Expense Management: Tips for better control in your company

Expense management is a key pillar of any company's financial health. Companies of all sizes - from small businesses to large corporations - often experience financial losses linked to poor expense control, struggling to effectively monitor and manage corporate spending. With increasingly global and dispersed teams, more complex operations, and a growing need for transparency, having a well-structured expense management system is not just a competitive advantage but a necessity.

Companies that implement modern expense management strategies can optimize operations, reduce operational costs, and create a solid foundation for sustainable growth. Leveraging technology to automate processes and establishing clear control policies help mitigate risks and boost efficiency. It’s essential for organizations to adopt a proactive, multifaceted approach to ensure control and transparency in spending.

To help your company achieve greater efficiency, here are some essential tips for a better expense management:

1) Expense Management Platform: Automate controls 

Automating expense management is one of the most effective ways to save time and reduce human errors. Technological solutions, such as accounting software and financial management systems like Jeeves, enable automatic expense logging, spending categorization, and real-time reporting. Automation allows for more accurate financial tracking, reduces manual processes, and minimizes the risk of fraud or duplicated data.

Some benefits:

• Time savings
• Error reduction
• Greater transparency and control

2) Incorporate company policies 

Expense policies should be clear, accessible, and integrated into operational processes, covering expense types, corporate purchasing procedures, travel expenses, reimbursements, and corporate card usage. Integrating these policies into training and ensuring the entire team understands the guidelines helps minimize misunderstandings and ensures compliance with company practices. Automation can further embed these policies into a management platform, making adherence more efficient and cost-effective.

Tips:

• Write policies in simple language
• Provide an easily accessible manual for employees
• Hold explanatory workshops
• Integrate policies into an expense management platform

3) Empower your team with full expense control 

Allowing employees to manage their purchases and expenses can improve efficiency, streamline processes, and increase job satisfaction. However, it’s essential to provide tools that ensure complete visibility of transactions and auditing mechanisms. Financial management apps with individualized access, but centralized visibility for direct managers and finance teams, are a great option to avoid surprises and overspending.

How-to:

• Use management platforms with configurable access permissions
• Monitor expenses in real-time
• Provide training and support to the team

4) Set spending limits for each employee and department 

Setting spending limits for employees and departments is crucial to keep the budget under control and avoid excessive expenses. These limits should be based on the company's financial planning and budget allocations for each area and may vary according to position, role, or expense type.

Implementation Steps:

• Analyze expense history to set standards
• Clearly communicate limits to all employees
• Use systems that block transactions above set limits

5) Create an expense approval workflow 

A well-defined expense approval process avoids improper approvals and provides a clear path for expense review. The workflow should be scalable and adaptable to the company’s size and complexity, ensuring that all relevant expenses go through careful verification before finalizing.

Strategies:

• Set approval levels based on expense value
• Automate notifications for approvers and responsible parties
• Keep approval records for future audits

6) Set alerts for unusual transactions 

Establishing automatic alerts for out-of-pattern transactions helps prevent fraud and quickly identifies risky behavior. These alerts can be set to trigger in cases of unusual amounts, spending outside business hours, or unauthorized expense categories.

Advantages:

• Quick response to potential issues
• Fraud prevention
• Stricter financial control

7) Make reporting more digital and organized 

Manual reporting can be time-consuming and prone to errors, like miscalculations and loss of paper receipts. Digitizing the reimbursement process with receipt capture and archiving tools simplifies tracking and expense verification. Solutions that allow for uploading receipts and auto-filling forms streamline reimbursement processes for employees and finance teams, saving time and reducing error margins.

Suggested Tools:

• Expense management apps
• Receipt and invoice scanning tools
• Cloud-based accounting platforms

Get to Know Jeeves: The Expense Management Platform for Local and Global Teams

Implementing these strategies in your company's expense management results in more efficient and economical administration. By automating controls, incorporating policies, empowering the team with accountability, setting limits, creating approval flows, configuring alerts, and digitizing reporting, your company will be better prepared to face financial challenges and optimize resources.

To facilitate this transformation, Jeeves offers a robust expense management platform designed to serve both local and global teams. With Jeeves, your company can automate processes, monitor transactions in real time, implement personalized policies, and maintain full control over all expenses efficiently and transparently.

Discover how Jeeves can transform your company's financial management.

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