Year-End Expense Export: What to Hand Your Accountant

At the end of the year, an accountant doesn't want a screenshot or a login. They want a file they can sort and add up. Here is what you can produce from SpendSmart AI, what's in it, and what isn't.

This is a tracking guide, not tax advice. What counts as deductible, and how to categorise it, depends on where you live and on your situation, so ask your accountant what they need.

The CSV

The CSV export is free. It has one row per expense, with these columns, in this order:

• Date, Description, Merchant and Category
• Amount and Currency
• Home Amount and Home Currency
• Type, Payment Method and Input Method
• Note
• My Share and Split With

The date is in year-month-day order, which sorts correctly in any spreadsheet.

You can export from the Reports tab, which gives you the month you're viewing, or from Settings, which exports everything you can see: the last 12 months on Free, your whole history on Pro.

Foreign currency and shared bills

If you spend in another currency, each row keeps the original amount and currency, plus the home-currency amount recorded at the time. Your totals don't drift when exchange rates move later.

For a split expense, the Amount column is the full bill and the Home Amount is your share, with the people you split it with named alongside. Mention that to your accountant, or the totals will look doubled.

The year view and PDF

On Pro, the Reports tab has a Year view with a monthly chart and a category breakdown, and you can export that year as a CSV or a PDF. The PDF shows totals, the 12 months, the categories as percentages, and your top five merchants. Monthly PDFs also show budget progress.

The PDF is a summary for you or for a conversation. The CSV is the one to hand over if they want to work with the detail.

What isn't in the export

Be upfront with your accountant about these.

• Receipt images. The export doesn't include them, so keep your originals or your own copies for anything you may need to prove.
• Tax fields. There's no tax, VAT or GST column, and no tags.
• Their category scheme. Your categories are for tracking. They won't match a tax form's categories, so expect your accountant to remap them.

Check before you send

1. Look at the date range. On the free plan, entries older than 12 months are hidden in the app, so check that the file reaches back as far as you expect.
2. Check the totals. Compare the sum of the Amount column against a month you remember.
3. Scan the Note and Merchant columns. Those are what your accountant will read, so fix anything that's cryptic.
4. Fix mixed-up categories. It's easier to correct them in the app than in the spreadsheet.

A simple year-end routine

A few minutes in the last week of December saves hours in March. Log what you missed, check the categories, then export once. If your records came from importing a bank statement, compare the two before you rely on either.

Frequently asked

Is the CSV export free? Yes. PDF reports, the Year view and full history are Pro.

Can I export a custom date range? There's no date picker. You export a month, a calendar year on Pro, or everything you can see from Settings, which is the last 12 months on Free.

Do exports include my receipts? No. They hold the expense details, not the photos.

Is this tax advice? No. It's about getting your records out cleanly. Your accountant decides what counts.

If you'd like year-end to be a five-minute job, SpendSmart AI is free to start.