4 Key Things To Look for in Your Expense Management Solution

Earlier were the days when businesses would conduct their expense management using manual techniques such as paper-based systems. However, in today’s digitalized era, enterprises are more global, and employees must participate in business travel for client visits. As a result, monitoring employees’ travel expenses has become an essential aspect of every organization.

Investing in an expense solution is now essential since even the smallest irregularity in cost control can cause the entire projections to be incorrect, creating extra problems. A robust cost management solution that integrates human resource management platforms is necessary for organizations to manage their labor spending effectively.

Features To Look for in an Expense Management Solution

There are a few things to look for in expense management solutions to ensure they bring the most value to your company.

Real-time Expense Tracking

The goal of expense management is to control firm finances to maximize efficiency. At the end of the month, no one wants to realize how much money you’ve lost. Therefore, you must closely monitor your employees’ spending and record each financial transaction as it occurs. Fortunately, highly advanced expense management solutions help you keep track of the company’s spend in real-time and give you a trustworthy picture of how your employees spend the company’s money. With real-time expenditure tracking, you can keep control of spending while not strangling your staff to death.

Customizable Workflow

An ideal expense reimbursement process complies with IRS regulations when paying workers back for work-related costs, so neither the firm nor the employees are subject to taxation. Ensure your staff follows all the rules to prevent reimbursements from being considered (taxable) revenue for the business. Additionally, ensure that reimbursements are processed promptly so that workers are inspired to submit expense reports on time for you to review and process reimbursements.

Mobile App

There are a few situations where your employees must submit their expense reports while traveling. As they cannot visit the office physically and submit paper receipts, they need to have a mobile-friendly expenditure management solution that allows them to submit the reports on the go.

Although most software vendors offer some mobile capabilities, apps are frequently the most practical. Your staff members may generate, submit, and monitor their costs directly from their phones with a mobile app. Additionally, managers and approvers can approve the employees’ expense reports securely from anywhere and speed up the reimbursement process.

Look for expense management software that comes with an easy-to-use mobile app for your staff to utilize. It is even better if you can invest in a cloud-based solution that can instantly link to your payroll and HR software. By doing this, you’ll be able to keep an eye on expenditures and offer support even when your staff isn’t available around.

Integration with Other Applications

The expense management solution that you have chosen must communicate with the third-party systems and other applications. It should be able to integrate with the existing systems of your organization and allow seamless data transfer while eliminating the need for manually importing and exporting your expense data. You should look for a solution that functions well with accounting software, HR and payroll software, different payment methods, CRM system, and various other apps.

It would help to prioritize your expense management solution because it will help ensure your money is spent wisely. The easiest way to ensure this is by tracking the expenses using software that includes the above-mentioned features.

The Bottom Line

Also, keep these three factors in mind while determining the most crucial specifications for a cost management tool: the available budget, the accessible technology, and time.

In terms of budget, keep in mind that an automated expenditure management system will assist you in lowering costs and helps you avoid unwanted expenses during business travel. So, implementing a T&E solution is like making a short-term financial investment for several future cost-related advantages.

Additionally, consider any technological limitations you may have. Ensure your IT department, procurement team, and other pertinent employees are involved in the implementation process from start to end. This ensures every authorized employee of your organization has a clear idea of the features and functionalities of the software.