Making Per Diem Management Effortless

Managing per diems can be difficult for organizations of all sizes. Keeping track of fixed amounts for meals and small costs might sound like a headache, as the rates vary from destination to destination.

So, how do you handle per diems effectively and get rid of those painful points in real time?

What Per Diems Cover?

Per diems will be defined by the government and each country will have different per diem rates. In general, per diems cover costs for meals and other variable costs, irrespective of what the employee really spends. Hotel costs can also be added to the per diem list. The amount permitted per day depends on the country where the employee is departing from and traveling to. The cost of living in each country is also a factor which is why allowances are updated every year.

Per diems will reduce the burden on employees as well as approvers. When per diems are used, employees do not have to save every receipt and approvers don’t have to approve all expenses. With per diems, it is clear to the employee and the company what the daily expense amount set is. As it is the fixed amount, employee overspending can be reduced. However, there are some challenges associated with per diems.

Challenges

Per diems can be country specific. The permissible amount of the per diem differs depending on the country the employee is traveling to. In some cases, per diems can differ based on the region and the actual time spent in the visited region. Micromanaging is required to keep track of these aspects. Managing different per diems for different employees in different regions can turn out to be a real challenge for businesses. Fortunately, an expense report solution can help overcome the challenge.

Expense report software can import per diem rates into the system and auto-suggests to the users. When an employee enters the location in the expense report, SutiExpense suggests the per diem rates allocated for that specific region and city. This eliminates the need for employees to look for per diem rates. The expense system makes per diem management easy for the end users. Employees can effortlessly claim back their per diems and submit only the expenses that are not covered with automated expense report solution.

Do you want to switch to SutiExpense expense management? Request a free demo today.