Digitalisation is now a strategic priority for 89% of all companies. And, without it, more than half (55%) believe they’ll lose market share within a year.
But in their quest for ‘techquilibrium’ (the right mix of digital and traditional assets), expense management is slipping under the tech-investment radar.
43% of companies still rely on paper-based manual expense processes, while 46% of companies still expect employees to pay up front for T&E using their own funds with ‘pay and reclaim’ policies (Charterhouse research, March 2019, sampling 1,000 SMEs).
For employees, left out of pocket, it doesn’t add up: “I do personal finances online, why not business expenses?”
So why are companies lagging behind? Many just don’t understand the scale of the problem. For instance, did you know:
It can leave staff out of pocket and disgruntled, managers overworked and stressed, and financial departments delayed and frustrated.
Moreover, it restricts real-time Opex visibility, has ramifications for cash flow and can lead to inaccurate tax reporting. It can even increase occupational fraud. What’s the solution?
Cloud-based expense management solutions can now unify and automate the entire expense process. From pre-spend control to post-spend analysis and everything in between.
And with a payment method (such as Allstar Plus) coupled with a simple app-based solution to uplaod expenses (such as ExpenseIn), you can ditch pay and reclaim and say goodbye to time-sapping receipt gathering and uncontrolled spend.
Still need convincing? Here’s how digitising expenses can supercharge your business:
1. Happier more productive employees
Eliminating archaic processes and automating the expense chain frees up time for more pressing, revenue generating jobs. It also reduces admin stress, reimbursement delays and having to complete expenses out of hours.
2. Less mistakes (and time fixing them)
Capturing spend digitally removes input error, makes authorisation smoother and prevents delays in reimbursement and reporting.
3. Faster finances
Are you always playing catch up with cash flow? Receiving expense receipts in near real time means you don’t have to wait for employees to submit their paper or electronic forms. You can invoice earlier and plan and cost projects more effectively.
4. Easier compliance
Automated checks, accurate recording and pre-spend controls help ensure compliance with HMRC and means you don’t miss out on VAT repayments and tax reductions.
5. Smarter decisions
Expense management software often comes with dashboards and bespoke reporting that let you see instantly where employees are spending your money so you can make better real-time decisions around cash flow, consolidation and efficiency.
Find out how automated expense management can help your business, download our latest report: Why expenses don’t have to hold you back - how the expense process no longer needs to be paper-based, slow and fragmented.