Expenses are the bane of businesses everywhere. Processing them is slow and tedious as somebody has to gather up all the receipts, usually including physical ones, and then copy the information from them into the company’s system. Not only is manually handling expenses highly inefficient, it also results in errors and compliance issues.
However, it does not have to be this way anymore. Today, smart expensing technology is at hand. This is technology that automates pretty much every step of the expense process except for approval, but even that can be taken care of by adding a few simple rules to the system. This short guide takes a look at the main ways that businesses stand to benefit from smart expense management.
Convenience
Submitting expenses can be a nightmare, especially if a long period of time has passed before the submission date. You might have piles of receipts to handle, some possibly being faded or damaged. The relevant information on each has to be found and manually copied into the company’s files. But with a smart expense management system, manual data entry is rarely needed. The software can read the data right off of the receipts.
Also Read : 5 Key Features of a Good Virtual Receptionist Service
Accuracy
With software that can read information straight off of the receipts, errors can be minimised. This is an especially important benefit because expenses may have tax or compliance implications. Mistakes could get the business into trouble. Expenses can also provide valuable insights into whether a company is spending its money wisely, but only if they are accurate.
Also Read : The many benefits provided by fleet management software
Policy enforcement
Reining in expenses is crucial for businesses in a crisis or trying to get out of debt. In these circumstances, company policies must be strictly enforced. This is very easy to do with a smart system, because policy violations can immediately be flagged. This means that issues can be rectified as soon as possible.
Detecting fraud
Smart expense solutions are also a lot more sophisticated at picking up patterns which could indicate fraud. While it would be nice to be able to trust all of your employees, there are some who try to abuse expenses.
Analysing spending
As mentioned earlier, expenses might offer important insights into how wisely a company is spending its money. However, it would be difficult for a human to do a deep dive into a pile of expense reports, but a smart expense management system can analyse spending patterns quickly and easily.
Accounting integration
When it comes to accounts and taxes, expenses can be important business deductions to report. So it is helpful that many smart expense systems are integrated with popular accounting software. This means that the data entered is immediately updated in the accounts too, saving yet more time on tedious manual tasks.
Faster reimbursement
Paying upfront can leave your employees in a tough situation if reimbursing them takes too long. With a smart management system, everything can be entered and approved much more quickly.
Conclusion
Managing expenses is important for businesses of all sizes, but doing it manually and accurately is often slow. Smart expense management systems are an attractive alternative that offer many benefits, including speed, analytics, fraud detection, and integration with other systems.
