The Top Modern Business Expense App Attributes

Is your company utilizing a business expense app? If the answer is no, then your team is wasting hours that could be spent growing your business and leaving room for human error—potentially costing the company money. Further, your employees are likely avoiding their expense reports altogether due to frustrating manual processes or outdated software.

If the answer is yes, but your expense software is outdated, you are likely still dealing with a cumbersome expense reporting process and allowing money to remain on the table.

Here are a few facts to consider:

• Sixty eight percent of workers reported spending 30 minutes to 2 hours completing expense reports.
• When processed manually, expense reports can cost over $26 per report.
• To put that last fact into perspective, if you had a company of 50 employees and they submitted the average 1.5 expense reports per month, it would cost your company $23,967 per year simply to process those reports.

Fortunately, modern business expense apps are available to streamline the process, all while saving your company time and money and eliminating errors. However, not all business expense apps are created equal.

The Cost of Outdated Business Expense Tools: Time and Money

As we alluded to above, the manual expense process is a royal pain that involves a multitude of steps and room for error. To start the process, employees must pull together receipts for business-related expenses and typically add each item to a spreadsheet. Then, each receipt must be scanned and all of the files compiled and sent. If you’re really behind the curve, you may require your team to mail hard copies to the office. Talk about a ton of time and room for human error!

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But, it doesn’t stop there. Once the report is put together, it will need to be submitted to the approving manager for sign-off, and then over to the accounting team to audit, enter into the system, and make corrections as needed. If at any point in this process there is a question, documentation is missing, or a mistake is discovered, the employee must then loop back to make corrections.

Believe it or not, the process still is not complete! After the review period, reimbursements are processed. If you don’t have direct deposit enabled, then employees will not only be waiting for the next check run, but also for the check to be mailed to their home address (or handed to them at the office)—all the while the expense of the business trip has been hanging on their personal balance sheet. Talk about an inefficient and cumbersome process—one that no one has time for.

Outdated Expense Management Tools

Now, just because you have automated all or some of your business expense process doesn’t mean you are getting the most from it. Older business expense apps only partially improve expense reporting. Odds are that they lack the functionality to snap receipts and file them on-the-go, have built-in policies, or offer an all-in-one solution for travel and expense management.

Business Expense Needs? There’s an App for that!

If you’re looking to reduce processing costs and wasted time, minimize mistakes and reconciliation errors, improve approval workflows, expedite reimbursements, and increase compliance and forecasting visibility, then a modern business expense app is a must-have tool.

With so many benefits, why are organizations still waiting to adopt a modern business expense tool? More often than not, there is an assumption that there isn’t enough time, budget, or resources available to transition to a new platform. Fortunately, this is far from the case.

Getting Started with a Modern Business Expense App

The resources and hours involved in modernizing your expense management solution are low compared to the increased efficiency and monetary savings your company will experience. For starters, employees will save a considerable amount of time on expense reports, have reduced frustration, and improved accuracy. They will love having an expense app that enables them to snap receipts, take notes, and have them automatically synced to the appropriate report. This will result in enhanced accuracy for approving managers, expedited approval cycles, and faster turnarounds.

Wrap-in Your Policies

Additionally, modern expense management software will enable your team to wrap policies directly into the app, increasing compliance and reducing friction. You also will be able to track mileage and travel expenses all in the same tool and easily assign billing codes—which your finance team will absolutely appreciate. Expense reports can be accepted or rejected with the click of a button and reimbursements can be processed efficiently.

Here’s a glimpse of what an automated business expense process looks like—talk about streamlined and efficient!

Business Expense App Modernization is a Must

Whether you are still utilizing manual processes, or your current expense software is outdated, there is no better time to modernize with a business expense management application. Improved efficiency, streamlined processes, costs savings, better spend insights—everyone wins from the employee filing the report to approving managers and the finance team.

If your team is ready to say sayonara to mountains of receipts, spreadsheets, and the hours wasted on outdated expense reporting processes and focus on business growth and cost savings, then it’s time to modernize your business expense app.

To get you started, we’ve put together The Buyer’s Guide to Evaluating Expense Management Solutions. This is a fantastic resource that explains why modern business expense apps are a game changer for companies looking to improve efficiency and cut costs. Give it a read and please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions. We hope to hear from you soon!