8 benefits of expense management software

What is expense management software and how can it help your business? 

Expense management software is a technology solution to what used to be a paper-based administrative function. It is designed to make the entire process much more efficient by bringing all the relevant data and steps into one digital solution. From collecting the information through to approval, reconciliation and payment – using an expense management tool is easier for everyone.  

Read more about expense management software and its key features. 

8 benefits of expense management software for your business

Understandably, no business wants to spend money unless the benefits of doing so are crystal clear. Importantly, there are lots of practical benefits to investing in an expense management system which you should consider as part of your decision-making process.

Below you’ll find 8 important ones to be aware of, however if your current expense management system is particularly inefficient and unwieldy – and especially if it involves your employees having to handle lots of paper receipts and forms – you’ll probably discover even more benefits than these once you introduce a modern expense management tool for your business.  

1. Go digital 
   Digitising processes and getting rid of hours of manual data entry and paper-heavy administrative actions has been happening across most areas of business, so it’s no surprise that there are benefits to doing so when it comes to expenses management. As well as saving time for your staff, going digital means that you’ll also be able to remove all that filing space too as all your expenses records will be online.
2. Gain control  
   One of the biggest issues with a messy process for expenses management is that it’s really difficult to keep track and to ensure your expenses policy is being enforced appropriately across the board. With expense management software in place, this is done automatically, making it much easier for your management team to maintain control and oversight of employee expenditure; ensuring compliance with HMRC rules becomes a cinch too.
3. Improve accuracy  
   When individual staff have to hold on to all their receipts, maintain appropriate records, fill out forms, and keep track themselves of every expense – it’s easy to see how mistakes are made. One of the biggest benefits of expense management software is the vastly improved visibility and accuracy. This means that problems can be spotted quickly and under- or over-payments can be reduced for all parties.
4. Speed up the entire administrative process 
   We all dislike delays and your staff will be no different – which is why they’ll be delighted at how expenses management software makes processing their expenses claims faster and more streamlined. No need to wait weeks for receipts to be checked and line managers to wade through and approve a stack a paper forms. Expenses management software has a slick approvals process built in which makes checking, reconciling, and approving expenses claims so much faster.
5. Remove the payment time lag
   Everyone is busy, including your finance admin team. Clunky manual processes for expenses claims can take an age to complete because it’s not the highest priority. And even if there is some form of expenses management tool or system being used, if it’s not linked to your finance system, the actual payment back to your individual employees will be delayed too. No one likes feeling like they’re ‘out of pocket’ so the time lag between processing and payment is a bone of contention which can easily be resolved with the right expense management tool in place. 
6. Improve employee experience 
   Expenses management software can include some nifty features that your employees will love. Things like automated business mileage calculations using Google Maps; digital capture of receipts; and the ability to upload credit card statements all smooth the way for stress-free expenses management.
7. Gain management visibility  
   Choosing the right expenses management software in not just about efficiency benefits for everyone – there are also a host of management benefits too. For starters, it’s possible to review individual, departmental and company spend categories quickly so that it’s easy to report on the big picture as well as the detail. That level of data and reporting also means that Finance can spot trends or identify issues, allowing for a swift response when needed.
8. Frees time for more productive tasks 
   From your Finance administrators processing claims to line managers having to approve claims, right down to individual staff making claims – introducing an expense management system relieves the burden on everyone. And that’s great news for your business as it ensures everyone has more time to focus on value adding tasks instead.

Interested in finding out more about expense management software? Why not take a look now and see for yourself how it could benefit your business and your staff.

You can take advantage of a personalised product demonstration of the market-leading Access expense management software tool, or just contact us for an informal conversation about what might work best for your business.