The way companies (small or large) manage their Travel and Expenses is changing in the UK. Newer technologies have transformed the way in which finance departments function. Their roles and responsibilities have also grown. They are expected to supervise and manage traditional finance functions, like employee expenses, as well as provide wider insights into the company’s spend and forecasts, which help companies to make better business decisions.
However, more and more travel bookings and other travel expenses are taking place directly through employees. This makes it difficult and harder for the finance department to stay in control of the budgets while gaining full visibility as and when the spend occurs. Especially when 90% of the employee expenses are incurred during business travel. On the other hand, claiming and reporting on expenses is a process that actually affects many elements behind the successful execution of a business strategy like productivity, cost control, visibility, and employee satisfaction.
There are many Challenges, finance teams face on a day to day basis. It is really difficult to manage data when it is scattered all over the place. For example, when data is sitting in numerous storage places or with different departments- it becomes impossible for the finance team to get the full picture in a timely manner. Can this scattered data be combined in one place? can this be integrated with other finance systems like ERP (Enterprise resource planning), AP (Accounts Payable)?
And further can finance see spending patterns, irregularities and even individual over spenders? If finance can’t access the data they need when it’s needed, they won’t be able to predict company cash flow on a month-to-month basis. T&E could become the ‘blind spot’ for the business and result in frustrated employees as they want to use the tools and technology they rely on in their personal lives to book business travel, manage their trips, capture their expenses and process their T&E claims. They don’t want to waste time trying to manually enter data into their expense claims form line by line.
Without an automated T&E management tool, it becomes almost impossible for the Finance team to track spending in real time. All this can leave the Finance Team feeling a loss of control
For the same reasons, companies are moving towards expense management tools to make this process easier for the business traveler and also for the finance department. This not only helps the finance team, it also saves a lot of effort and time for the employees travelling on business. Previously employees had to spend a lot of time in submitting numerous claims. They expended valuable time matching the receipts, completing the claim forms, chasing their managers for sign off and tracking their payment with the finance department. Important time that could be better spent for all concerned.
A prepaid debit card is a great solution for expense management, as businesses can easily control budgets and spending. These prepaid employees expense cards are easy to maintain as well, administrators can remotely load, unload or block a card instantly from their end. This automated expense management tool easily fits into the mobile life of many employees and managers, allowing them to make and approve claims whilst on the move. For example, ViolaCorporate mobile app allows users to take photos of receipts and attach them to the expenses with just a few clicks. This not only improves productivity but, also removes frustration attached with the business travel. Best of all, automating your expenses frees up large amounts of administration time (currently spent double-checking expenses, inputting information, and chasing people for receipts) so that it can be spent much more productively.
This technology of linking a prepaid debit card to a mobile application, helps both travelers and managers. It is making the system much smoother. Travelers can ditch paper receipts, which are hard to keep track of, by just taking pictures of their receipts as soon as they get them. This can be uploaded straight to expense claims without the need to scan or email, straight from an app on their phone. Management can review these travel expenses on their company dashboard in real time.
Content Originally Published Here.
