taming the employee expenses monster

A story about busy employees and hard-working finance teams

Employee expenses: How to tame the monster that’s eating

up valuable time and money

Every business needs to manage and monitor

employee expenses.

overwhelming.But sometimes the process is

“I’m travelling to Manchester at short-notice for a meeting with

a potential client.”- Emma

Take Emma for example...

Emma’s expenses are pretty standard:

Train fare: £75

Taxi: £8

Hotel: £90

Coffees: £7

Meals: £30

And the result? Emma seals the deal.

But...

Great news!

Racking up expenses is the easy part.

90 secs Booking train online10 secs Paying taxi driver120 secs Confirming the hotel40 secs Buying 2x cappuccinos100 secs Paying for 2x prawn linguine

6

MINUTES TOTAL

That’s how long Emma spent:

• Gathering her 5 receipts

• Submitting them

• Correcting errors

• Chasing approvals

• Sighing a lot

3.5

HOURS

If only processing these expenses was just as easy.

• Rekeying Emma’s receipts

• Checking receipts and amounts match up

• Ensuring they’re HMRC compliant

• Watching out for errors

• Checking against company policy

• Chasing manager’s approval

And it’s a pain for the finance team too.

It’s no wonder it takes Emma 9 days to be paid!

(She could have walked to Manchester in that time.)

9

In fact, 89% of finance departments

face challenges with their expense process.*

*Source: Vanson Bourne data conducted in 2016 among 500 senior UK finance leaders

But why?

Well, there are

of the expense process that every finance team

needs to tackle.

6 key stages

Problem #1Submitting claims

90% of finance leaders say their employees face problems when submitting expenses.

Lost receipts Late

paymentsManual data entry

Wasted time

Confusion over rules

No delegation when out of office Query hassles

Compliance confusion

Paper-based systems

Lack of notifications

Problem #2Manager approvals

33% of finance leaders feel managers don’t approve expenses quickly enough.

Rekeying data

Inadequate checking

Paper processes

Manual spreadsheets

Huge batches of claims

Slow sign-offs

Problem #3Data processing

If you don’t have the right tools, then the workload can become unmanageable – fast!

Policies broken Duplicates accepted

Open to fraud

Errors approved

Regulations contravened

Money wasted

Problem #4Auditing and complianceNearly one third of UK businesses are dissatisfied

with how they audit employee expenses.

And if you think payment means job done, think again.

Problem #5Reimbursement

Employees like Emma don’t always get their money back on time.

And can you accurately report on company-wide spend that drives better decision-making?

Problem #6Insight and reportingAre you confident you have an up-to-date paper trail when HMRC pays you a visit?

For many businesses, it’s a

missed opportunity...HUGE

Without the right tools you can miss out on a wealth of

amazing

insights

• What do we buy? • How much do we spend? • Which suppliers? • Are they compliant? • Could we get a better deal? • Could we reclaim VAT?

Insights like...

How can employee expenses be tamed for good?

Here’s some great news...

It is possible to transform every stage in the process

• Small changes can make a big difference

• Get rid of the hassle

• Save time and money

The answers are within easy reach

What next?

See how to streamline each stage in your expense process.

You can also call us on 01628 645 100 or visit concur.co.uk

Download your free whitepaper today.