How to audit your software subscriptions in an afternoon

Software subscriptions are easy to start and easy to forget. A team signs up on a card for a trial, someone leaves and their licence keeps renewing, two departments buy different tools for the same job. None of it is a big decision, which is exactly why nobody ever reviews it.

You do not need a consultant or a specialist tool to get a grip on it. You need the right documents, a spreadsheet and an afternoon. This is the method I use at the start of a systems review, cut down so a director or finance lead can run it alone.

Where to find the data

Do not start by asking people what software they use. They will forget half of it. Start from where the money goes and work back.

• Bank statements for the last twelve months: look for direct debits and recurring payments to software companies.
• Company credit and debit card statements, including any cards held by managers. This is where trials that turned into subscriptions hide.
• Your accounts package: filter the software, IT and subscriptions nominal codes, and search supplier names for 'ltd', 'inc' and familiar product names.
• The invoices folder or shared inbox where supplier invoices land.
• Admin portals: your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace admin centre, and any single sign-on tool, which list users and licences assigned.
• Expense claims: staff sometimes pay for tools themselves and claim them back.

The table to fill in

Set up a spreadsheet with one row per application and these columns. Copy them across the top of a new sheet before you start.

• Application: the product name, as it appears on the invoice.
• What it is for: one plain sentence, such as 'sends quotes to customers'.
• Owner: the named person who would notice if it stopped working.
• Monthly cost: convert annual charges to monthly so everything compares.
• Licences paid: how many seats or users you are billed for.
• Licences used: how many people actually logged in during the last 90 days.
• Renewal and notice date: when it renews, and the last date you can give notice.
• Overlaps with: any other application on the list that does the same job.
• Verdict: keep, configure better, connect, replace or retire.

The four-hour plan

1. 01

   Step 1: Pull the statements (45 minutes)

   Export twelve months of bank, card and accounts data. Highlight every recurring payment that looks like software. Add one row per application to the table with its monthly cost.

2. 02

   Step 2: Check the admin portals (45 minutes)

   Open your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace admin centre and any other admin screens you can reach. For each application, record licences paid and licences used. Note any accounts belonging to people who have left.

3. 03

   Step 3: Name the owner and the purpose (30 minutes)

   For each row, write what the application is for in one sentence and who owns it. If nobody can answer either question, that is already a strong hint.

4. 04

   Step 4: Find the dates (45 minutes)

   Look up the renewal date and notice period for each paid application, from the invoice, the contract or the account settings. Sort the table by notice date so the urgent ones are at the top.

5. 05

   Step 5: Mark the overlaps (30 minutes)

   Look down the 'What it is for' column. Wherever two or more applications do the same job, note it in 'Overlaps with'. Common ones are file sharing, video calls, e-signatures, project tracking and form builders.

6. 06

   Step 6: Give each a verdict (45 minutes)

   Work down the list and give every application one of the five verdicts below. Do not agonise. A first pass is better than a perfect list that never gets finished.

The five verdicts

• Keep: it does its job, people use it and the cost is fair.
• Configure better: it can do more than you are using it for, or it is set up badly. Fix the set-up before anyone buys something else.
• Connect: it is fine on its own, but people re-key data between it and another system. A connection may save more than a replacement would.
• Replace: it no longer fits, or another tool you already pay for does the same job better.
• Retire: nobody uses it, nobody owns it, or the job it did no longer exists. Cancel it at the next notice date and export any data first.

What to do with the result

Act on the easy wins straight away: remove leavers, reduce seat counts to what is used, and give notice on anything marked retire. Before you cancel, export the data and check whether anyone needs access to old records for legal or accounting reasons.

The 'connect' and 'replace' verdicts take more thought. Swapping one tool for another changes how people work, and connecting systems needs care about which one holds the master copy of the data. Treat these as a short list of decisions for the next quarter, not jobs for this week.

Keep the spreadsheet. Give it an owner, add new subscriptions as they appear and look at it again before the next financial year. Make a simple rule that new software needs a named owner and an entry in the table before anyone pays for it.

When to bring in help

The afternoon audit finds the waste you can see. It does not tell you whether your core systems fit the business, where the integration gaps cost you most, or what to replace first and in what order. That needs someone to look at the whole estate and how the work flows through it.

That is what the Systems Health Check does: it takes every application, gives each a verdict with the reasoning behind it, finds the licence waste and the missing connections, and turns it into a costed roadmap for a fixed price.