If you are in the market for an expense management solution, you have a difficult choice to make. There are countless solutions claiming to be powered by the latest technology. To make matters worse, each of these expense management solutions has glowing reviews from a sea of seemingly endless customers.
Now, how do you decide which of these solutions will be optimal for your specific needs?
You could need the expense management solution for your remote employees, or you could need it only for on-field employees. You may even need it to be applicable for all your employees, whether in the office or working remotely or representing your company on the field.
To cater to these diverse needs, you need a customizable solution that automates most expense management. Most importantly, you need a solution that doesn’t burden you by being difficult to use or by being pricey.
Here, we outline how to pick such an expense management software that the whole company loves.
Powered by the latest technology
Look for an expense management solution with Artificial intelligence (AI) or similar capabilities, such as machine learning (ML). Doing so ensures that the software you pick to manage your company’s expenses does away with the tedious work.
There are solutions in the market that can automatically detect and reject fake expense claims. Using AI/ ML, these solutions can ensure that no receipt is submitted twice, no receipt that violates company policy makes it to the manager’s / finance team’s consideration unless the management wants to make approvals on a case-by-case basis, and no duplicate receipt gets accepted.
Another functionality you need to be on the lookout for is OCR (Optical character recognition). Using the same, your expense management software can allow employees to scan receipts and store them in a digital vault rather than carrying around old crummy receipts whose authenticity can’t be verified.
Advanced analytics to prevent fraud and misreporting
Expense misreporting costs companies millions of dollars every year, so you need an expense management solution that is equipped to identify fraudulent expenses. You know you have the right software when you can view employee/department-wise spending in every category in an easy-to-read interface.
You have hit the jackpot if your expense management solution can analyze your expenses to find patterns of overspending, fraud, or negligent reporting of company expenses.
Seamless reporting, tracking, and reimbursement of expenses
Your expense management software needs to help you do away with outdated, time-consuming spreadsheets. This means your expense management system can’t be cluttered with incomprehensible data. Instead, it should provide you with the ability to automate the reporting process along with the reimbursement part.
With the right software, employees can automatically generate expense reports vetted for policy compliance by the system. The manager can look at the easy-to-read report to quickly approve the expense, following which the finance team can settle the reimbursement claim—all within a matter of minutes.
Getting a solution that makes your life that easy is vital if you want to be productive and focus on your core responsibilities rather than worrying about whether an employee went the distance that they claimed they did while performing some on-field activity for the company.
Highly customizable for your business needs
Your expense reporting needs could either be hyper-specific or generic to the point they can’t be defined. Consequently, you need a solution for managing expenses that can be customized to your needs, irrespective of whether it is for on-field, remote, or office-based teams.
For instance, if you want to monitor whether your on-field sales teams’ mileage claims are accurate, you need a solution that can track the distance they have gone via their phones.
Similarly, if your needs are specific to business travel, you need a solution that allows employees to input travel-related expenses. Further, if your employees want to treat your clients to a nice meal, your software needs to allow temporary, preset spending policy exceptions.
A solution that works for everyone
The expense management software that your purchase needs to be suitable for meeting the requirements of everyone who uses it. For the employees, it needs to be a non-burdensome app/ site where they can log in their expenses in seconds and get it approved instantaneously.
For the manager, it needs to be a platform where they can view expense reports easily, verify policy compliance simultaneously, and approve expenses swiftly.
For the finance team, the expense management software must be a source of actionable insights regarding the company’s T&E (Travel and expense) alongside being a handy tool for preparing for audits and processing reimbursement claims speedily.
Value for money
Your expense management software shouldn’t end up being a financial burden. Look for a solution that scales with you, preferably one with a free trial that can slowly be scaled to incorporate a few paid users before implementing the solution for the entire company.
Conclusion
ExpenseOut ticks all the boxes for an expense management solution that delights the finance team, employees, and management. With it, your company can seamlessly report and track every expense, reimburse employees instantaneously, and do away with fraudulent expenses once and for all. If you want to learn more, reach us at [email protected].
