What is an Expense Management Solution? A Complete Guide!
Managing and reimbursing field staff’s expenses traditionally is far more difficult than it seems to be. Because it brings a heavy reliance on poorly maintained paper documentation, error-driven mundane tasks, and corrupted spreadsheets. However, a modern expense management solution helps you get rid of these hurdles in a jiffy. The system automates every other process of expense management and helps in expense reporting, entry authentication, or claims verification.
Expense management solutions take the burden from the finance team and let them reimburse accurately. For field organizations, tracking expenses, and reimbursing employees based on inaccurate manual data is not possible. Therein, they need an expense management system that automates reimbursement by getting insight into accurate expense tracking.
What is an Expense Management Solution?
An expense management solution automates the entire expense reporting, claims, and payments. It eliminates all manual effort in between the processes and makes it all seamless to record and acknowledge expense claims.
Moreover, expense management software helps you provide expense compliance to be followed by your employees. This ultimately helps in getting rid of fake expense claims and fraud within an organization.
Must-Have Features of Expense Management Software
These are key features you should look for when evaluating different expense management software.
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Expense Claims Submission and Approval for Seamless Reimbursements
Eliminate the need to record multiple expense claims in registers. Use the best expense management software that allows your employees to submit claims digitally along with pictures of invoices. The supposed approvers or managers receive notifications every time an employee generates a reimbursement request. The system eliminates forgetfulness and facilitates smooth expense management.
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Hierarchy Approval
The software provides a multi-level approval hierarchy with different managers on each level. After receiving notifications about expense claims, managers check, assess, and acknowledge requests quickly.
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Real-time Claim Status Check
Employees can check the real-time status of their claimed requests, i.e., whether the relevant manager acknowledges the request or not. Moreover, managers get notifications immediately after the claims are made to provide acknowledgment without any delays.
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Reporting and Analytics
A live dashboard contains real-time expense reporting and updates are provided by a godsent expense management software. Looking at the analytics, you can practice expense control and assess existing processes and workflows.
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Accounting Software Integration
Never again look through papers or maintain spreadsheets because elite expense management software automates bookkeeping. The automation goes even higher when you integrate the software with other accounting programs. Most expense management software is also integrated with workforce tracking software to get accurate expense records when a field employee travels from point A to point B.
Promising Benefits of Expense Management System
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Faster Employee Reimbursement
Employees easily upload their proofs of claims, i.e., invoices, bills, etc., to the expense management system. The relevant approver or manager receives the notifications as soon as the claims are made. This lets them provide their approvals or reimburse the claimed money without delays.
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Improved Expense Visibility
Unlike traditional financial systems that look into total company expenditure, modern expense management systems offer real-time visibility of each employee’s expenses. The software provides updates like who made the claims, when, and where at just a fingertip. It mitigates hours in looking at hundreds and thousands of previous expense requests.
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Reduced Delays and Errors
Relying on manual data entries causes delays and errors in expense recording and reimbursement. But, as you have software in place that automates the entire facet of expense management, such issues will not breathe. Even the expense requests are approved by a line of approvers in a hierarchy who provide their consent only after looking at the proofs.
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Increased Compliance
Strict policies, procedures, and compliance help businesses prevent fraudulent activities such as submitting false expenses or misusing company funds. When you utilize expense management software, you can customize compliance and ensure that expense reports are accurately prepared or submitted on time.
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Lesser Expense Fraud
Expense report compliance sets a spending limit. If any employee spends beyond the expected cost, then managers don’t accept the claimed request. It prevents employees from using the organization’s funds for personal matters. Moreover, the system helps in reviewing and verifying expense claims with bills and invoice uploads. Thus, helps in mitigating fraud within an organization.
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Better Cost Control
Enforcing spending limits, expense categories, proof of expenses, etc., helps field organizations control their cost. When field employees know that their expenses are tracked, they reduce unnecessary expenditures and improve cost management.
To Sum it Up!
An expense management system is a cornerstone for field organizations, using which they can manage expenses, eradicate corrupted spreadsheets, and seamlessly handle expenses. Ignoring its capabilities will only make the reimbursement process longer and full of errors. So, to avoid this happening, it is best to utilize an expense management system.
TrackoField offers one such expense management system that helps you track, manage, and acknowledge expenses made by executives. Your finance team can seamlessly manage expenses at their fingertips instead of overburdening themselves with manual tasks. To automate expense settlements, TrackoField provides multi-level hierarchy approval, expense evidence upload, real-time status check, and cap on expenditure.
You can sign up for free and test out the expense management and attendance online management system of TrackoField.
