The Utility of Expense Management Solutions Across an Organization

Travel and Expense Management Software

Travel and Expense Management is a critical function in any expense management solution as a large share of operating expenses are travel related.

A report by WTTC estimates a 34% increase in business travel spending from the 26% expected for 2021. It also forecasts that business travel in the Americas may rise by 35% in 2022, while it should be 28% in Europe, 41% in Asia-Pacific, 23% in Africa, and 32% in the Middle East.

The core functionality of a travel and expense management solution is to manage end-to-end travel booking-related activities, from booking tickets to managing other expenses incurred during travel. In addition, the travel and expense management solutions are typically integrated with HR, Finance, and other back-end systems for easy access to data and approval. The solution offers options for booking flights, cabs, and other travel-related services.

Human Resources

Human Resources refers to the employees of an organization, and a core function of the HR department is to manage the employees’ payroll and benefits. With social compliance and various regulatory requirements, businesses have started focusing on employee welfare to improve employee engagement and retention.
Employee benefits include health insurance, vision insurance, dental insurance, and more. Employee engagement refers to the level of enthusiasm that employees have towards their work. Expense management solutions help the Human Resources department get a bird’s eye view of various related expenditures and encourage quick decision-making.

Finance Department

The core function of the Finance department is to manage and optimize the organization’s financial health and stability, which requires all transactions – past, present, and planned to be available. The finance department needs access to data from all departments within the organization for easy monitoring. Expense management solutions are designed to help the finance department manage the expenses of all departments within an organization. A finance-focused expense management solution will help the finance department automate the expense approval process and generate reports from the data collected from all departments.

Approval Hierarchy

The approval hierarchy functionality is defined to determine the approval order for expenses. A user initiates an expense request that is processed against preset hierarchy rules. It can be a pre-defined hierarchy to approve all the expenses or a flexible hierarchy where users can request to change the order according to their needs. It can be used to approve recurring and one-off expenses. Managers and executives use it to approve expenses raised by their subordinates. For priority cases, in the absence of an approving manager, a secondary approval manager can be assigned to expedite the process.

Response Time – Employee Satisfaction

While expense management is critical to keep the functioning of different departments well-oiled, a lapse in its execution can disturb its harmony and employee confidence. Prolonged delays in reimbursements can hinder the employee’s experience and ultimately impact their morale. And deter them from making out-of-pocket expenditures. On-time approval can be crucial for projects and affect implementation within scheduled timelines.

Conclusion

Organizations must thoroughly scrutinize expenses to ensure the business complies with regulations and the employees aren’t spending too much or buying non-work-related items. Expense management solutions help complete a thorough audit and can drive further bottom-line savings by ensuring the business claims all compliant tax amounts.

An automated expense management solution powered by mobile accessibility can help organizations maximize their bottom-line performance, improve employee satisfaction, ensure regulatory compliance, and minimize fraud.

And the PeopleHCM expense management solution does this and more.