurately calculate your tax liability. If it documents money coming in or out of your business, it should be retained for HMRC record keeping. 

Sales and income records 

You’ll need detailed records of all the income your business receives. This includes sales invoices, receipts, and credit notes—both the copies you’ve issued to customers and any originals you’ve received—along with bank statements and deposit slips. Beyond day-to-day trading income, you’ll need to document income from grants, investments, or other non-trading sources, and keep records of any goods or services you’ve provided through barter transactions (non-monetary exchanges). 

Purchase and expense records 

If you want to claim tax deductions, you’ll need to document all your business spending. That means keeping purchase invoices from suppliers, receipts for cash purchases and expenses, and bank and credit card statements. You should also maintain petty cash records with supporting receipts, along with receipts for business mileage, accommodation, and subsistence. You’ll also need to hold on to records of goods you’ve bought for resale, equipment and asset purchase documentation, and details of any professional fees you’ve paid to accountants, solicitors, or consultants. 

Employment records 

If you’ve got people on the payroll, you’ll also need to keep comprehensive employment records. This covers everything from employee personal details and tax codes to payroll records showing gross pay, deductions, net pay and PAYE (Pay As You Earn) records.  

VAT records 

If your business is VAT-registered, there are some extra records you’ll need to keep: 

  • Your VAT account showing total VAT charged and paid 
  • VAT invoices you’ve issued and received (these need to meet HMRC’s requirements) 
  • Credit and debit notes 
  • Import and export documentation 
  • Records of exempt or zero-rated supplies 
  • Any adjustments and corrections you’ve made to VAT returns 
  • Records relating to the VAT Flat Rate Scheme, if that’s relevant to you 

Asset and inventory records 

You’ll also need to keep detailed records of your business assets and stock. This includes fixed asset registers, stock and inventory records (including opening and closing stock values), records of any assets you’ve disposed of or sold, stocktake documentation, and work-in-progress records if you’re in manufacturing or construction. 

Other records you might need 

Depending on what your business does, you might also need to keep: 

  • Mileage logs with dates, destinations, purposes, and distances 
  • Records of home office expenses and calculations for business use of your home 
  • Contracts and agreements with suppliers, customers, and partners 
  • Insurance policies and certificates 
  • Loan and finance agreements 
  • Correspondence with HMRC and other authorities 

Format and storage options for HMRC record keeping

Good news—HMRC’s pretty flexible about how you keep your records. The key thing is that they need to be accessible, readable, and ready to produce if HMRC asks for them. 

Paper records 

Traditional paper-based record keeping is still absolutely fine. If you’re going down this route: 

  • Store documents somewhere secure and dry, protected from fire, flood, and general wear and tear 
  • Organise things chronologically or by category so you can find what you need 
  • Use filing systems with clear labels 
  • Think about digitising important documents as a backup 
  • Make sure any receipts printed on thermal paper are photocopied, as they fade over time 

Digital records 

Digital record keeping is becoming more popular, and for good reason—it’s usually more practical. HMRC’s happy with digital records as long as they meet certain standards: 

  • Records need to be kept in a format that HMRC can easily access and read if they ask. 
  • Scanned documents should be clear and readable—ideally at 300 DPI or higher. 
  • Use consistent file naming and folder structures (your future self will thank you). 
  • Set up regular backup procedures—automated ones are best. 
  • Store backups in multiple locations, including off-site or in the cloud. 
  • Make sure you’ve got digital security sorted—that includes passwords, encryption, and access controls.  
  • Once you’ve digitised a paper record, you can get rid of the original unless there’s a legal reason to keep it. 

Software and cloud solutions 

Accounting software or cloud-based solutions can take a lot of the hard work out of keeping your records in order. Bank feeds pull transactions in automatically, receipts can be attached directly to records, and reports are generated at the click of a button—all accessible from any device. Security and backup features are built in as standard, and using recognised software will keep you compliant with Making Tax Digital requirements. What’s not to love? 

For businesses managing employee expenses, a dedicated tool like Capture Expense can fill a gap that general platforms often leave. Your team can capture receipts at the point of spend via mobile, with automated data extraction handling the details instantly. Everything is stored securely with a clear audit trail—making it straightforward to evidence your expense records if HMRC ever asks. 

What happens if you don’t keep proper records 

Failing to keep adequate records—or destroying them too early—can result in penalties of up to £3,000 per tax year. 

HMRC may also issue estimated tax assessments, disallow expense claims, or extend compliance investigations. Poor records make disputes harder to defend and can increase your tax exposure. 

Best practices for HMRC record keeping 

Getting into good record keeping habits early on saves you time, cuts down on stress, and keeps you compliant. Here are some practices that’ll make your life easier: 

Separate business and personal finances 

Keeping your business and personal finances separate is probably the single most important thing you can do for clean HMRC record keeping. Even if you’re a sole trader, opening a dedicated business bank account makes everything significantly clearer, and pairing it with a separate business card for expenses removes any ambiguity about what is and isn’t a business cost. If you absolutely have to use personal funds for a business expense, make sure you document it clearly and reimburse yourself properly rather than letting it blur into the background. 

It’s also worth making sure that personal transactions never creep into your business expenses in the first place. Automated expense policies can help with this by enforcing your rules at the point of spend, ensuring that no personal purchases accidentally filter through into your business records. 

Record transactions quickly 

Staying on top of transactions makes a huge difference, and having the correct software in place to manage them can make things much easier to manage. Expense management software can make it easy to record transactions at the point of purchase, with features like receipt scanning making sure that nothing gets left in your wallet or piling up on desks. Mobile apps even allow teams to snap receipts as soon as they get them, with automation generating all the data necessary to make an expense claim. No typing, and no mistakes. 

Keep supporting documentation 

When it comes to documentation, the details really do matter. Hold onto receipts for all business expenses, no matter how small, and get into the habit of noting the business purpose on receipts, particularly for meals, entertainment, or gifts, where HMRC may want to understand the context. This is another area where expense management software shines as it automatically sorts your receipts for you, giving you visibility of what documents correlate with each business purpose.  

You should also keep any correspondence related to transactions, especially for anything large or unusual, and hang onto contracts and agreements that explain ongoing payments. If you use estimates or calculations, such as business use percentages for a vehicle or home office, document how you arrived at those figures.  

Sort out backup and security 

Protecting your records is just as important as creating them. A reliable approach is to follow the 3-2-1 backup rule: three copies of your data, stored on two different types of media, with one copy kept off-site. Automated backup solutions are far more dependable than relying on memory, so set these up and let them run in the background.  

It’s also worth testing your backups periodically to confirm they actually work—a backup you’ve never tested is a backup you can’t trust. On the security side, encrypt sensitive financial data, use strong and unique passwords for your accounting software, and update them regularly. Enable two-factor authentication wherever it’s available, and be mindful about who has access to your financial records. Limiting access to those who genuinely need it reduces the risk of errors and unauthorised use. 

Review and reconcile regularly 

Regular maintenance is what keeps your records accurate and makes sure that small problems don’t quietly grow into larger ones. Things like reconciling your bank accounts every month and reviewing your profit and loss statement help to make sure nothing slips through the net and spot anything that looks out of the ordinary. 

Scheduling quarterly reviews is also good practice as it gives you the chance to prepare for upcoming tax deadlines and deal with any issues well before they become a problem. 

HMRC record keeping checklist 

Good record keeping is absolutely fundamental to running a compliant and successful business in the UK. While the requirements might seem like a lot at first, getting solid systems in place from the start makes everything manageable—and brings benefits that go way beyond just ticking the compliance box. 

  • Retain records for 5–6 years depending on business type 
  • Keep documentation for all income, expenses, VAT, and payroll 
  • Make sure records are accurate, complete, and accessible 
  • Use structured systems and secure backups 
  • Review and reconcile regularly 
  • Seek professional advice where needed 

Capturing records with Capture Expense 

Digital expense management tools can simplify HMRC record keeping compliance by capturing receipts at the point of spend, storing documentation securely, and maintaining an audit trail. 

If you’d like to see how Capture Expense could work for your business—whether that’s simplifying expense claims, improving your audit trail, or just taking one more thing off your plate—get in touch. We’re always happy to talk through what might work best for you. 

Capture Expense Brochure

Unlock the power of real-time spending insights across your entire organisation. Dive into our brochure to discover how you can stay on top of reimbursements, bills, and credit card transactions as they happen, ensuring smarter financial decisions.

UK Sustainability Reporting Standards: Requirements for Businesses

In the UK, SRS refers to the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS). While SECR remains mandatory, UK SRS marks a broader shift from limited, compliance-driven reporting towards consistent, regulated sustainability reporting that supports better business and investment decisions. 

In this guide, we explain what UK Sustainability Reporting Standards are, which UK businesses they affect, and the practical steps you can take now to prepare for UK SRS requirements.  

What is UK Sustainability Reporting Standards? 

UK SRS are the UK’s version of global sustainability reporting standards, closely aligned to the ISSB standards (IFRS S1 and S2). The purpose is to create a single, comparable framework for reporting sustainability-related risks and opportunities, particularly those that affect financial performance. 

Put simply, corporate sustainability is being treated with the same seriousness as financial reporting. 

Who does this effect? 

UK SRS will not apply to every business straight away. Compliance is being phased and targeted, but the scope is clear. Here’s who must comply: 

  • UK-listed companies: This includes premium and standard listed entities. 
  • Large UK companies: this is expected to include companies that meet two or more of the following: over £36 million turnover, over £18 million balance sheet total, or more than 250 employees.

Most SMEs will not be legally required to report under UK SRS in the early phases but will still be asked for more structured sustainability data, even without the legal requirement to report on it.  Those who will feel the impact most will be those who: 

  • Supply large or listed companies 
  • Are part of regulated or international value chains 
  • Seek external investment, funding, or acquisition 
  • Work with customers subject to UK SRS, CSRD, or ISSB-aligned reporting 

What do businesses need to report? 

UK SRS focuses on financially material sustainability risks and opportunities, including: 

  • Greenhouse gas emissions across Scopes 1, 2, and 3, as well as other environmental impacts 
  • Strategy aligned with government sustainability targets, including ESG standards 
  • A focus on tracking sustainability performance against key metrics, alongside the progress against said targets 
  • Any climate-related risks and opportunities 
  • Global alignment that follows ISSB’s IFRS S1 and S2 standards with additional UK-specific requirements 
  • Your use of resources and resource management, showing how you report on responsible environmental practices 
  • Sustainability focused financial information 

One thing that is clear, is the shift in focus towards transparency in reporting; this includes any environmental impacts or risks.  

Why this matters for UK businesses 

While UK Sustainability Reporting Standards applies to larger businesses, it’s important to recognise its importance and how it will shape expectations across the wider market. The introduction of SRS influences: 

The expectations of investors  

As sustainability data will now be more closely aligned to financial reporting, the rise in SRS will inform access to capital and cost of funding for potential stakeholders or investors. The accuracy and transparency of your data can inadvertently impact the confidence potential investors have in your business and your stance on sustainability. 

A shift for non-mandated businesses 

Even if you don’t currently meet the conditions to begin UK SRS reporting in this early phase, there will be new expectations on the data that you do report. Providing structured, comparable data, even if you aren’t submitting it, is the new expectation. 

Operational data suddenly becomes reporting data 

Payroll, expenses, travel, procurement, and supplier data all feed sustainability disclosures. 

Delayed preparation can be costly 

While UK Sustainability Reporting Standards may not be in force just yet, it is important to be proactive ahead of its arrival. If you wait until it becomes a compulsory reporting requirement, there’s a change that the data you provide will be rushed and of poor quality. All which can lead to costly compliance fines.  

ESG tools can help support you as SRS comes into play, giving you access to high-quality, assurance-ready data that is already tied to your financial.  

How does UK Sustainability Reporting Standards differ from SECR? 

You might be wondering how this differs from the existing Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting framework already in place for many UK businesses. While they both aim to improve transparency around the climate impact of businesses, the scope they both cover differs. Here’s a side-by-side comparison that shows where the two overlap, and what new requirements are coming into place:  

Feature  SECR  SRS 
Overview  Energy and carbon reporting scheme  Sustainability reporting standards 
Status  Mandatory now  Being introduced 
Applies to  Large UK-incorporated companies and LLPs 

UK-listed and large UK companies 

 

Scope and required disclosures  Energy use and carbon emissions (Scope 1 & 2) data, actions taken  Broader ESG and climate risks, strategy, governance, metrics 
Financial link  Limited, not required in financial reports  Must be integrated into financial reporting 
Forward looking  Not required  Transition plans, risk mitigation, and strategic targets are required 
Use of ESG frameworks and tools  Optional  Encouraged to help with data collection and reporting 
Audit readiness  Low  High 

What can you do now ?

Wondering what you can do now to anticipate SRS? Luckily for you, we’ve pulled together a practical list to get you started: 

  • Map where sustainability data already lives across your business, so you understand what is available today and where gaps exist. 
  • Improve consistency and audit trails by standardising how data is captured, approved, and stored. This reduces risk as reporting expectations increase. 
  • Reduce reliance on spreadsheets and disconnected tools, which make sustainability reporting harder to scale and harder to trust. Embracing carbon reporting tools can help to give visibility of your carbon spend and your actual spend.  
  • Align finance, payroll, HR, and spend data early, creating a clearer, more reliable picture of your organisation’s impact. 

Get ready for UK Sustainability Reporting Standards 

UK Sustainability Reporting Standards means sustainability reporting in the UK is becoming structured, regulated, and unavoidable. Even if you are not legally required to report yet, your customers, investors, or partners soon will be. 

If you’re looking for advice on how to integrate sustainability into your financial reporting, book a demo to see how Capture Expense can help give you greater visibility and align environmental efforts with your expenses.  

Find out more about Capture Expense

We’re so much more than just an app to track your business expenses. From saving days reconciling your credit cards to getting customised insights in an instant with your finance copilot, here’s everything you need to know about Capture Expense.

A Guide to Business Sustainability in 2026

Business sustainability is a growing priority in 2026, as ESG reporting and regulatory compliance become central to how businesses operate. From reducing carbon emissions to managing sustainable business spend, companies are under increasing pressure to demonstrate measurable progress backed by reliable data. 

This shift is reflected across the market. According to Deloitte, 83% of business leaders increased their sustainability investments in the last year, signalling a move from long-term ambition to immediate action. 

In this guide, we cover why business sustainability matters, the key trends to watch, and where practical change can make the biggest difference. 

The importance of business sustainability 

Before we look at the sustainable practices growing in popularity, let’s first cover exactly why sustainability matters in a business sense. Fundamentally, sustainability is crucial for businesses looking for long-term success, balancing profit with responsibility and social accountability, all of which improves your reputation and compliance. But, let’s look into the different aspects in more detail: 

Environmental responsibility 

Holding your business accountable for its environmental impact helps you spot where practical changes can reduce emissions and waste. This works best when responsibility is shared across teams and made an everyday task, rather than scramble before an audit is due.  

Brand loyalty  

Ethical and sustainable choices show people that you genuinely care. And, it’s not just customers and investors, but your people too. Having sustainable practices in place creates a workplace culture that aligns with their values, improving retention and recruitment. People want their company to represent them and their beliefs after all.  

Compliance with legislation  

With environmental regulation increasing across the UK, being proactive helps you avoid last-minute pressure and penalties. With regulators like the CMA, FCA, and ASA now able to issue significant penalties for greenwashing, sustainability claims must be accurate, consistent, and supported by reliable data.  

Investor attraction  

Strong environmental, social, and governance practices make you more attractive to investors and build confidence with existing ones. Transparent reporting and realistic targets enhance your credibility and build trust with potential funders or stakeholders.  

Long-term viability  

Business sustainability is an ongoing process, not a one-off task. Embedding it into day-to-day operations puts you in a stronger position to adapt to new expectations and changes over time, especially when progress is reviewed and adjusted regularly.  

Trends to look out for 2026 

As sustainability becomes embedded into everyday operations, several key trends are shaping how businesses approach it in 2026. 

AI-led decision making 

The use of AI is becoming a key part of business sustainability; helping businesses to utilise high-level reporting, helping you act on sustainability insights rather than simply document them. 

Over 80% of companies already use AI to reduce carbon emissions, monitor sustainability metrics, and support reporting, with a further 16% planning to adopt it in the next year. And for good reason. By identifying patterns, risks, and inefficiencies, AI helps turn sustainability data into meaningful action—not just compliance. 

Beyond reporting, AI is also enabling innovation. Around 52% of those businesses are planning to use AI to develop more sustainable products and services, helping sustainability become part of the everyday. By encouraging looking at how your resources are used—or could be better used—you can make your environmental goals central to operational decisions, all with AI. 

Scrutiny around ESG 

ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) used to be something only large businesses needed to worry about. But, in 2026, that’s changed. Now, no matter your size, you need to be able to show how you operate responsibly—with the data to back you up.  

Customers, investors, partners, and even employees want clarity on how businesses treat people, manage resources, and make decisions. What was once a way of demonstrating compliance is now a way to build credibility; giving assurance that you not just recognise the need for sustainability, but that it’s ingrained in every aspect of your operations from how you spend money to what expenses you approve.  

For example, look at ESG-related travel. In our expense trends report, we found that the businesses within our data set logged enough journeys to equal an estimated 5,175 tonnes of CO2 (or 1,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools if you prefer to visualise). 

With £28.5m spend on mileage alone, it’s time to align spend with sustainability goals, taking the time to track carbon impact through energy and carbon reporting with the same importance as spend.  

Regulatory changes 

Regulations surrounding business sustainability are continuing to tighten, especially in the UK and EU. One of the biggest changes is the shift from Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) to include UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS); a development that brings a broader framework to sustainability. 

Coming into place at the start of this business year, the changes will include: 

  • Reporting scope: SRS will go beyond reporting on energy and carbon emissions. It will now require the integration of sustainability and financial reporting, improved corporate governance, plans for carbon reduction, and full Scope 3 emissions reporting. 
  • Global alignment: Built on ISSB’s IFRS S1 and S2 standards, UK SRS maintains consistency with international best practice, while adding UK-specific requirements. 

While UK SRS applies to larger businesses (with a turnover of £54 million, balance sheets of over £27 million, and more than 250 employees), its principles are shaping expectations across the wider market. 

In basic terms, businesses can no longer rely on high-level estimates or infrequent assessments of emissions. Regulators now expect sustainability data to be collected, maintained, and reviewed to the same degree as your financial data, with the ability to demonstrate accuracy and progress when required. So having reliable reporting processes will be your biggest ally for being better prepared for audits and reducing regulatory risk. 

Practical steps to prepare 

Approaching rising sustainability scrutiny starts with greater control over every day spend. Here are some practical steps you can implement now to help towards your sustainability goals: 

1. Prepare sustainability data to regulatory standards 

Where reporting is required, businesses must be able to produce audit-ready ESG data. This includes meeting UK Sustainability Reporting Standards, submitting Sustainability Disclosure Requirements where applicable, and reporting Scope 3 emissions for larger organisations. Even where formal reporting is not mandatory, adopting these standards early improves readiness and reduces future risk. 

2. Strengthen governance at the point of spend 

Everyday spending decisions have a cumulative impact on environmental performance. Clear policies, supported by consistent spend controls, help to make sure that sustainability requirements are applied the moment decisions are made—rather than relying on manual checks or (potentially inaccurate) retrospective reviews. 

3. Reduce reliance on estimates and manual processes 

Heavy use of assumptions, spreadsheets, and manual data handling increases exposure to error and scrutiny. More reliable, automated data capture improves reporting accuracy and gives businesses greater confidence when responding to audits or regulatory review. 

4. Embed sustainability into normal working practices 

Sustainability is most effective when it forms part of everyday activity. Building environmental considerations into expense policies, approval workflows, and spending processes supports responsible behaviour without adding complexity for employees. 

Making sustainability a part of everyday spend with Capture Expense  

As expectations around business sustainability increase—from regulators, investors, customers, and employees—organisations need practical ways to turn sustainability goals into measurable progress. Increasingly, that progress is driven by how everyday spending decisions are made, tracked, and reviewed. 

And that’s where Capture Expense comes in. We’re equipped with all you need to bring business sustainability into everyday practices—supporting informed decisions today, while preparing for what changes come next. 

Want to know more? Book a demo to find out how we can help you towards a more sustainable 2026. 

Find out more about Capture Expense

We’re so much more than just an app to track your business expenses. From saving days reconciling your credit cards to getting customised insights in an instant with your finance copilot, here’s everything you need to know about Capture Expense.

Energy and Carbon Reporting: What UK Businesses Need to Do in 2026

energy and carbon reporting

As we move through 2026, carbon reporting isn’t an emerging idea anymore—it’s part of day-to-day business. Even if mandatory requirements don’t yet apply to you, expectations surrounding sustainability have shifted, shining a light on global standards and government reporting benchmarks, Many stakeholders now want clear, credible emissions data, too. 

We cover all you need to know about energy and carbon reporting, emissions data, integrated reporting, and more, so you’re fully prepared for the year ahead with sustainability and government compliance in mind.  

Government guidance on energy and carbon reporting 

The Sustainability Reporting Guidance outlined by the government provides a clear framework for environmental and climate related disclosures. 

That said, its structure mirrors global best practice, so many organisations use it as a benchmark for high quality reporting and Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) compliance. 

Key points from the guidance include: 

  • Carbon data should sit alongside financial data: emissions information is expected to be part of integrated reporting, with the same level of scrutiny and accountability. 
  • Scope 1 and Scope 2 reporting is the minimum: Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions should be included where they’re material (for example, official business travel). 
  • Offsets must be transparent: if you use carbon offsets, you must report volumes, types, integrity and spend, without suggesting they replace emissions reduction. 

This works well when reporting is planned early but be aware that adding in data retrospectively can be time consuming and harder to defend. 

What businesses are expected to report in 2026 

For 2026, the focus is firmly on quality over quantity. In practice, that means: 

  • Scope 1 emissions: direct emissions under your control, most commonly company vehicle fleets. 
  • Scope 2 emissions: indirect emissions from purchased energy, such as electricity and heating. 
  • Scope 3 emissions where material: especially official business travel, mileage and fuel—areas where good expense data makes a real difference. 
  • Carbon offsets (if used): volumes, types and expenditure must be disclosed. 

Good news—you don’t have to report every Scope 3 category. But if something is material to readers of your report (customers, investors, partners, or auditors), it should be included with clear data and explanation. 

Unless you can claim a low energy consumption exemption, the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting framework is mandatory for all quoted companies. It also applies to unquoted companies and Limited Liability Partnerships that meet at least two of the following criteria: 

  • more than 250 employees,
  • turnover of more than £36m, 
  • and a balance sheet total of more than £18m. 

In short, a lot of organisations fall into scope without realising it. If you’re close to these thresholds, it’s worth checking early rather than assuming you’re exempt. 

Minimum carbon reporting requirements 

Here’s a full breakdown of the minimum SECR reporting requirements for businesses, covering both non-financial and financial information. 

Type  Non-financial information  Financial information 
GHG emissions – Scope 1 (direct)  Mandatory reporting of all Scope 1 emissions from sources owned or controlled by your organisation. This includes fuel combustion in boilers and emissions from equipment such as air conditioning units or fleet vehicles. An analysis of related gas consumption in kilowatt hours should also be included.  Gross expenditure on the purchase of energy and expenditure on reported areas of energy.  
GHG emissions – Scope 2 (energy indirect)  Mandatory reporting of all Scope 2 emissions from energy supplied by another party. This includes electricity used in buildings, along with purchased heat, steam and cooling. An analysis of related energy consumption in kilowatt hours should be included. 

Gross expenditure on energy purchases, plus expenditure linked to the reported areas of energy use. 

 

Carbon offsets  Central government bodies that purchase carbon credits should report the total volume of credits purchased and retired during the reporting period in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. This also includes the type of credits used, whether they relate to reduction or removal, whether they’re nature based or technology based, and details of credit integrity.  Total expenditure on carbon credits against each of the categories opposite.  
Waste organisation and management  Absolute values in metric tonnes for waste from your estate, including total waste, recycled waste, ICT waste recycled reused and recovered externally, composted or food waste, waste incinerated with energy recovery, waste incinerated without energy recovery, and waste sent to landfill. 

Total spend on waste disposal, including contracts, specialist waste streams and licences, with expenditure shown against each waste category. 

Why data quality matters more in 2026 

One of the biggest shifts this year is how carbon data is treated. 

Sustainability reporting is now expected to be part of annual reports and accounts, not just a separate add-on. That means: 

  • Data needs clear boundaries, consistent methods, and audit-ready records. 
  • Where Scope 3 emissions are included, you either need to provide the data or have a clear explanation as to why it’s missing—along with plans to improve it. 

A lot of organisations don’t realise that finance systems already hold some of their strongest emissions evidence. Expense and mileage records, in particular, are often more reliable than estimates pulled together later. 

Why expense and mileage data is central 

Mileage claims, fuel receipts, and travel expenses are some of the richest data sources when it comes Scope 3 reporting because: 

  • They show real, day-to-day business travel activity. 
  • They support your material decisions (distance travelled, vehicle type, and fuel category all matter). 
  • They naturally fit with integrated reporting, where traceability and accuracy count. 

When this data is patchy, reporting relies more heavily on assumptions. That’s allowed—but under the guidance, those assumptions will need explaining and justifying. 

For example, one organisation may only include mileage claims linked to client travel because it’s clearly material, while explaining why occasional ad hoc travel isn’t yet captured in detail. 

Practical steps for 2026 

To make things easier for your SECR reporting this year: 

  • Map your data sources: start with expenses, mileage, energy, and fuel records. 
  • Apply materiality filters: not everything needs reporting, but anything material needs data or a clear explanation. 
  • Build capture into everyday processes: collect vehicle type, fuel type, travel purpose, and distance at the point of claim; software like Capture Expense can track this for you automatically as expenses are submitted.  
  • Think ahead to audit: align sustainability data with financial reporting boundaries and keep clear records of everything to avoid scrambling to find the data you need later. 

This approach works best when finance and sustainability teams work together—but it’s still manageable for smaller teams with the right systems in place. 

Capture your energy and carbon reporting data 

We know that being sustainable is no longer a nice to have, so we support reporting of Scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon emissions, giving you credible, integrated evidence of your commitment to environmental responsibility.   

Using carbon reporting with Capture Expense makes you regulation ready, giving you the data you need now and in the future for less headaches later on. Find out more about how it works. 

Find out more about Capture Expense

We’re so much more than just an app to track your business expenses. From saving days reconciling your credit cards to getting customised insights in an instant with your finance copilot, here’s everything you need to know about Capture Expense.

Expense Reporting Metrics: What to Track (and How to Use Them)

Expense reporting can easily fall out of focus. If it works well enough in the background, it might not get the attention it deserves—until something goes wrong, that is.  

And that moment usually arrives as a familiar pattern. Whether it’s month-end taking longer than it should, managers questioning what they’re approving, or even VAT is harder to reclaim than expected. None of these issues feels dramatic on its own, but together they create a steady drain on time, confidence, and control.  

The real challenge comes in understanding how well your expense management is actually working. Without visibility, it’s hard to tell whether problems are isolated or systemic—and even harder to know where to focus your effort.  

This is where expense reporting metrics come into play. When used properly, they don’t just report on what’s already happened. They highlight friction early, point to gaps in your policies, and help you make small changes that prevent bigger issues later on. We’ll look at the expense reporting metrics that genuinely matter, from what they can tell you to how you can use them to improve control—without adding more admin.  

Why tracking expense reporting metrics matters  

Expense reporting sits at the crossroads of people, policy, and money. When it runs smoothly, most people barely notice it. When it doesn’t, everyone feels it—especially finance.  

Tracking expense reporting metrics provides a solid foundation to work from, offering the data you need to identify patterns forming over time. Only with this can you start to understand where claims slow down, where things begin to get unclear, and where risk might be building so you’re ready proactively rather than reactively. 

Submission timeliness

One of the simplest but most revealing expense reporting metrics is how quickly expenses are submitted after the spend happens. Long delays often point to deeper issues, such as unclear expectations, low confidence in the process, or people simply forgetting until prompted.  

To track this properly, you need a clear submission window. Once that’s in place, measuring the average time between spend date and submission quickly shows whether people are engaging with the process as intended. Looking at this by team or role often reveals differences that aren’t obvious at first glance.  

For example, one organisation noticed that most late submissions came from employees who travelled infrequently. They weren’t ignoring policy—they just weren’t familiar with it. A small change like adding clearer guidance at the point of submission significantly improved timeliness of submission.

This metric works well when expectations are well communicated. Without that clarity, late submissions can look like a behaviour issue when they’re actually a communication gap.  

Approval time

Approval time measures how long expense claims sit with managers before they’re approved or queried. When this stretches out, reimbursements are delayed, and frustration builds—often without managers realising they’re the bottleneck.  

Tracking approval time across teams helps highlight where support is needed. In many cases, slow approvals aren’t caused by a lack of effort. They’re caused by uncertainty. Managers pause because they’re not confident about policy limits, allowable spend, or tax treatment.  

A realistic internal benchmark helps here. Once managers know what ‘good’ looks like, approval time often improves naturally. Pairing this metric with rejection or amendment data also adds useful context. Fast approvals are good, but not if they come at the expense of proper checks.  

Policy compliance

Policy compliance rates show how many expense claims meet your rules the first time. Low compliance can sound worrying, but it’s rarely a sign of widespread misuse. More often, it points to policies that are hard to interpret or apply in real situations.  

To get value from this metric, it’s important to look beyond the headline number. Breaking compliance down by category (such as travel, meals, or mileage), usually reveals specific pressure points. These are often areas where limits are unclear or exceptions aren’t well explained.  

While high compliance rates are reassuring, they should still be reviewed alongside other metrics to make sure issues aren’t being missed.  

Rejected and amended claims

Rejected or amended claims are one of the clearest indicators of friction in expense reporting. Every rejection means extra work for the employee and for finance, and repeated rework often signals a systemic issue rather than individual mistakes.  

Tracking why claims are rejected is far more useful than simply counting how many are. Common reasons—such as missing information, unclear receipts, or incorrect mileage—often repeat across teams. That repetition is your cue to review what guidance or workflows you have in place.  

Let’s put it into perspective. Imagine a finance team noticing frequent mileage corrections. Rather than tightening controls, they aligned guidance more clearly with HMRC mileage rules and made rates visible during submission. And the result was consistently fewer errors, and approval confidence improved.  

This approach works well when feedback loops are short. Long delays between rejection and correction tend to amplify frustration.  

VAT reclaim rate

VAT reclaim is an area where poor expense reporting quietly costs organisations money. The VAT reclaim rate shows how much recoverable VAT is actually being reclaimed, and how much is lost due to missing or invalid receipts.  

Tracking this metric highlights where processes break down, particularly in high-risk categories like travel and subsistence. It also helps finance teams focus effort where it makes the biggest difference.  

For example, a growing organisation discovered that many claims included receipts that didn’t meet HMRC requirements. To rectify the situation, they improved their receipt standards, using HMRC’s guidance on valid VAT receipts as a reference point. This not only increases the amount of VAT they could reclaim but also improved their digital capture significantly.   

This metric is especially valuable when reviewed regularly. VAT losses are easy to accept as ‘part of the process’ unless they’re made visible.  

Using expense reporting metrics to drive improvement

Metrics only matter if they lead to action. The most effective teams use expense reporting metrics as part of a simple, regular review process rather than a one-off report.  

Monthly reviews work well for most organisations. The focus should be on trends, not individual cases, and on choosing one or two improvements to test at a time. Sharing insights with managers also helps build confidence and consistency across approvals.  

This approach works best when expense reporting is treated as a shared responsibility. Finance provides the structure and insight, managers apply judgement, and employees understand what’s expected of them.  

Bringing clarity to expense reporting—without adding pressure

Expense reporting metrics don’t need to be complex to be effective. When you track the right ones, they provide early warning signs, reduce unnecessary admin, and help everyone feel more confident in the process.  

If you’d like to see how these metrics can be tracked and used day to day—without spreadsheets or manual chasing—book a demo to explore how Capture Expense supports clearer, calmer expense reporting. 

Find out more about Capture Expense

We’re so much more than just an app to track your business expenses. From saving days reconciling your credit cards to getting customised insights in an instant with your finance copilot, here’s everything you need to know about Capture Expense.

The True Cost of Managing Employee Expenses

Managing employee expenses might seem simple on the surface: people spend, they submit, finance approves, and everyone moves on. But as every finance team will know, the real cost of managing employee expenses goes far beyond reimbursing the meal, hotel, or mileage. 

There’s the constant back-and-forth over missing receipts. The rejected claims that stall month-end. The VAT reclaim you could take—if only the paperwork was complete. And there’s the time lost to manual checking, chasing, correcting, reviewing, and re-reviewing that often goes unnoticed. Until it starts piling up, that is. 

This blog takes a deeper look at the true cost of managing employee expenses, what’s hiding underneath the admin, and how you can build stronger, smoother workflows that support everyone involved. 

Why managing employee expenses costs more than the spend itself 

The ACFE’s Report to the Nations estimates that organisations lose around 5% of annual revenue to fraud. In expense management, that risk often shows up as preventable errors, weak policy enforcement, and gaps in audit readiness—all issues that build up month after month outside of the actual expenses.  

Let’s look at the most common hidden costs: 

Missing receipts and silent VAT loss 

Missing receipts might feel like a minor admin gap, but the impact is much bigger. According to the 2025 Expense Trends Report18% of potential VAT reclaim is lost due to missing documentation. That’s a quiet, year-long drain on budgets. 

Imagine an organisation spending £200,000 on reclaimable categories. Losing even a fraction of VAT because receipts weren’t attached could mean tens of thousands written off. It’s rarely intentional—people simply forget or upload them later when details are blurred. 

Stronger processes help avoid this. Real-time receipt capture makes it easy for your people to add documentation instantly, while automated VAT extraction reduces the checking burden on your finance team. And the result? Stable reclaim (and reimbursement) and far less uncertainty around expenses month-end.  

Rejected claims creating bottlenecks 

Rejected claims don’t just delay reimbursements. They slow down approvals, reporting, forecasting, and reconciliation. And because most rejections result from missing context or incorrect categorisation, it’s clear the issue starts before your finance team even get notified. It’s at the point of submission. 

When someone submits a claim without enough detail or chooses the wrong category, approvers get stuck. Finance ends up fixing the same types of issues repeatedly. Clearer guidance helps enormously here. 

By introducing automated expense policies and built-in prompts, your people have the context they need to submit correctly the first time, so claims arrive cleaner and teams spend less time going back and forth. 

Manual admin that drains time and energy 

Even highly organised teams spend more time than they expect manually checking receipts, keying in VAT data, reconciling spend categories, or correcting submissions. 

Over a month, those small tasks become hours. Over a year, they become weeks. And the accuracy of your reporting depends on how much time someone could find that week, rather than a dedicated and conscious effort to spot inconsistencies. The whole process can start to feel reactive instead of controlled. 

The time and energy dedicated to manual expense processes is the most common hidden cost in expense management. Because it’s not just the hours spent sorting expenses by hand that could be better spent elsewhere, it’s the incorrect claims that slip past tired and unmotivated eyes. When tools automate matching, categorisation, and data checks, finance shifts from firefighting to reviewing accurate, ready-to-use information. 

The compliance risk behind everyday gaps 

Compliance isn’t something that only matters during an audit; it shapes everyday accuracy. If receipts, VAT data, and explanations are scattered across inboxes, folders, and spreadsheets, gaps become inevitable. 

Consider a frequent traveller who submits receipts but rarely adds context. Approvers sign off because they trust the employee. Later, finance reviews the claims to prepare for an audit and finds incomplete documentation—meaning the VAT can’t be reclaimed. 

This isn’t an employee problem; it’s a workflow problem. When the entire evidence chain is stored centrally, with prompts that encourage accuracy upfront, organisations stay compliant without having to chase information retroactively. 

Tools designed for VAT compliance and audit readiness remove the guesswork, helping finance teams stay confident all year, not just at audit time. 

How to reduce the true cost of expense management 

So, now we’ve outlined the costs that often go unnoticed, here’s some advice on how to alleviate their impact and make the cost of employee expenses exactly what is submitted on paper. No hidden costs or unexpected compliance nightmares!

Make policies visible right when people submit claims 

One of the biggest causes of incorrect or incomplete submissions is simple; people don’t know the rules as well as finance does. When policies sit in PDFs no one opens, mistakes happen. 

Embedding your expense rules directly inside your platform means employees get the right guidance at the exact moment they need it. Whether it’s providing short examples to help clarify common categories or adding automated nudges about missing receipts or unclear descriptions, it can dramatically reduce the number of rejections. 

This isn’t about tightening rules—it’s about supporting your people so they can submit confidently and accurately. 

Use automation to remove repetitive work 

Automation isn’t about cutting corners; it’s about reducing unnecessary admin so your finance teams can focus on meaningful work that makes a positive difference. 

Automatic VAT extraction, smart categorisation, duplicate detection, and instant receipt capture all reduce the pressure on finance. Instead of correcting submissions, your teams move straight to reviewing reliable data. 

For many organisations, this shift is what finally allows them to operate proactive, not reactive, expense processes—and it’s a key reason they adopt expense management software. And, as AI becomes integrated with more and more providers, it’s possible to look further than automation too and towards a future of faster financial decision making.  

The next step for you? Capture Expense 

The real cost of managing employee expenses isn’t the spend itself—it’s the admin time, lost VAT reclaim, repeated corrections, and compliance uncertainty behind the scenes.  

Capture Expense helps organisations build smoother, more confident expense workflows that reduce friction for everyone involved. If you’d like to see how this could look in your own organisation, we’re always happy to walk you through it. 

Find out more about Capture Expense

We’re so much more than just an app to track your business expenses. From saving days reconciling your credit cards to getting customised insights in an instant with your finance copilot, here’s everything you need to know about Capture Expense.

Rejected Expense Claims: The Most Likely Culprits

expense claims

Rejected expense claims usually come down to the same core issues—vague descriptions, missing or mismatched receipts, late submissions, and incomplete details. These small mistakes create bigger problems: approval delays, reduced visibility, audit risks, and slower reimbursements. Most of this is preventable with clearer guidance and better checks at the point of submission, which is exactly where Capture Expense helps.

Depending on where you sit in your organisation, you might have different views on expense claims. As an employee, you probably think they are fantastic, never paying for work-related expenses directly from your own pocket. If you work in finance, it might be another story. Because the reality is, while most know and follow your expense policies to a T, there will be a select few whose claims you are consistently rejecting.   

And those frequent incorrect claims create a host of problems. Rejected claims come with a whole host of challenges, wasting valuable resources that could be used to grow your business rather than stall it.  

In this post, we’ll highlight the likely culprits behind most rejected expense claims, using data from our Expense Trends report to show what teams are missing and their wider impact.   

Why are expense claims rejected?  

To understand where teams are going wrong when it comes to expense claims, let’s first start with why claims are often rejected, using our latest expense report to uncover the trends actually impacting you.  

Vagueness  

Out of over 371,000 claims we analysed, we found that 76% of rejected claims were due to vagueness or incomplete information. That’s things like sections left blank or filled with the dreaded “as discussed earlier”. Unfortunately, this figure shows that it’s more just the occasional oversight and signals an alarming number of gaps in the expense submission process—from how policies are communicated to teams all the way to how they submit expenses. 

Missing or mismatched receipts  

They say no one gets into finance to chase receipts, but the reality is, it’s a real issue for many businesses. 18% of rejected claims were missing VAT receipts or included missing documents within a batch, while another 16% were declined because the receipts simply didn’t match the claim. While missing a receipt may seem like a small issue, the more frequent the mistake, the bigger the issue for those handling approvals. After all, how many times do you hear “I’ll do it when I get back to my desk,” and wait days until the claim actually comes through? 

Late claims  

Timeliness is another issue when it comes to expense claims and why they are rejected. Another factor that cropped up repeatedly in the rejected claims we analysed was that claims were submitted too late (13%). It doesn’t just create issues for your people making the claim (as who doesn’t want to be reimbursed?), but for your finance teams who have the task of relaying the information and then handling the gaps in reporting in time for audit. It’s more than just forgetting to expense a receipt until the end of the month; the frequent delays complicate reporting and reimbursement, creating a headache for your expense team. 

Incomplete claims  

The small details—like not remembering the exact amount, the amount of miles travelled, or even who the claim relates to—all play a crucial role in your audit trails and project attribution. While it’s likely not done out of ill intent, most employees simply don’t realise the manual work or scrutiny that incomplete claims can trigger, especially when estimated figures come into the mix.  From the 13% of claims rejected due to missing descriptions or client names to missing trip information following closely behind at 11%, our report shows that incomplete claims aren’t an isolated issue, but repetitive errors made long before your finance teams ever see the claims. 

All these trends point to the same underlying (and thankfully, avoidable) issue: a lack of built-in guidance and checks at the point of submission that makes workplace spend reactive rather than refined. Without automated validation or policy enforcement, it’s a continuous cycle of incorrect data funnelling through to finance, with every claim adding to the loss of visibility and control over your expense data.  

What’s the result of rejected expense claims?  

So, we’ve highlighted the most common culprits for rejected expense claims, but what are the actual results of them? It’s more than just time wasted chasing little details or looking for receipts; it can have a real impact on culture, confidence, and day-to-day operations.  

Approval bottlenecks  

A rejected claim here and there might not seem like a huge concern. But over time, they can build up—quickly. When your finance team is spending hours chasing missing information and sourcing receipts, it takes them away from their everyday tasks – like approving claims in the first place. Approval bottlenecks that don’t just impact the rejected claims but also the ones that are approval-ready, too.  

From the claims in our data set, we found that only 2.6% were approved immediately, which means no double-checking of details or filling in the gaps. The rest took days, weeks, or even longer. While there was a significant increase in the number of claims approved after 30+ days (27%), it still highlights the growing gap between capture and approval, making it hard to get a clear picture of your finances.   

Without timely approvals, finance teams lack a real-time view of spending, making it harder to forecast accurately or manage budgets proactively. Put simply, without timely approvals, your teams can’t accurately forecast or manage budgets proactively, and cash flow becomes unpredictable.  

Reduced visibility and audit risk  

Detail is crucial when it comes to expense management, especially when it comes to submitting claims. Why? Because missing details create gaps in your records, which makes the audit process even harder. If you’re left with unclear descriptions and mismatched data, it can create gaps that weaken audit trails and increase compliance risks for your business. When spend isn’t captured cleanly or consistently, it becomes harder for your teams to verify transactions, justify spend categories, or respond confidently during an audit or HMRC review.  

Slower reimbursements  

When claims are rejected repeatedly or stuck waiting for clarification, employees feel the impact directly. Slower reimbursement cycles don’t just affect your cash flow; they also damage trust in the process, create friction between you and your people. Which no one wants.   

Over time, this can discourage timely submissions altogether, with your teams losing confidence in the system, especially in situations where reimbursements drag on for weeks. It all feeds back into the issues that create the rejections in the first place.  

How to reduce rejected expense claims 

You might think rejected expense claims are small, isolated issues, but as we’ve highlighted, they create delays, extra admin, and real financial blind spots. The good news? Most of these problems are fixable long before a claim reaches your finance team. With clearer guidance, better checks at the point of submission, and a simple way for people to capture receipts in the moment, you can cut down on rejections and keep everything moving smoothly.  

Capture Expense removes the most common reasons claims are rejected—missing data, mismatched receipts, vague descriptions, late submissions—by guiding employees through a structured, automated process.  

We give your people an easy way to: 

  • Submit complete, accurate claims instantly, wherever they are with our mobile app that uses AI to extract the data from receipts. 
  • Customise and set spend limits per employee with our business expense cards, with each expense checked against your policies from the point of submission.  
  • Give your finance team the real-time visibility they need to manage spend confidently with our expense reporting, broken down by user, team, mileage, and more. 
  • Reduce admin with automated expense reimbursements, saving on spend and time for your finance teams.  

From automated receipt scanning to policy enforcementbook a demo to see how we can help you take control of your expenses. 

Find out more about Capture Expense

We’re so much more than just an app to track your business expenses. From saving days reconciling your credit cards to getting customised insights in an instant with your finance copilot, here’s everything you need to know about Capture Expense.

The State of Expense Management: How to Manage Expenses in 2026

manage expenses

What was once a task dreaded by finance teams and managers is now recognised as the important window into your team and an ally for strategic planning. The area we’re discussing? Expense management 

It’s more than just pressing accept or reject on claims. Expense management gives you invaluable insights into how your company spends, behaves, and prioritises; and when managed well, it becomes a source of strategic knowledge, operational control, and even ESG accountability.  

And because of this, the way teams manage expenses is advancing more than ever. From smart AI features to advanced reporting, technology is transforming the manual processes that teams would dread, making the parts of expense management that teams feared a straightforward task. 

So, as 2026 is getting ever closer, let’s look at the state of expense management in 2025. Backed with the insights we found in our Expense Trends report, we give you the challenges and trends you need to know so you have all you need to make smart finance choices when managing expenses in 2026. 

The biggest challenges in expense management 

  1. Lack of visibility and control

Many businesses struggle to track and monitor expenses in real time, making it difficult to see where the money is being spent—and on what. This lack of visibility can lead to overspending and the risk of unauthorised spending slipping through the net. 

Without proper control, there’s chance of financial risks, like inflated costs and budget overruns. And it makes it more challenging to identify any spending patterns within your teams, so it’s harder to manage your budget decisions and forecast accurately. 

  1. Error-prone and inaccurate data

While manual data entry gives you full control of what enters your systems, it also makes it even easier for human errors to slip through. This can lead to incorrect expense totals, duplicated data, or even missing information entirely, all which takes time to correct. Employees can also forget to attach receipts or invoices (or even attach the wrong ones) making it difficult to reconcile expenses with supporting documents. 

The issue is bigger than inaccurate expense reports—all which impact financial reporting and decision making—it can also trigger unwanted scrutiny from HMRC or other governing bodies. Which, let’s be honest, no one wants. It can lead to audit risks, repayment demands, non-compliance with tax regulations, and even rejected claims that hold up the entire process. 

And it’s a real issue finance teams are currently facing. We found that out of 371,000 claims, only 2.6% of them were approved immediately, showing the very real issue of approval bottlenecks. Teams are way too busy chasing additional context, interpreting intent, and manually reviewing claims instead of catching mistakes early. 

  1. Non-compliance with policies and regulations

While creating an expense policy is fine and well, getting your people to actually read and stick to it is a whole other issue. And it’s a very real one. It’s more than just trying to sneak an after-work drink past your finance manager; it’s sets into motion a loss of control. And that’s when non-compliant spending creeps in. 

But, the gaps in policy enforcement aren’t a nightmareish threat. In our latest report, we found that 76% of rejected claims are due to vagueness or incomplete information. Factors that could have been flagged if submission workflows were up to scratch.  

Compliance needs a comprehensive approach. It’s not just one-time-and-done task, it’s something that requires a consistent comprehensive approach. One that covers clear and accessible communication, robust monitoring, and consistent enforcement. 

But it’s not just about making the rules, it’s about finding the balance between enforcing them without sacrificing on a trusting company culture. If you’re overly restrictive, it can impact employee morale and operational efficiency. But if you’re too lax in your approach, it can make it easy for out of policy spending to go unnoticed.  

  1. Lack of scalability and adaptability

As companies grow or change, rigid expense management systems can become out-dated. If you merge or grow into a new industry and your system can’t adapt with you, it can lead to additional operational costs and unseen errors creeping in. All of which is good news for no one.  

Plus, if systems lack the flexibility to grow alongside you, it’s highly unlikely that they can adapt to market trends or regulatory requirements. The reality is the best solution is one that can not only grow alongside you but the industry too. Growth is a good thing. Your software shouldn’t make it a nightmare! 

The role of technology  

Technology is crucial for their expense management. While some businesses may still be collecting physical receipts and manually checking and approving every transaction, on the whole, the majority relish in the way technology makes tracking and controlling spending straightforward. And for good reason.  

It not only saves teams from manual data entry and policy checking, but it also makes reporting as simple as a few clicks rather than hours of spreadsheet scouring. All of which are a sigh of relief from the people who spend hours reconciling spending, double (and triple) checking data entries, and chasing missing receipts. 

With 70% of finance teams stating that real-time expense visibility is their top priority, it’s clear that our dependence on technology is only set to grow in relation to how we manage expenses 

The trends defining how to manage expenses in 2026 

So, what key trends have defined expense management in 2025?  

Automation 

We’re sure it’s no shock that expense automation has been quickly gaining traction in 2025. Looking at the state of automation from a few years ago until now, the growth in capabilities has completely transformedfrom smart scanning all the way to policy enforcement and advanced analytical abilities. Automation is a deal-breaker for many when choosing their latest expense management software. 

In fact, 87% of CFOs are investing in expense automation to improve accuracy and compliance. 

Spending patterns 

Spending patterns answer more than just who is spending and what they are spending on, they also give managers an in-depth look into how teams are working and operating. All of which is crucial for understanding your teams. Without that, you can’t forecast correctly or budget effectively. 

And for your finance teams, knowledge of company spending patterns is gold dust. They’re the valuable pieces of information that inform smarter policies, make inefficiencies even easier to spot, and even positively influence company culture. 

In a world where remote and hybrid businesses are the norm, it’s no shock to see that mileage is topping expense claims. Our data revealed that £3.19m was spent on mileage in the past year, and £944K in fuel following closely behind. It reinforces the fact that while many of us may be working from at-home offices some, if not all, of our working weeks, physical connection remains important. Whether it’s a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly trip to the office or an in-person client meeting, teams are still clocking up the miles. 

But it’s more than just where people work, spending patterns can also give business leaders seemingly trivial insights into workplace culture. From our dependence on caffeine and the necessity of quick fast-food lunches contributing to £570K in expense claims to the £366K spend on taxi fares, the unpredictability of everyday life is clear, so it’s important that policies can accommodate to it. 

After all, patterns in spending don’t just provide expense data, they tell us where policies and people intersect. And great policies are made with your people in mind (as well as your budget, of course). 

Policy personalisation & employee experience 

So, with issues in policy compliance becoming more common, you’ll be delighted to know that trends are shifting to make expense policy creationand enforcementeasier and more adaptable to your team.  

We all know just how complex expense policies can be, as it’s rarely a one-size-fits-all solution. With different spend types and limits for different roles and departments, it can become hard to track and even harder to enforce. But, it’s not just an issue for your accountants or your policy makers; it also becomes an employee experience issue, as if your people are having their expenses questioned or not even approved time and time again, they can begin to lose trust in your system. 

For expense management software providers  policy enforcement and spend control is an expectation rather than a nice-to-have. And it needs to be configurable to your needs, making sure everyone understands what applies to them (and hopefully, sticks to it). With user experience and mobile accessibility being important for remote or hybrid teams, simplified systems and business expense cards that favour ease of use (without sacrificing control) and functionality are on the rise.  

ESG and sustainable spending 

For many businesses, new regulations like the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) now make environmental accountability a formal reporting need—not just a nice-to-have, making discussions about expense management no longer about just analysing every penny spent.  

Sustainability is becoming increasingly more important as businesses look to understand their environmental input in regulation with evolving environmental regulations.  

To make greener, responsible, and informed decisions aligned with industry standards, your systems should be armed to manage carbon reporting in real-time, making sure every mile is logged for complete transparency. This should also be factored into your expense policies too, for example, taking into account the environmental impact of journeys taken by train vs flight.  

Our research found that the total miles logged by businesses in our data set in the past year equates to an estimated 5,175 tonnes of CO2. To put that into perspective, that’s the same as 1,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools! If this makes anything clear, it’s that finance teams need to take sustainability goals into account in the same level of importance as they do cost. 

Manage expenses in 2026 with Capture Expense  

With Capture Expense, out of policy spending and compliance errors aren’t a worry you’ll be taking into 2026. From automated expense policies and spend control to carbon reporting features and mileage tracking, every penny, mile, and claim is logged and managed in one place, giving you full visibility and confidence that your expenses are managed compliantly. 

Don’t just take our word for it. Book a demo to see how easy expense management can be with Capture Expense.  

Find out more about Capture Expense

We’re so much more than just an app to track your business expenses. From saving days reconciling your credit cards to getting customised insights in an instant with your finance copilot, here’s everything you need to know about Capture Expense.

Capture Expense Recognised with the Best Ease of Use Award

We’re delighted to announce that Capture Expense has won several awards for 2025, including “Best Ease of Use” from Gartner Digital Markets: Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp 

Gartner Digital Markets bases these awards on independent reviews that highlight top-rated tools and help buyers find the software users trust most.  And people don’t just trust Capture Expense; they love us. 

Here’s what some of our users have to say about their experience with us: 

 

Expense Report, Spend Management, Time and Expense 

“How user friendly it is, very sharp and clear screens. We have received feedback from users, all of them positive which is unheard of.”

by Yaima B. [Capterra]

 

Expense Report, Small Business Accounting, Accounting Software for Consultants, Enterprise Accounting, Spend Management, Time and Expense

“A very easy process from start to finish. Would highly recommend to the other businesses. Very friendly and helpful customer service.”

by Eleanor S. [Software Advice]

 

Time and Expense

“We highly recommend Capture Expense for any company still currently managing expenses manually. Whether start-ups or corporates, you will only discover what you are missing out on once you try it. Our overall experience was top notch, from discovering the solution to onboarding the team and integrating with our ERP.”

by Jean Z. [Capterra]

 

Why choose Capture Expense? 

No one likes juggling expenses and processing every single report, so we designed our tools to manage complexity without the manual headache. 

Capture Expense is built to simplify and streamline your expense management. Rated 4.9/5 across Gartner Digital Markets platforms, users count on us for everything from vehicle mileage and corporate card reconciliation to reimbursement and travel management. 

With features like receipt capture, policy reminders, and real-time reporting, we make expense management straightforward. Our mobile-first system automates the everyday, reducing time spent on repetitive tasks and admin by 60%! 

Capture Expense works around your team’s daily tasks, integrating with tools like Whatsapp, Teams, and Slack to make expenses accessible on-the-go so no purchase is forgotten. Thanks to Smart Audit, claims are reviewed, accessed against custom rules and policies, and escalated so you only have necessary admin. 

We make sure every penny is within your policy, helping to reduce overspending by 44% so you stick to your budget and have total transparency.  

It’s not just an easy-to-use platform, it’s a platform your teams want to use. 

Book a demo to find out how Capture Expense can streamline your expense management. 

Find out more about Capture Expense

We’re so much more than just an app to track your business expenses. From saving days reconciling your credit cards to getting customised insights in an instant with your finance copilot, here’s everything you need to know about Capture Expense.