Abacus vs Concur

March 15, 2025 | Author: Michael Stromann
4
Abacus
Real Time Expense Reporting. Abacus is the easiest way for you to automate how you reimburse your team, reconcile corporate credit cards, and implement your expense policy.
22
Concur
SAP Concur's easy-to-use business travel and expense management software solution helps your business save time, money and gain control. The Concur booking tool makes business travel a snap—starting with customized options that align with your company policies. You can also upload electronic folios, directly to expense reports. Concur provides full visibility into spend and the ability to ensure policy and regulatory compliance.

Expense management is one of those things that humans have perfected in the same way they’ve perfected bureaucracy—by making it just complicated enough to require software. Abacus and Concur are two such software solutions, both designed to save people from the mind-numbing drudgery of manually tracking receipts. They integrate with accounting systems, offer real-time expense tracking and even allow users to submit expenses via mobile apps, which is wonderful if you enjoy photographing receipts in a desperate attempt to prove you did, in fact, buy that sandwich for work.

Abacus, being the younger of the two, has decided that the old-fashioned way of submitting expense reports in bulk is a bit, well, old-fashioned. Instead, it prefers real-time expense reporting, which means that rather than suffering at the end of the month, employees can suffer in small increments every day. It’s particularly fond of startups and mid-sized businesses, possibly because they are too young and hopeful to know better. Launched in 2013 in the United States, it also prides itself on flexible approval workflows and speedy reimbursements, ensuring that at least one part of corporate life doesn’t move at the pace of a geriatric snail.

Concur, on the other hand, was born in the distant past of 1993, an era when people still trusted fax machines. It has since evolved into a full-fledged travel and expense management juggernaut, favored by large enterprises that need to keep track of vast, sprawling expense claims across multiple countries, dimensions and possibly parallel universes. Acquired by SAP in 2014, it comes with a robust but labyrinthine implementation process that, while comprehensive, may require a small team of wizards to set up. It also includes travel booking, which means employees can experience the joy of both submitting expenses and realizing their hotel was non-refundable at the same time.

See also: Top 10 Expense Management software
Author: Michael Stromann
Michael is an expert in IT Service Management, IT Security and software development. With his extensive experience as a software developer and active involvement in multiple ERP implementation projects, Michael brings a wealth of practical knowledge to his writings. Having previously worked at SAP, he has honed his expertise and gained a deep understanding of software development and implementation processes. Currently, as a freelance developer, Michael continues to contribute to the IT community by sharing his insights through guest articles published on several IT portals. You can contact Michael by email [email protected]