6 Reasons why you should automate your expense management processes

Expense requests that are approved are forwarded to the accounts team for payment. The accounting team has to track and record the approved and paid-out expenses for auditing purposes. Employees use web interfaces or mobile apps to capture receipts with scanners or smartphones.

Concur Invoice

• Even assuming that every expense report is perfect, they still take far too long to submit.
• The features and benefits of automated expense management solutions and the top expense management solutions are also covered in this blog.
• Modern expense management solutions like Expensify are designed to integrate seamlessly with a range of other critical business tools, like Xero or QuickBooks.
• Expensify is a payments app that helps individuals and businesses to manage their money more effectively.
• The tool ensures that everybody spends how they’re supposed to, and keeps errors to a minimum.

Businesses that rely on manual expense management systems face several challenges that not only slow down the process but also render it inefficient. Handling manual expense requests can be a major hassle for all the parties involved. Employees find it challenging to track their expenses, save the bills and receipts, and spend several hours filling out expense forms and uploading supporting documentation. This type of technology eliminates the need for manual data entry, tedious tasks, and paper-based processes. Staff can quickly submit expenses, and the system will automatically process, categorize, and pay them. Not only does this streamline workflows, it saves time, reduces errors, and accelerates the entire reimbursement process.

Data reports

• Expense automation technology helps a business take a more proactive approach by providing real-time visibility into expenses.
• Easy-to-use corporate cards, bill payments, accounting, and a whole lot more.
• This gives a business a comprehensive view of its spending patterns, trends, and budget utilization.
• This allows companies to make more informed decisions, optimize strategies, and identify opportunities to save on costs.
• A good finance process automation tool promotes collaboration and boosts efficiency by removing roadblocks and keeping your whole team working from the same process.
• So, reducing costs is one of the driving factors for expense automation.

With expense management automation software, there’s no manual data entry involved, which reduces the likelihood of an error occurring and leads to significant time and cost savings. Automated expense management systems replace traditional paper-based methods, where every receipt is a physical document and every report is a manual entry task. Instead, automated expense management software captures receipts digitally, categorizes expenses accurately, and streamlines approvals—all without you having to lift a finger. Not all software is created equal, so it’s important to be sure that a tool will actually save your business time before you commit. Good expense automation tools should include an approval engine to automatically approve expenses within the parameters you have set.

What capabilities should automated expense management have?

The right expense management software helps businesses to control expenses, identify cost-saving opportunities, and control excessive spending. The fiscal impact that automation has on the overall financial budget must be considered before implementing the automation solution. The potential cost savings from automating your expense management processes must be calculated and compared against the cost of the automation solution. Relying on manual expense management systems for handling something as critical as business expenses, is not only unsafe but insufficient too. Manual systems work fine when the volume of expense requests is small, but handling huge volumes of expense requests accurately can only be done with expense management automation.

The system can automatically categorize expenses and calculate totals, saving your business time and money. In the ever-evolving, fast-paced landscape of business, companies are constantly seeking ways to enhance productivity and optimize operations. One of the easiest (yet most overlooked) strategies expense management automation to reign in cost is expense management. From monitoring employee reimbursements to tracking corporate spend, processing expenses efficiently is at the heart of maintaining a healthy bottom line. Just because something has always been done a certain way doesn’t mean it’s still the best way to do it.

The walkthrough process is so quick that what used to take hours will only take seconds each time. Look for a solution that offers flexibility and security, eliminates paper, and tracks, and records expenses. You’ll also want a solution that offers functionality according to your requirements and is customizable. This is a one-stop travel management solution for all business travel needs. MyBiz offers mobile-first, self-booking features for a personalized travel experience. Proper expense management can help you keep healthy finances and thus improve your company’s stability.

• Manual expense systems set up data silos that do not provide insights into expenses.
• On the whole, an ideal expense management system can help you save loads of time and money, while keeping your employees productive and satisfied.
• Looking at the ways your team currently incur expenses will determine what sort of tool you need.
• It also features integration with Finance, Accounting and HR software to oversee policy and tax compliance.
• The system can automatically categorize expenses and calculate totals, saving your business time and money.
• Maybe you are dealing with a high number of accounting errors or just getting pushback from your team.

Speeds up approval and reimbursement

The system can also match each receipt to the proper transaction which makes it easy for managers to track expenses accurately, and in real-time. Here are a few considerations to help you choose a solid expense management solution and create policies to support it. Old-school processes may get the job done, but they’re clunky, time consuming, error prone, and don’t provide the visibility into spend you need to do your job effectively.

How to choose the right expense management automation software

Moreover, manual expense management processes lack visibility and transparency, leaving the requestor and the reviewer clueless about the status of the request. The business expenses that an employee incurs are accumulated over time, and the relevant receipts are gathered as proof. Submission of expense requests usually happens on a quarterly or monthly basis, or even immediately after the expense has been incurred. The individual expense requests are usually submitted to the team manager for review and approval.

Data Extraction

To ensure your new tool is a good fit for your business, you should consider setting some goals for your expense management process. Does your existing expense management https://www.bookstime.com/ flow take up too much time for your finance team? Maybe you are dealing with a high number of accounting errors or just getting pushback from your team.