A Guide To Efficient & Accurate Corporate Expense Management Solutions

Introduction to Expense Management

As your company expands, your spending patterns diversify, thus increasing the complexity of the expense tracking process. Manually recording, tracking, and managing different kinds of corporate expenses simply becomes impractical. Automated Expense Management Softwares with their flexible yet structured design successfully streamline this critical business process. Easy integration with existing HR processes coupled with user-friendly layouts makes adoption of an Expense Management Software swift and easy!

So, what is stopping you from going digital with expense claims management?
Here is a comprehensive guide to business expense management to persuade you to jump on the digital train today.

Types of Expenses

The types of expenses incurred varies from one company to another, which means your organisation will have its own unique expense categories and subcategories according to which you would draft your expense reports. Also, the expenses keep on compounding as unique tasks are initiated and new partnerships made.

Finance teams commonly group corporate expenses under the following categories:

General

Expenses which are not specifically related to a division or business function. It subsumes expenses incurred on a day-to-day basis in a corporate entity – stationery costs, utility bills, daily F&B charges, and even some salaries can be classified as general expenses.

Entertainment

Expenses typically associated with entertaining business associates. Coffee or golf meetings with future partners in efforts to bring in further business may be regular parts of an organisation’s activities. They can be expensive affairs, but the returns are well worth the investment.

Travel

As the name suggests, these are expenses associated with business travel. It includes accommodation, food, and transportation costs. To broaden an organisation’s scope and market presence, business trips are essential, and expenses of this sort need to be monitored and reimbursed in a timely manner.

Mileage

This is the cost incurred by your employees travelling in their own vehicles. This is calculated based on the distance and type of vehicle / gas used. Mileage rates can be prescribed by the company or in some cases, a standard mileage rate may be defined by the relevant financial authority.

Per Diem

The per-day allocation of a fixed amount to employees when they are travelling on a business trip. The per diem is supposed to cover expenses related to lodging, food and beverages, and transportation.

Petty Cash

Expenses that are anticipated on a daily or emergency basis so a certain amount is set aside and made available for immediate payment. Recording petty cash is essential as it ensures that even small costs are factored into the final expense report.

From Paper to Software – The Evolution of Expense Management

Crunching numbers on paper is the age-old way of expense management. This was gradually replaced by excel sheets, which at least ensured that a company’s expense reports would not be lost to damage caused by flooding, termites, etc. What this digital tool did not prevent, however, was manual errors. Problems related to duplicate billing, incorrect expense entries, multiple sheet management, etc. associated with the manual recording of expenses continued to persist.

Expense Management Softwares

Expense Mandgement Software were developed to make the important task of recording, tracking and managing expenses, benefits and even reimbursements as seamless as possible. The easy-to-use interface of these solutions made integration with existing business systems super convenient. Those with mobile applications could be installed in smart devices and accessed by employees, administrators and finance teams any time and anywhere. OCR scanners for receipt uploads, pre-designed expense templates, built-in audits and checks enabled quick, efficient and transparent claim processing and reimbursement.

Expense Management Softwares

Expense Management Softwares keep everyone – employees, HR admins, finance teams – happy and your enterprise viable and profitable.

Automated Expense Management Solutions – How they help?

A recent study of 500 business travellers revealed that 32% of the employees lost over ₹7000 of their own savings due to travel-related business expenses that were not reimbursed. Through machine learning and powerful analytics, Expense Management Solutions can simplify and automate the expense management and reimbursement process in enterprises. The automated solutions improve visibility of spending patterns and allow businesses to control overspending, design effective budgets, ensure compliance and engage in real-time decision making.

Its core advantages include-

1. 100% Digital: Everything you need when it comes to managing your expense cycle – from receipt scan with the latest OCR technology to monitoring/controlling expense claims on the cloud – they are now accessible online 24/7 via desktop or mobile application. 
2. Customizable and Flexible Interface: Enterprises get to design the expense tracking process according to their unique requirements. You can build your own expense types, workflows, compliance processes, policies, rules, and permissions. It is not a one-size-fits-all, rather a made-to-order business solution where the enterprise specifications dictate the final outcome. 
3. Cost Efficient: Time and money are precious resources for any business. An efficient software can speed up the tracking and reimbursement processes with minimal labor and in record time, while error-free and automatic expense reports can be generated at the click of a button. The time and money saved to make this a worthwhile investment.

Features of Expense Management Software

1. Scan and record receipts with OCR Technology 
2. Pre-integrated with HR and Finance systems such as SAP SuccessFactors for seamless transfer of information
3. Real-time expense tracking and management 
4. Expense tracker applications are accessible on any smart device
5. Customized audit processes and approval flows
6. Multi-country and currency setup

Manage Business Expenses Efficiently with Reimburse!

Reimburse is the most advanced and powerful expense management perfect for enterprises and corporates. A Concur alternative, the software application is pre-integrated with SAP SuccessFactors. It is a configurable platform that can be set according to dynamic business requirements. So, expense types and workflows can be configured effortlessly. From receipts to reimbursements, all the expense management roles and responsibilities can be managed from the palm of your hand with our T&E mobile app.