Expense management is one of the most complicated tasks performed by the Human Resource and Finance Department in any organisation. However, it is vital, as a tight rein on corporate expenses contributes to more informed management decisions and hence, better profits.
Managing expenses manually is no longer practical, especially in large and medium-sized business where different types of expenses are being recorded simultaneously. Manually recording, categorising and finally processing such expense claims is time-consuming. Not to mention, the high chances of human errors while processing the requests.
An automated expense management system is the one-stop solution for a simple, quick, accurate, and efficient corporate expense record and reimbursement process. Let us learn more about this system

Expense Management System

An expense management system helps in tracking and managing corporate expenses, be it in any form- mileage, entertainment, petty cash, per diem, travel, etc. and also expedite reimbursement requests. The dedicated system helps make expense filing, expense tracking, and reimbursements easy and hassle-free.
Here are some of the top features of expense management system you should look for before investing in one.

Salient features of the best expense management software

1. Auto-scan receipts and bills

Manually entering the details of receipts and bills and verifying them are two of the most time-consuming tasks of a reimbursement process. One of the best features of expense management system is a receipt scanner. These scanners can be accessed via a mobile application too most times. The application scans receipts and enters the relevant data into the system automatically. It also alerts you in case of duplicate receipts.

2. Approve claims in different currencies

When employees travel internationally, they end up spending in different currencies. Some employees travel to different countries during the same trip and hence have multi-currency receipts. The expense management system should be able to accept claims in different currencies and convert them into the local currency seamlessly.

3. Identify intentional and unintentional errors

With a lot of receipts to submit and multiple days of claims to be handled, both employee and HR errors are quite common. One of the vital features of expense management system that will save the company the trouble of backtracking processes to identify errors is having a flagging system in the software.
The software should be able to flag duplicate entries, claims higher than the approved amount, and any kind of claims that don’t come under the company’s reimbursement policy. This will save the company money and time.

4. Auto approvals and rejections

By including a pre-set list of rules and requirements, you can opt for auto approvals and rejections in the system without requiring manual intervention in many cases. Claims that are straightforward and simple can be auto-approved or rejected. In case of rejection, the system gives the reason for the same to the employee and asks for re-submissions.

5. Digital audit trail

An expense management system that offers a digital audit trail feature makes sure all relevant documents related to employee business expenses are recorded at every stage in real-time. This makes it easy for the business to streamline reimbursements and keep documents ready for audits and checks. This reduces the time taken for expense reporting.

Conclusion

According to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), 19% of expense reports filed have errors in them and it takes an average of 18 additional minutes to correct each of these reports. The hidden costs of checking and processing an expense report can unnecessarily drain the budget of the company.
Using the right expense management system will save the company money and make it easier for employees to file and claim reimbursements.

Reference Link: https://www.gbta.org/blog/how-much-do-expense-reports-really-cost-a-company/

Best Travel and Expense Management Practices

1. Drawing a clear line of demarcation

As cliché as it might sound, communication is the key to effective expense management. Clearly communicate the basket of items that come under ‘expense’ as per the company policy.
Framing a unified policy that works well across all levels, and clearly defining the things that don’t count, might be the best option. Make sure to look into the standard rates as per the law of the nation, and yes, keep things concise and simplified.

2. Embrace technology

Out of the many tips for travel expense management, this could be the most important one. Adapt to technological innovations as fast as possible.
With technological evolution picking up, automating expenses is the right way to go. Since most businesses have shifted or are shifting to a remote working mode, it is better to automate things that cannot be managed efficiently manually.
Make expenses simpler to track by using a reporting system on the employee’s side. Using photographic captures as proof of the receipts and recording them instantly is a wise move too.
Remember, the coolest techs might help you in tracking the costing pool as well as knowing the trends of 2021.

3. Keep an eye out for anomalies

Audits and regular checks can turn out to be the perfect option for monitoring expenses. It might help you in understanding the trends, and spotting any fraudulent bills and receipts early on.
What makes auditing child’s play is the right technological ally you can now embrace. Having the best software, with excellent expense tracking abilities, might reduce your burden by more than you can imagine.

4. Understanding the difference between HR claim and financial claim

Unlike what many people think, financial claims and HR claims are not really the same. Hence, it is very important that a clear demarcation between the two is made within an organization.
As the name suggests, the claims in which the financial department owes you something, generally comes under the ambit of financial claim. And a similar logic works for HR claims. A robust TEM software ensures that a clear demarcation between financial and HR claims is made.
Not only does it reduce the department-wise burden, but you can also assess the originating point of expense claims and attribute them accordingly.

5. Manage expenses across geographical boundaries

For organizations with multiple traveling schedules across countries, managing the travel expenses across geographies can be tricky.
A robust travel and expense management software allows submission of the claims without any hassle. Segregation of the report based on area, population size, and purchasing power parity can help in understanding and adjusting the price levels across geographies.
While selecting the TEM software, make sure you go for something that is essentially the best of all worlds (literally).

Conclusion

All in all, any complication in terms of tracking expenses should prompt businesses to switch to a reliable and robust travel expense management app at the earliest. By ensuring the right synergy between technology and usability, such applications can make the expense management process much simpler and smoother. If improved efficiency and reduced costs are your priority, switch to the best TEM apps now!
Reference Link: https://cdn.levvel.io/reports/2018+TEM_REBRANDEDu.pdf

Why your business needs benefits administration software

Benefits administration is the process of putting together all the available benefits for an employee in the same place, so that it is easy to check, avail, and manage them.
Any benefits administration software helps streamline benefits easily for employees, the employer, as well as the HR team. Using such software, employees can check the past, present, and future benefits available to them, with the click of a button. Most good software solutions also have mobile apps, making it easy to access the portal from anywhere.
For administrators, these software solutions make it very easy to add, remove or update benefits as they make policy changes internally. The HR team can also analyze which benefits are used more by employees and how often they avail these.
For benefits that need approvals from the management before they can be availed, approving and rejecting requests becomes easy through a software portal.

Here are some more advantages of benefits administration software

Easy enrolment New employees can be easily enrolled for benefit plans without the need to fill in multiple forms and submit and process them physically. Enrolment happens through the portal and is completely online.
Document management All benefits need to comply with federal and government regulations and laws. This holds true for all countries. You will need to maintain multiple documents and forms for every benefit availed by an employee. And document management becomes very easy with benefits administration software.
24*7 available portals Such a software portal can be accessed 24 hours a day and most of the benefits will have detailed explanations on how to avail them, the terms and conditions involved, and other details. This makes it easy for employees to do the process themselves and reduces the time spent in getting back to the HR team for multiple queries.

Things to keep in mind while choosing benefits administration software

Features offered This is the basic detail to look for when you decide to invest in a benefits administration tool. What kind of features and capabilities does the tool bring to the table? There could be tons of features, but are they actually useful? Check all these details out.
Ease of integration How easy will it be to integrate the benefits tool with other existing HR and employee software portals and tools? Integration with the existing organizational processes has to be easy and seamless.
Support Does the software provider help train your employees and HR team on how to use the tool? Does it offer multiple channels of support through which you can reach out when there is a query?
Total cost The cost of implementing benefits administration software does not stop with just the one-time purchase. You will have to keep in mind that the cost of training your team and employees, the support cost, and the maintenance cost count too.

Conclusion

There is nothing like good benefits to enhance employee satisfaction and engagement. Such benefits help improve employee morale and bring down the attrition rate as well. So, opt for the right benefits administration software and manage benefits the smart way.

Top Expense Management Challenges in Business Travel

The types of expenses incurred varies from one company to another, which means your organization 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 are made.

1. Unclear expenditure reports

Most companies still use traditional or manual processes for expense management. This makes it very difficult for the management to identify the kind of expenses accounted for and then approve or deny them. As a result, a lot of reports that reach the senior management are highly edited, randomly created, and inaccurate.

However, when you invest in good expense management software, you get the power to track expenses in real-time and with precision. Such software solutions ensure that the expense reports are clear, well-defined, and easy to analyze.

2. Time-consuming processes

Imagine a large organization with hundreds of employees taking short and long business trips throughout the month. At the end of a month, the HR team will receive thousands of receipts and will have hundreds of expense approvals to handle. This is naturally going to take days to process. Employees will also need to spend a lot of time collecting receipts, grouping them, and filling up relevant spreadsheets.

Some companies might have to put in up to 3 times the effort in just processing expense report submissions. This is a waste of precious time that could have been devoted to priority tasks.

So, one of the top advantages of investing in an automated travel expense management solution is the ease of handling receipts and reports. These solutions come with receipt readers/scanners that automatically check the contents of a receipt and group the expenses correctly. Some software solutions even identify duplicate receipts and send out alerts. 

3. Submission and processing delays

There can be two major problems that might occur after an employee completes a trip:

1. • Employees take a lot of time to submit the relevant documents to the HR team.
   • The HR and the finance team delay the processing/approval of the reimbursement request.

Either way, delayed reimbursements can bring down the morale of the employee.
Now, the good news is that automatic approval workflow is a major advantage of travel expense management tools. Unless there are red flags in the submitted receipts, the reimbursement approval process is majorly automated and quick.
By using a software tool, it is also easy for employees to make additional requests in a matter of seconds. All of these make travel expense submissions simple and hassle-free.

Conclusion

Automated tools are the future of travel expense management. They bring down the need for excessive manual efforts while creating and approving business travel claims. So, if you have been struggling with outdated or manual travel and expense management systems, give such tools a try. These make claims and reimbursement approvals super easy and you can get your team to perform efficiently with minimal or nil errors.

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.

Top reasons for using a Benefits Administration Software

Improves Employee Experience

As a part of management, the HR team always looks to improve the employee experience at work. Providing the employees with an integrated tool to check and avail all the benefits they are provided with is a great way to make employees feel important and cherished at work. Such a tool can also help employees make changes to their personal information and increase/decrease coverage plans anytime they want without having to depend on the HR team to help them out.

Compliance Management

If you have manually handled benefits administration before, you will know simply how many compliance terms and regulations you need to look into to understand the full terms of a benefit – information that will then need to be passed on to the employee. As a part of compliance management, you will also need to get multiple documents and forms filled and maintained to make sure there are no legal issues.With a BA software, compliance management becomes very easy. Vendors who offer such software also promise to make sure all compliance needs are met when you use their tool. Some vendors also pay you a certain sum of money as compensation if their tool makes a mistake.

Time-Saving

Do you spend considerable time every week answering queries your employees have about the various benefit policies you have? Do you have to spend hours following up on relevant documents and approving/rejecting requests? One of the most important advantages of BA software is offering all relevant information in an online portal and letting employees self-manage their benefits with minimal support from the HR team.

Automated Processing

Once the tool has been configured to your organization’s needs, it will be able to assess the profile of the employee and show relevant benefits only. The software can also auto-reject requests if they do not satisfy the basic criteria, as well as automate basic approval stages.If an employee increases their benefits coverage, then the BA software can communicate with the payroll software automatically and make the relevant deductions there. This particular feature saves immense time for the HR team.

Automated Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

Once an employee signs up for a particular benefit, it is the responsibility of the HR team to ensure all relevant documents reach the carrier company. This is a very time-consuming process when done manually. When you choose the right BA software, the tool can automatically transfer files using EDI to the carrier in a matter of minutes.