Expense Report Software – What It Means for Individual Roles – Part One

When we talk about expense report software and its benefits, we generally look at what the organization as a whole gains from deploying the software. Improved productivity, streamlined workflows, and ROI on the software come up in the context of the organization. But what do the various individuals involved in the process gain from it? What does the deployment of expense software mean for individual roles?

The traveling executive: The traveling executives have the most to gain from expense software as it is their work that becomes simplified and convenient. Normally, the process they follow for submitting expense reports is long-winded and involves a lot of paperwork. They will also have to wait for reimbursements while this report makes its usual slow way through the chain.

But with this software, no more will they have to go through the hassle of exaggerated paperwork, receipt management, and long reimbursement cycles. They don’t have to wait for a long time for authorizations or approvals either. They would already have pre-trip authorization which they can convert into post-trip expense reports with a few clicks. Adding receipts to expense reports also becomes easier as they can now capture the receipts with their phone cameras. Since the report moves up the chain exponentially faster, reimbursement cycles are shortened too.

Supervisor: Whether it is pre-trip requests or post-trip reports, everything has to be approved by supervisors. Supervisors play an important role in the expense management cycle as they validate the expense reports and authorize reimbursements. Before doing so, however, they have to check all the expenses for authenticity and ensure that each and every expense is covered under the organization’s expense policy.

With this software, supervisors get notifications as soon as a report or request is ready and needs approval. They follow the link to the software, verify the expenses, and simply click their approval or rejection. If they find any inconsistencies in the reports, they have the option to send them back to the submitters to correct the offending expense. Automation makes it easier for them to authenticate reports and receipts.

What about the other stakeholders? We’ll see about them in the next part. To know more about a robust travel and expense management software application, click here.