App of the week for journalists: ExpenseMagic
An iPhone / iPad app to help you to manage your expenses
– 1 min read
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App of the week:
Devices:
iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch (Blackberry and Android versions will be available soon)
Cost:
Free (with options to pay for bookkeeper services)
What is it?
An app that allows you to photograph expenses receipts, add details and have a PDF of your accounts emailed to you every month.
How is it of use to journalists?
Unlike many of our recommended apps which focus on using your smartphone for reporting, this one helps you manage some of the more mundane necessities that go along with doing any job.
This one is of particular use for freelance journalists, but could be useful for anyone who regularly claims expenses.
The app allows you to photograph a receipt and save it and the related data to the cloud. You have two options: firstly to manually enter the data or, if you want to pay, get a bookkeeper to do it for you. <img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-43452" height="375" src="?cmd=ShowAsset&assetID=43115&nosurround=true&fakeExtension=.jpg" title="ExpenseMagic" width="250"> <img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-43453" height="375" src="?cmd=ShowAsset&assetID=43116&nosurround=true&fakeExtension=.jpg" title="expensemagic2" width="250">
You can then have a PDF emailed to you (or an accounts person in your news organisation) every month, detailing your expenses.
One handy function is that you can sync with a phone's diary, allowing you to attach a claim to a specific event or meeting.
For overseas travel, ExpenseMagic uses a phone's GPS location to automatically select and convert a claim from a list of 159 currencies.
You can submit claims directly into three cloud accountancy software packages – FreeAgent, Freshbooks and Xero.
The makers of the app say that it is "fully compliant with UK tax laws".
Written by
Sarah Marshall is VP Audience Strategy at Condé Nast. She leads distribution and channel strategy globally. She is also the former technology editor for Journalism.co.uk (prior to it becoming JournalismUK)
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