Flash forward to 2013, when cloud-based accounting software has made it easier than ever to track expenses, generate reports, and create budgets – all without ever having to hit the print button.

The key to creating a flawless expense report is to accurately track your expenses. If you have a solid system in place, generating a report based on those tracked expenses is an absolute breeze. Here are a few of our favorite ways to ensure accurate expense tracking:

Shoeboxed

In the above scenario, one of the biggest pains of creating hard copy expense reports was having to staple piles of receipts to the report itself. Well, no more!

Shoeboxed is a receipt scanning service that digitizes hard copy documents and maintains them in a cloud-based account that can be accessed from anywhere. Every individual receipt is transformed into a digital document that can be searched for by date, location, or individual item.

You can also keep track of receipts when you’re out of the office with the Shoeboxed app for iOS7 and Android. Snap a picture of each receipt and watch as your account is instantly updated with the new information.

When it’s time to create an expenses spreadsheet, Shoeboxed does it for you. Create one-click expense reports by selecting the applicable expenses within your Shoeboxed account. You can then download the spreadsheet, email it to your colleagues or employees for editing, or upload it to a secure, shared server.

Budgt

Budgt for iPhone is an app that lets you track your spending via virtual spreadsheets. This option is great for those concerned with privacy because Budgt doesn’t require any banking or other personal information. Simply buy the app for $0.99 and begin tracking expenses. You’ll have a handheld digital spreadsheet that will help you manage your finances and stick to your budget.

Freshbooks

On the other end of the spectrum, Freshbooks is cloud-based accounting software with the ability to link directly to your personal or business bank account. Freshbooks intuitively knows which items should be added to your expenses spreadsheet. It tracks income as well as expenditures, and displays the data on your account dashboard in the form of charming graphs and easy-to-read charts.

Freshbooks also offers a variety of reporting options that can be customized by client, invoice, expense category, profit and loss, and tax summaries. Simply click the “expense report” option to view and download an instant snapshot of your expenses for the month, quarter or year. You can also assign categories to certain expenses, making reporting come tax time a cinch!

Whichever application you choose to help create your weekly, yearly or monthly expense spreadsheet, the benefits of going digital are clear. So forget the paper print out and scrap the stapled mess – use Shoeboxed, Budgt, Freshbooks or the app of your choice to digitally track your expenses.

When you’re trying to save money, build wealth, and manage your budget, it’s absolutely essential to have a free expense tracker to account for every hard-earned penny you spend.

The latest and greatest expense trackers manage all areas of your finances, whether you’re charting transactions on personal accounts or mapping the financial health of your small business.

Here are some of your options when it comes to expense tracking tools.

Spending Free

Spending Free, iPhone’s take on a free expense tracker app, gives you simple snapshots of your overall financial picture every time you open the application.

View your income in green, your expenses in blue, and compare the two in a dynamic interface that breaks up totals by the day, week, month, year, and lifetime.

This tracker is a great choice for goal-setting because it creates a clear picture of where you’ve been and how your income relates to your expenditures. After all, the first step to making significant changes in your finances is getting crystal clear about your situation as it now stands.

Expense Tracker

Expense Tracker turns your smartphone into a mobile bookkeeper. With its easy-to-use interface and shareability features, this app is the perfect choice for savvy entrepreneurs on the go.

Expense Tracker gives you control over how you manage each area of your expenses, which can be arranged and charted by date, quarter or category. Available for Android, this app intuits selections you’ve already entered, making the creation of labels and descriptions a breeze.

Freshbooks

You know and love Freshbooks for cloud-based accounting, but did you know that Freshbooks can also track your expenses?

Simply sync your Freshbooks account to your checking or savings account, and watch this intuitive program get down to business.

Once the application has access to your spending accounts, it automatically recognizes expenses, categorizes them, labels them, and creates an easy-to-read snapshot of your personal financial picture.

Each time you log in to your account, you’ll see expenses listed side by side with income and unpaid invoices, making it a snap to see where you’re overspending and where you can afford to indulge a bit.

Now that’s fresh!

Shoeboxed

Every time you receive a receipt and beam it to your Shoeboxed account, the expense is automatically labeled and digitally filed into a category predetermined by you.

Once you’re in the application, you can search, edit and export expenses associated with everything from business travel to office supplies.

Shoeboxed makes it easy to create expense reports in a variety of formats and share them with your co-workers, employer or tax professional. And since every receipt has been scanned and digitized, you can rest easy knowing that you have legally binding documentation of each and every expense.

Using a free expense tracker is the best way to take control of your financial health and continued growth as a small business owner or solopreneur.

As you track each expenditure, you’ll rest easy knowing that the application is saving you time and money by organizing each item into detailed lists and categories. When the time comes to submit your expense reports to your employer or accountant, you’ll be able to do so with the click of a button.

How did you used to track expenses before there was “an app for that”?