Manual expense reimbursement processes involving paper forms, spreadsheets, and emails can bog you down. They aren’t equipped to handle the changing needs of modern businesses. It’s important to turn lengthy, tedious, and paper-based reimbursement processes into online and one-click approvals.
Having dedicated expense reimbursement software handle claims becomes necessary to ensure that policies aren’t violated and expense reimbursements are prompt.
What is Expense Reimbursement Software?
Expense reimbursement software helps businesses replace repetitive and predictable tasks associated with expense claims like requesting, validating, and approving reimbursements with rule-based logic. Reimbursement claims have a sequential path to follow, and reach the right person at the right time so employees can get paid fast.
Things to look for in Expense Reimbursement Software
Every business has unique requirements, but there are a few features that you cannot do without. Here are some essential features that every expense reimbursement software should have:
Expense policy management
The expense reimbursement software should let you define custom expense policies and approval hierarchies for different kinds of expenses. The organization’s policy should be displayed when employees report their expenses, so they don’t submit unqualified expenses.
Expense reporting
When employees come back from business trips, they report their business expenses to their managers or the finance team so they can get reimbursed. The system should let them submit expenses on the go with a mobile app so expenses are documented in real time.
Multi-currency expenses
Sometimes, your employees spend in a foreign currency when they travel internationally for business. They get reimbursed in the local currency once they are back. The system should accommodate multiple currencies and their conversion rates.
Data validation
Whenever employees submit their reimbursement claims, the system should validate expenses and throw red flags if they don’t adhere to the spending guidelines. Auto-validation deters the employees from submitting personal expenses, resulting in significant cost savings.
If there are any expenses in the report that don’t comply with the organization’s policy, the system should notify the approver. This makes it easier for managers and the finance team to approve or reject a claim.
Integrated system
If the expense reimbursement software is connected with corporate credit cards, expenses can be automatically fetched. This ensures that no expense goes unaccounted for. Also, when the claims get approved, the system should post journal entries to accounts payable and add an entry to the payroll software so employees can be reimbursed.
Why is having dedicated Expense Reimbursement Software important?
Manual processes are prone to errors and miscommunication; they rely on managers to validate and approve claims quickly. When you use a dedicated tool, it does most of the heavy lifting for you and can help expedite the reimbursement process.
Here are some benefits of using an expense reimbursement system.
Faster reimbursements
The system identifies policy violations and throws up red flags if a request violates them. Ensuring that corporate expense policies are adhered to, takes a huge burden off the finance team’s shoulders. This will also help speed up reimbursements, reduce expense fraud, and enforce compliance.
Visibility into financial health
When you track how much money goes out, you get a better picture of the cash flow. You can identify areas where you’re spending unnecessarily, and make insightful decisions that can help you cut down on costs. This helps you plan an effective budget for business travel.
Tax deductions and audits
Employee expenses must be qualified in order for an organization to mark them as legitimate expenses. Without tight control over the process, you may be missing out on tax benefits. In addition, you’ll need records and audit trails to show that you’ve properly managed travel expenses, and haven’t opened yourself up to claims to mishandling funds.
Happier employees
Submitting expenses and waiting for claims to be approved can easily become a full-time job, taking a toll on productivity. When you have an easy-to-use system in place for employees to submit expense reports and claim reimbursements, it makes their lives a lot easier.
How can Kissflow help?
A workflow automation tool like Kissflow can help you build your own expense reimbursement software based on your unique requirements. There’s no coding involved, and you can start building an expense reimbursement app with simple drag-and-drop functionalities. You can have multiple levels of approvals, ensuring that approvals are not delayed and that reimbursements are prompt.
If you’re looking to take control over expense reimbursements, take Kissflow for a test drive and see how fast your reimbursements get.
