7 Features to Look for in Expense Management Software

The manual process and legacy systems do not meet the needs of modern businesses. It is essential to track and record every expense to identify pitfalls, avoid unnecessary expenses, and cut down the costs.

According to the Aberdeen Group, managing expense reports manually is costing $41.12, while an automated expense report would cost $7.17.

• Creating, processing, and approving expense claims would require more time and resources, especially when business scales. 
• Businesses not adopting to expense software would have difficulty in enforcing expense policies and expense tracking
• Using outdated systems prevent you from getting a complete picture when it comes to expense reporting.

Choosing an automated expense report software

Every business comes with unique requirements when choosing expense management software. However, the following are some critical features every business needs.

Mobile app 

When your sales team is on the client’s location, it is frustrating to save the food and travel receipts. It is essential to make expense tracking easy so that requesting reimbursements doesn’t become challenging. The mobile app enables employees to submit expenses even on the move.

Expense approval hierarchy

The expense approval system should feature the approval hierarchy and allow you to modify the flow whenever needed. When employees submit expenses, they should automatically reach to the next person in the hierarchy.

Also, you can configure alternate approvers, so a report is not kept pending in the absence of an approver. The solution should allow you to send reports in a serial and parallel fashion.

Corporate credit cards

The solution should allow you to add credit cards so transactions can be automatically fetched from credit cards statements. This makes the reconciliation process easy for the accounting departments.

Multi-currency

When employees make international trips, expense claims will be reported in different currencies. The expense management software must be able to record transactions in multiple currencies and convert them to the local currency for accounting purposes. 

Eliminate data entry 

The expense report software you choose should easily integrate with other software solutions such as accounting software to avoid manual data entry. This would save you not only time but also eliminates human errors.

Reimbursements

When the finance team approves an expense claim, the reimbursement process can be accelerated by setting up an ACH payment or a direct bank transfer and sending the money to the employee’s account.

Reporting

The expense solution should give you complete visibility into spending and insights into various expenses. You can analyze costs during trips, identify policy violations, and avoid extra expenses.