Why your expenses need strict management
The claiming, recording and reimbursement of work-related expenses is perhaps one of the most routine tasks any finance team will have to complete. But it's also an area rife with the risk of human error, and if not managed correctly, expense management can have significant knock on effects for a business. This day-to-day finance requirement demands strategic know-how and practical guidance from finance leaders in your organisation. In this blog we explain how expense management can affect everything from your organisation’s tax obligations to its cash flow – and how you can better manage all of the variables for a better bottom line.
Visibility Means Accuracy
On the face of it, expense management is a basic task. And while it’s certainly true that individual expense processing is perhaps best left to the more junior members of the team, finance leaders should be closely involved when setting the policies which govern the overall system. Without a strategic, management-approved policy in place, finance leaders could soon find themselves with an expense-related black hole due to the aggregation of many smaller claims.
Having a transparent, accurate and real-time expense tracking and claiming system in place will help you keep track of, and monitor, how much is being claimed. This means finance leaders can assess what expense limits are realistic and then introduce them in a way that will better support both employees who are claiming, and the finance team who are processing. An automated expense management system, like Access Expense, also reduces the risk of data input errors which further complicates and slows the process. More than 100,000 people across the world use Access Expense software to simplify this process and gain better control and visibility of their expense management.
Simplify Tax Time
Expense claims can also have strong taxation implications. Everything from subsistence costs during work travel to staff training can potentially reduce your corporate tax bill, so it’s wise to ensure the process is managed correctly and that sound records are kept. It's wise to have a centralised data system that allows finance leaders to quickly find expenditure information they need to accurately calculate obligations at tax time.
Managing Cash Flow
Most medium or large size businesses don't necessarily need to be too over the top with expenses policies. But for a company with a tight cash flow, each and every dollar counts. Ultimately, the buck for an overly-generous expense policy will stop with the finance leaders – so washing your hands of it or failing to take a strategic approach, might be risky. Expense management involves a lot of transaction authorisation for small amounts, and it’s a pretty repetitive task. But just because it’s routine doesn’t mean it isn’t important. Get the right tools and processes in place and this day-to-day task will begin to take care of itself.
Keen to see how Access Expense management software can help your business the entire expense process? Automate tasks for increased efficiency, save your finance team time and gain a better employee experience.
