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Managing your expenses effectively is a taxing task, but a crucial one all the same. Therefore, you’re likely looking for the best solutions to enhance your expense management process, and to be as rewarding for your business as possible.
With this in mind, we’ve put together this article to take you through five of the best tips for improving your expense management process.
1. Incorporate the right expense management software
One of the first, and potentially most important tips to incorporate into your business, is to purchase the right expense management software.
By implementing expense management software, you can have a more efficient and effective way of handling your expenses, all from one central platform.
The software will track every transaction that takes place throughout your business, and provide extensive data on each payment – including what was purchased, how much was spent, and which corporate card was used, for example.
By choosing the right software, you can gain a variety of crucial data, as well as beneficial features such as spend controls, insights, and much more.
This software is the ultimate tool for improving how you manage your expenses.
2. Gain full visibility on your transactions
Another important tip for your expense management process is to ensure you have full visibility over every transaction that takes place within your company.
The more visibility you have over your expenses, the more vivid a picture you’ll have of your entire corporate spend. This will make it easier for you to identify areas that need refining, and apply effective strategies for improving cost efficiency.
For instance, your software will be able to show you which areas of your company are spending the most on expenses every period – whether monthly, quarterly or annually. You can also structure the data to show you expenses of certain categories – e.g., food, accommodation, software subscriptions, etc.
3. Streamline your payment workflows
It will benefit you to streamline your payment workflows, so expenses can be monitored and processed much smoother.
For example, you can implement automated approvals for your expenses. This means each time an expense request is submitted, it can be approved swiftly without the need for manual intervention – as long as it aligns with specific criteria.
This will save any unnecessary time on waiting for approval if the transaction matches the requirements already pre-set by the senior member.
Payments can then be completed and transaction data collected, all without delay or hassle.
4. Use effective spend controls
You should also be sure to use the many spend controls offered by your expense management software, to have a firmer grasp of how your company spends money.
These controls help you tailor your spending to suit your company’s specific needs and budgets.
For instance, one of the many spending controls you can implement is the use of spend limits on your expenses.
These are specific limits you set that prevent any expense transactions completing if the amount spent is above the set limit.
This helps you adjust every area of your business – including specific teams, types of purchases, and individual cards – so that spending is optimized throughout your company.
5. Take advantage of meaningful insights
Another great tip for improving your expense management process is to take advantage of meaningful insights into your corporate spend.
Expense management software can offer you crucial insights into your expenses, to help you see where you can be more cost-efficient with your spending, and refine certain aspects of your process.
One of the insights you can receive will notify you of any cheaper alternatives to the expenses you’re currently making. For instance, if you were booking accommodation for business travel, the software can show you nearby accommodation with a similar service, but at a cheaper cost.
By using these insights, you can continuously keep your business cost-efficient, and stay one step ahead with your corporate spend.
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