7 Ways to Automate Corporate T&E Policies

In project or grant-driven organizations, there may be unique thresholds and policies for specific projects. For example, maybe business airfare is allowed for an overseas client project, but isn’t allowed for other purposes. Mastermind lets you automatically create custom rules to monitor spend within specific general ledger (GL) codes that represent client projects, funding grants, company events, and more.

2. Enhance AppZen’s existing foreign official check with a custom taxonomy

There are a number of anti-bribery and corruption regulations around the world, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in the US, the UK Anti-bribery and Corruption Act, and more. These regulations prohibit bribery (gifts, meals, entertainment, cash compensation, employment opportunities) in connection with international business, and violations carry civil and criminal penalties. While AppZen Expense Audit already reviews attendee names against anti-bribery and corruption regulations, many companies have specific variations or exceptions they’d like to keep track of. With Mastermind, you can create a custom taxonomy (list of variations or exceptions) to detect if someone is a foreign official and send a notification.

3. Flag expenses outside of an approved brand list

Some organizations have rules against reimbursing products from competitors, although they’re difficult to enforce. It’s just not possible to comb through every line item of every receipt. Mastermind can be configured to flag any brands outside of your product lines (for example, if you work at Coca-Cola, AI can flag a “Pepsi” or any Pepsi brands when they appear on an expense report).

4. Understand custom documents

Many organizations require pre-approval for specific expenses, such as taking clients out to a sporting event. As part of the policy, employees need to submit documentation, such as a signed business justification document along with their expense. Although these are unique to each company and in a non-standard format, Mastermind can read, understand, and audit pre-approval documents to make sure the document was signed and your policy is followed.

5. Manage lifetime employee perks

Some employees are given a specific amount they’re allowed to submit for reimbursement over time, such as a lifetime allowance for productivity tools (headphones, office chairs, etc.). With Mastermind, you can create a custom rule to keep track of these expenses for each employee, to ensure they don’t exceed the allowance over time.

6. Configure remote work expenses

With the global pandemic impact, many companies have gone completely remote while others have begun going to the office in shifts or smaller groups. Mastermind can use dynamic conditions (who is working remotely on a given day) to apply different work-from-home policies automatically. If someone who’s going into the office submits a remote work expense (such as “home internet”), this will be flagged for further review.

7. Track Missing Receipt Affidavit submissions per employee

When an employee loses a receipt, or it’s not available, some companies require filling out a Missing Receipt Affidavit (MRA) and attaching it to their expense report. Mastermind can keep track of the aggregated MRAs over time for each employee to make sure this exception isn’t abused.

These are just a few of the ways Mastermind can help you further tailor your expense policy to your specific needs. If you can dream it, Mastermind can automate it: from document understanding, to routing, to designated approvals. This makes it possible to implement your spend strategy precisely and dynamically – without hiring an army. To learn more, request a demo.

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Josephine McCann is a Product Marketing Manager at AppZen, where she loves crafting content and telling interesting stories.