6 Signs Your Business Needs to Automate the Expense Management Process
Running a business is hard work. There are so many things that need to be taken care of on a daily basis; maintaining a website; running a video marketing campaign, boosting social media presence, etc. — it can all get overwhelming. And besides all of those marketing campaigns, you also have to deal with the expenses.
Managing expenses is just as important as managing a business’s marketing efforts. Done wrong, it can be a huge drain on your company, so it is important to have an efficient and easy-to-use expense management system in place.
Without software to help automate this process, there is no way that your company can keep up with all of the expenses. And on top of that, it will be difficult for you to accurately track how much money the company has spent throughout the year.
So, if you find yourself spending hours on the phone with your expense reports or sick of being asked for receipts every time you buy something off a company card, then it is time to automate your expense management process.
Sign #1— You Have a High Volume of Expenses
When your workforce continually grows and new projects one by one start taking off, then you have increased expenses. And if your business has a high volume of expenses, you know how difficult it can be to keep track of them all.
If you feel like you are constantly drowning in the sea of paperwork, receipts, and reports at the end of every month or quarter, then it is time to automate your process.
According to ExpenseOnDemand, leveraging robust expense management software is a solution for you to simplify your expense management process and get rid of repetitive, mundane, and unnecessary paperwork. That way, you can focus more on more important tasks for growing your business.
Sign #2— Your Company is Actively Hiring New Employees or Going Public
When going public or actively hiring new employees, there are many documents that need to be filed, and expenses need to be tracked closely. You need to allocate a budget for advertising agency fees, third-party recruiter fees, travel expenses, sign-on bonuses, even training programs.
In this situation, the chances are that your company is obliged by law to take extra steps for expense management compliance. Your accounting department should already know what needs to be done when this happens, and by automating all the expense management, you can have a reliable and accurate record of your expenses.
Sign #3— You Want to Improve Your Financials and Increase Company Transparency
Expense management software helps you improve your financial reports by providing accurate, up-to-date data on company spending so you can quickly detect any suspicious activity or trends in spending that could indicate fraud– as well as increase transparency among stakeholders.
When there’s transparency, it will make it much easier for everyone to have the same picture of what is happening in your business. In other words, you will be able to create a solid financial plan and strengthen teamwork.
Sign #4— You’re Not Keeping Track of Expenses and Receipts
The main problem with paper receipts is that they usually get misplaced or lost after some time, making them hard to track down when needed.
In addition, if you don’t have an organized tracking system for your expenses from the start, you’ll soon find yourself overwhelmed and stressed every time you need to process them.
This is definitely a sign that it’s time for you to start leveraging the power of technology and implement expense management software.
Sign #5— You Often Forget to Follow up on Expenses
It’s not enough that you have a wonderful system in place for tracking expenses, but you also need to make sure it is followed by everyone who is involved in the process. If someone forgets or fails to follow up on an expense, then the rest of your system falls apart.
If this happens quite often, then you better start to use expense management software so that you can automate the process and make sure that it always gets processed on time.
Sign #6— You’re Letting Expenses Flounder in Unorganized Folders
Not only does it require work, but the traditional and manual expense management process also involves tons of papers. Some people prefer to use a folder system for tracking expenses which is fine, but if your folders are not organized, then there’s no way this will work as well as you need it to.
The same goes with expense reports that have been filed and are just sitting there until someone decides what they should do next. This is a sign that you need to implement software with reminders and follow-ups built in so everyone stays accountable for expenses as they come through the process.
Final Thoughts
An expense management system simplifies expense reporting and eliminates the need for complicated, time-consuming processes. It doesn’t not only automates the entire process of receiving, approving, and reimbursing employee expenses but also provides detailed analysis on all monthly spendings like travel costs, entertainment costs, etc. Also, it helps you monitor the company’s spending patterns which in turn will help you take necessary steps to reduce cost.
Author
Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).
Twitter: @breadnbeyond
Email: andre@breadnbeyond.com
LinkedIn: Andre Oentoro
