The expense report refers to all expenses incurred by an employee in the course of his professional activity. Every employee has the right to claim reimbursement of business expenses from his employer. The expense report must meet certain criteria to be eligible for reimbursement.
Managing expense reports can be tedious and time-consuming. This important activity, outsourced to the management and finance teams, is made easier through certain good practices. Here are some tips to help you manage your expense reports.
Clarify the expense policy and choose the appropriate reimbursement method
The first step to streamlining some expense report management is to establish a clear and concise expense policy. To do this, look at your current expenses and then define and adjust your expense policy. You may also encounter the following problems: repeated loss of expense reports or at the same time an essential influx of documents aimed at improving the expense policy. From there, set limits according to the type of expense as well as the meal, travel, accommodation, etc. Set a deadline for the submission of receipts and list the required information that workers must provide according to the type of expense being incurred. As for the reimbursement method, choose the appropriate payment method and set the right deadline. Then, there are two options available to you. Reimbursement of actual expenses: employees must provide the additional supporting documentation required by the company for reimbursement of the amount incurred. Lump-sum reimbursement of expenses: this is the amount given to an employee to pay a business expense.
Making a choice for the dematerialization of expense reports
Calling for dematerialization facilitates both the movement and transformation of expense reports. Moreover, it gives the permission to optimize the traceability, the comprehensibility, while ensuring a longer safeguard of this type of document. Thus, you can then propose to the associates to take a picture of their certificates and then entrust them in a dedicated application. Therefore, some means of managing expense reports state their intelligent scanning. These features are useful for both employees and management teams.
Simplify the approval process
To save time when dealing with expense reports, you should not exceed two approval levels. Prioritize approval from the employee's supervisor to ensure the expense is in line with the assigned task, and confirmation from the accountant. These are to ensure that the expense is in compliance with the applicable expense policy. To help with this process, you can use the expense report management tool to set up a validation workflow (a series of steps, tasks, and procedures to manage a process from start to completion) that includes sending expense report requests in real-time to the manager in charge for approval or rejection.