Decide to Fix It
Operational efficiency
Revenue growth
Compliance
Cost containment
Fraud and risk
Visibility
Step 1:
Decide to Fix It
No
No
In many cases, one of the best things you can do to figure out
whether change is right for you is to ask yourself, why not? Whats
preventing you from automating your expense reporting system?
Tips
To help address these concerns:
Read this document that will help you understand why
it makes sense to automate your expenses.
Learn about success stories of people who have
changed their expense reporting system.
Step 2:
Make it Easy
for Employees
Its no secret that people are more productive
when they work in a positive environment.
When it comes to expenses, negativity can
creep into your organizationespecially when
people are forced to comply with a policy they
perceive as unfair.
The best way to change expensing behavior,
and to keep people happy at the same time,
lies in finding the right balance between
people, policy and compliance.
Exercise
Jot down a few things employees include on
expense reports.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Use clear language that people can understand (ditch the jargon)
Take the emotion out of expenses. Employees no longer feel its their
manager telling them their expenses are out-of-policy.
Make employees lives easier by taking the pain out of repetitive tasks
(like completing expenses on a spreadsheet).
Step 3:
Turn Policy
Into Practice
Once youve created an expense policy thats
clear and easy for everyone to understand, its
time to turn this policy into practice in a way
that makes sense for your business.
If your employees are informed and
encouraged to comply with a sensible and
appropriate policy, youll no doubt see that
people consistently follow your expense policy.
Keep it mobile.
Its a fast-paced world. Trying to catch up with the right person to
sign off on your expenses is difficult. If you have a tool that allows
approval to happen anywhere, claims can be signed
off on more quickly.
Tips
Start only with what you need. You can always add
other elements of a solution as your company grows.
Use a system that works with your current financial
systems (QuickBooks, Salesforce, Netsuite).
Revisit and re-evaluate your expense reporting over
time, and customize it so it keeps pace with your needs.
Make sure your processes are easy to follow, so
theres less risk of inaccuracy (or people ignoring the
processes altogether).
Step 4:
Go Mobile
Step 5:
Put Your
Data to Work
When you spend a lot of money each year
on business travel and related expenses, its
important to know where this money is going.
That way you can stay on top of your cash
flow and plan your future spending. However,
you cant make informed decisions without
the right information.
Watch for trends when expenses are submitted and take note of
spending patterns. This can identify ways to reduce costs with
frequently-used suppliers, as well as identify instances when
employees are stretching the rules.
Dont Wait
to be Asked
Now that youve read the Dont Wait To Fix It Guide, and made the
decision to fix expense reporting, fast forward to a few months from
now and imagine the benefits your company is reapingall because
you decided to fix something without being asked.
You have more visibility on where money is going and can make
more informed decisions about the future
Whatever you decide, just remember: none of this would have been
possible had you waited to be asked to fix expense reporting. And
everyones going to love that you did!