Expense management software for education
Every education expense claim allocated to the right funding source
Capture Expense is expense management software for education. It gives staff a simple way to claim and budget holders a clear approval while finance keeps the timestamped records your auditors ask for.
Jonny Dowell
Claim 145
£48.10
11 February 2025
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Approved
Stage 1
Jonny D
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SB
Pending
Stage 2
Sophie B
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SS
Pending
Finance
Susannah S
Enable Out of Office
Delegate Expense Approval to (includes existing approvers only)
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Only During the Following Date Range: 17 Feb 2025 to 27 Feb 2025
Trusted by finance teams at
- 4.9/5
Up to 44% less spend through policy controls
Spend limits, individual allowances, and out-of-policy alerts stop a claim before it reaches finance, so overspend is caught at source rather than at month end.
A timestamped audit trail your auditors check directly
Every approval, receipt, and export is timestamped, and a read-only auditor role gives your external auditor direct access.
75% less manual processing time
Receipts are read by OCR, card lines are matched automatically, and exports go straight to finance and payroll.
“From set up to go live, the process and communication has been second to none. It has been very well received by all of our users, there are now people claiming expenses that would not do so before as the process was too complicated and clunky! Now they can submit expenses with ease and from anywhere!”
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5377
expenses processed in just over a year
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2691
receipts uploaded in 15 months
New report
What 65,000 education expense claims reveal
Beyond the Classroom: 2026 Education Expense Trends Revealed analyses 12 months of claims from schools, colleges, universities, and teachers’ unions, so you can benchmark your own spend.
- miles travelled
- 1.4m
- rise in air travel claims
- 108%
- median reimbursement time
- 10.2 days
Fund and grant tracking
Every claim lands against the right grant, project, and cost centre
An education expense management system has to show which grant or project paid for every claim.
- Staff pick the fund or project when they submit, so the allocation is done before finance sees the claim
- Real-time tracking shows what is coming out of which budget at any point in the term
- Automated compliance checks test every claim against your funding rules
- Reports are produced per grant or project with no spreadsheet work
- A complete record of every transaction is kept for funder reporting
Multi-academy trust structure
Central approval for every academy in your trust
Run your trust as linked organisations per academy or as one organisation with academy tags while central finance approves every claim.
- Set up as linked organisations, each with its own categories, rates, and approvals
- Or run one organisation with an academy tag that filters categories and drives exports
- Central finance approves claims from every academy in both models
- We help you choose the right model during discovery
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GBP
Expense Once Ltd
Xero, approval Line manager, Finance
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EUR
Expense Once Ireland
Business Central, approval Line manager, Finance
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GBP
Expense Once Services
Xero, approval Line manager, Stage 2, Finance
Copy from
Expense Once Ltd
- Categories and GL codes
- Tax codes
- Tags
- Vehicles and rates
Base currency
EUR
Billing
Consolidated
Building the case for education expense management software?
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 for education.
Download the brochure
Approvals and policy
Budget holders approve with the policy and the receipt in front of them
Multi-stage approval records show every budget holder the policy and the receipt before they approve.
- Multi-stage approval routes by line manager, department, or cost centre
- Category overrides send high-risk spend to a dedicated approver
- Holiday delegation hands approvals to a named colleague for a set date range
- Out-of-policy alerts flag a claim that breaches a limit before it is approved
Procurement cards and VAT
Procurement cards reconciled with the right VAT
Card feeds are matched to receipts and posted per card scheme with the VAT captured on every line.
- Import transactions from the procurement cards you already issue
- Receipts are matched to card lines automatically
- Unreceipted lines are chased with the cardholder, not by finance
- Each line posts to the ledger per card scheme with the correct VAT treatment
- Corporate card, invoice, and receipt spend sit in one view for reporting
How Capture Expense replaces spreadsheets in schools
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Submission
- Monthly spreadsheets and paper forms
- Excel sheet per school, once a month
- Capture Expense
- WhatsApp, Teams, or web link, as the spend happens
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Approval
- Monthly spreadsheets and paper forms
- Budget holder signs without policy or receipt visible
- Capture Expense
- Policy check and receipt shown at each stage
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Procurement cards
- Monthly spreadsheets and paper forms
- Statement reconciled by hand
- Capture Expense
- Card feed matched to receipts, unreceipted lines chased automatically
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School trips
- Monthly spreadsheets and paper forms
- Agreed by email, reconciled weeks later
- Capture Expense
- Pre-approved budget, spend linked to the trip, overspend alert
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Audit
- Monthly spreadsheets and paper forms
- Finance assembles evidence on request
- Capture Expense
- Timestamped trail, read-only auditor role
Trips and mileage
Pre-approved trips and mileage with commute deducted
Teachers can claim without installing anything through User Copilot in WhatsApp or Teams or the web app with magic link sign-in.
- Educational visits are pre-approved with a budget, spend is linked to the trip, and an alert fires when it goes over
- Subsistence rates are set by destination and duration
- Mileage is calculated with the normal commute deducted
- Review and approval work from the same mobile app for budget holders on the move
Visit to Head Office for Training
Susi Sharples, 04 Aug 24 to 06 Aug 24
- Hotel Accommodation pre and post training course 300.00
- Staff Training Training Course Fee 100.00
- Meals & Drinks Subsistence 25.00
- Trains & Tubes Train ticket to and from Head Office 50.00
Total475.00 GBP
Ireland, civil service rates Active
| Up to hours | Rate |
|---|---|
| 5 to 10 hours | €19.25 |
| Over 10 hours | €46.17 |
| Overnight | €205.53 |
Departed 07:30, returned 19:10: 11 hours 40 minutes, over 10 hours band applied
Connected to the finance and payroll systems schools and colleges already rely on
Claims, card transactions, and approvals post directly to your ledger and payroll, already coded with fund, cost centre, and VAT details, including full integration with Cintra's education payroll solutions.
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QuickBooks
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Xero
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Xledger
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Integrates with 50+ systems. Don't see yours?
See all integrationsEducation expense management FAQs
Can teachers claim without installing anything?
Can we track spend by grant, fund, project, and cost centre?
Does Capture Expense work as school expense management software for multi-academy trusts?
How does Capture Expense support school and college audits?
How are procurement card transactions and VAT handled?
Can't find what you're looking for? Talk to us and we'll answer within a working day.
Expense management software your team actually uses
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Rated 4.9 out of 5 on Capterra