Accounting
Expense Management Makes Dollars and Common Sense
Making the decision to implement expense and travel management software is fairly simple. The very minimal cost of the software in many cases will be quickly offset by the time, energy, and aggravation eliminated upon implementing the software in your ...
Jun. 19, 2017
Making the decision to implement expense and travel management software is fairly simple. The very minimal cost of the software in many cases will be quickly offset by the time, energy, and aggravation eliminated upon implementing the software in your business.
Even the smallest businesses, where employees travel minimally can benefit from the use of expense management software.
It’s no secret that managing employee expenses and travel, whether that be air travel, mileage, or a combination of both, can strain the patience of even the most mild-mannered manager. Lost receipts, late bookings, air travel penalties, late expense reports, over-inflated mileage reports; all of these things can be eliminated with the use of expense management software.
Need more convincing? Here are just a few more reasons to get this software implemented in your office ASAP:
- In most cases, employees can capture and upload receipt images on their smartphone or tablet immediately, completely eliminating the issue of lost or misplaced receipts, as well as the time wasted tracking them down.
- Integration with the majority of banking institutions helps to ensure that all expenses are included on any submitted expense report, eliminating surprises, as well as time-consuming account reconciliation.
- Most expense management products can easily track expenses in multiple currencies; automatically applying the current exchange rate when an expense is entered. This is a must if you have employees that frequently travel internationally.
- For those who spend a lot of time behind the wheel, many of the products we reviewed can automatically track mileage. Even those that do not track mileage automatically will typically work with third-party apps that will handle mileage tracking with ease.
- Direct reimbursement of expenses is a win-win. You’ll love it and your employees will love it. No longer will expense reports languish on someone’s desk, while your employee impatiently waits for reimbursement. Once the report is approved, you can choose to automatically deposit employee funds directly into their bank account.
- Many of the products reviewed also offer a variety of spending controls, with administrators and managers able to create rules and spending limits for employees. The availability of report analytics provides business owners and managers with the ability to see where money is going, and how much those monthly trips are really costing the company.
- Integration capability may or may not be of importance to you, but how great would it be to have a system that was able to integrate with your accounting or ERP system, eliminating the need to enter information two and sometimes three times.
Using our chart, we looked at 14 different categories that we felt were important. Those categories include: Complete Mobile Accessibility, Receipt Capturing and Uploading Capability, Multiple Product Access Levels, Multi-Currency Capability, Mileage and Time Tracking, Automated Credit Card Feed, Approval Process, Auto-Reimbursement, Spending Controls, Automated Expense Report Creation, Reporting Options, Integration with Accounting Systems, Help and Support, and Free Trial available.
The products we looked at vary in both functionality and price, with some products available at no cost for very small businesses. Some of the product are complete expense management applications, while others were apps designed to be used with your native ERP or accounting software. The products we reviewed include:
- Abacus
- AutoKept
- Certify
- Chrome River
- Concur
- ExpensAble
- ExpensePoint
- Expensify
- SpringAhead
- SutiExpense
- Tallie
- Xpenditure
- Zoho Expense
Apps reviewed include the following:
- BizExpense Tracker
- MileIQ
- NEAT
- Receipt Bank
- Shoeboxed
Clearly, there’s not a shortage of products to choose from. Conveniently, many of the products also offer prospective customers a downloadable trial of the product that they can try out prior to purchasing.
Take a moment and determine exactly what it is that would benefit your company the most? Be it a more convenient, cost effective way to book travel, the ability to have expenses transmitted in real time, or the ability to simply reimburse your employees for out-of-pocket expenses on a timely basis.
If you’re ready to have accurate expense reports with no missing receipts, then take a look at these products. There’s likely one (or more) that will suit your needs.