Employees are regularly claiming expenses. They may have costs for travel, local transportation, food, laundry, and other essentials. Employees must record expenses and submit them for approval.
This process may look simple. However, it can get complicated if an organization is using paper receipts, emails, and spreadsheets. Employees can misplace their receipts and managers can fail to notice the pending claims. Furthermore, finance teams may spend extra time verifying claims.
Travel & Expense Management Software can be beneficial in this regard. SpendMantra allows expense submission, payment processing, monitoring, and expense reimbursement all on one platform. Employees may enter expense details, upload receipts, review the request, and submit it.
Approvers can go through each expense claim and take any action that is needed. Employees can also track the progress of each request. SpendMantra helps to simplify the entire process from a travel request to expense reimbursement.
In this article, we will be discussing how SpendMantra Streamlines Employee Expense Claim Requests and builds a transparent expense approval workflow.
How Employee Expense Claims Work in SpendMantra?
Using SpendMantra travel and expense management software, employees can create and manage Expense Claims. They just need to enter the expenses, attach the bill, check the claim, and submit it for review and approval.
Employees can make claims for various expenses, including:
- Daily allowance
- Personal expenses
- Laundry expenses
- Local transportation
- Miscellaneous expenses
- Relocation expenses
- Travel and accommodation expenses
Every expense submitted gets a unique expense ID. Employees can use OCR to capture receipt information. Along with the claim, the bills can be uploaded.
The details will include the date, purpose of travel, mode of travel, route, distance, and cost. The calculation of the cost will be done according to defined rules.
After the submission, the claim goes through the process known as the Expense Approval Workflow. The approvers will review the information and take any necessary actions. Additionally, the Finance team is involved in reviewing authorized claims and carrying out adjustments as needed.
This helps organizations develop an Employee Expense Reimbursement process that is more organized.
Why Manual Expense Claims Become Challenging?
Manual Expense Claim Management works well when there are few claims, but it becomes a difficult task as the business expands.
Paper bills can be lost
Employees may collect a large number of invoices /bills during their trip. Paper receipts can be lost or damaged. This can cause a delay in reimbursement.
Manual data entry is time consuming
Employees are required to enter each expense detail manually. Then finance teams have to check that data or enter the same information. It results in more work.
Approvals can be slow
Claims sent via email may stay pending. Workers usually need to do numerous follow-ups with their managers.
Claim status can be unclear
Employees may be unaware whether their claims are yet to be approved, accepted, or rejected, or sent back for any modifications required.
Policy checks take more effort
Managers may need to verify every expense against the company guidelines. The finance team may also be required to conduct verification of the same expense again.
The digital Expense Claim Management Software keeps all claims, bills, approvals, and their status in one platform.
How SpendMantra Simplifies Employee Expense Claims?
SpendMantra Travel Expense Management Software helps you in managing the expenses right from the claim creation and financial review stage. It stores all the necessary information regarding the expenses, bills, approvals, and status of the expenses in one centralized location.
Add Expense Information
Employees can create a claim and provide all the required information regarding the expense involved. This includes:
- Daily allowance
- Local conveyance
- Laundry expenses
- Personal expenses
- Miscellaneous expenses
Bills and Receipts Submission
Employees can attach bills to expense requests. This ensures that the necessary documentation is submitted along with the claim. This includes the following:
- Expense invoices
- Travel receipts
- Supporting documents
- Digital uploads of invoices
- Images of the receipts
Review the Claim
Employees are able to review the claim before it is sent for approval. This allows them to verify the accuracy of the details and invoices. The information reviewed includes:
- Expense Type
- Expense amount
- Attached receipts
- Claims information
- Documents supporting the claim
Submit the expense claim
Employees can submit the claim after review. In the next step, the claim goes through the process of Expense Approval Workflow. Below are the tasks involved:
- Creating a claim
- Reviewing the claim
- Claim tracking
- Approval status
- Keeping records of the claims.
Review and Approve the Claim
The approvers may verify the claim shared along with the necessary actions. Each action is linked to the claim. This includes:
- Accept
- Decline
- Able to ask for further details
- Add remarks
- View approval details
Track Claim Status
After submitting a claim, employees may check the status. Real-Time Expense Tracking helps to achieve greater visibility. This includes:
- Current status
- Approval stage
- Approver details
- Approval action
- Remarks
Complete Finance Review
Authorized finance users are allowed to check the approved claims. They can make allowed changes to the required finance approvals. Some examples of these changes include:
- Claims checking
- Bill checks
- Cost Centre change
- Change of approved amount
- Final finance approval
How OCR Receipt Capture Makes Claims Faster?
Bill entry can be a time-consuming task after business trips. An employee may have cab bills, hotel bills, food bills, etc. Manual entry of each receipt comes with the possibility of errors.
SpendMantra facilitates the scanning of receipts based on OCR technology. It can automatically capture important details like total amount, date, and GST.
OCR receipt capture is beneficial because it:
- Helps to enter bills faster
- Requires less typing
- Provides better receipts
- Makes it easy to review claims.
- Reduces input mistakes.
This technology is important for companies that process lots of Employee Expense Claims on a monthly basis. This also contributes to a more advanced Expense Reimbursement Process.
How SpendMantra Makes Expense Submission Easier for Employees?
A simple expense procedure saves time for the employee. Employee Expense Management Software enables employees to submit claims from a single platform. In addition, it eliminates the requirement for paper forms and manual follow-up.
Centralized Expense Submission
Employees can submit their expense information via one system. No separate files or emails are required. This allows:
- Claim development
- Expense submission
- Bills upload
- Claim approval
- Final submission
Uploading Bills Digitally
Employees can attach invoices to appropriate claims. This ensures that evidence remains associated with the expense record. This helps with:
- Uploading receipts
- Bills Storage
- Claim Proof
- Keeping digital records
- Speeding up reviews
Expense Preview
Employees have the privilege to review claim information before it is sent for approval. They can fix mistakes before submitting the claim. This makes it possible to:
- Check totals
- Expense type review
- Invoice verification
- Correct the details
- Final claim review
Status Tracking
Workers are capable of monitoring the progress of their claims on their own. Business Travel Expense Tracking provides them with better visibility after the submission process. This helps with:
- Current Status
- Stage of approval
- Pending action
- Progress of their claims
- Final result
Transparent Approval History
Approval information is associated with the claim. As a result, employees can easily track the entire process. The following features help:
- Details of the Approver
- Approval action
- Comments
- Phase in which the claim is pending
- History of the Approval.
With these features, the Expense Claim Management process becomes easier for employees and reduces manual follow-ups.
How SpendMantra Helps Approvers and Finance Teams?
Expense Management is not just an employee's task. Here comes SpendMantra Employee Expense Tracking, which makes the process easier.
Easy Review of Claim
Approvers are given access to expense-related documents to take action in the application with less email correspondence.
Clear Supporting Documents
Bill invoices and claim documents are linked to claims. This makes the expense easier to monitor.
Policy based approval
SpendMantra uses a policy-driven approval process. Requests flow to the correct approver based on the companies’ policies. Approvers may approve, reject, or ask for further details.
Better Expense Visibility
Managers have access to requests, expenditures, approval status, and supporting information. This allows teams to have a better understanding of their travel expenses.
Reduced Manual Follow-Up
Employees can follow the status of their claims. This minimizes the chances of managers and finance teams receiving the same questions from employees.
How Expense Automation Supports Policy Compliance?
Business travel happens according to company policy. It might set limits for accommodation, local travel, daily allowance, and other expenses. Manual policy checks are quite time-consuming. An organized Automated Expense Management method makes these verifications easier.
SpendMantra Travel Expense Reimbursement System comprises policy-based workflows. The requests are sent to the correct approver automatically based on the specific company rules.
The advantages of having a clear process are:
- Accurate expense records
- Clear approval history
- Less missing documents
- Better spend visibility
- More regular reviews.
In such a situation, policy control becomes a part of the expense procedure. It does not need to depend on manual checks.
How SpendMantra Supports Different Expense Claims?
Corporate travel expenses are not just limited to flights and accommodation. There are expenses related to local travel and other business activities.
Local Conveyance
Employees may have to claim local travel costs. They can then maintain a record of the expenses and supporting documents.
Daily Allowance
Daily allowance can form part of employee travel expenses. A structured system makes such claims easier to manage.
Miscellaneous Expenses
Employees can add other business-related expenses. They are able to add details, upload bills and provide justification before submission.
Relocation Expenses
The travel cost as well as accommodation cost associated with relocation is also supported by SpendMantra Travel Expense Tracking. This keeps such claims as part of the same expense process.
What to Look for in Expense Management Software?
The appropriate Expense Reimbursement Software must simplify daily expense processes. It must assist employees, managers, and finance teams.
- Easy expense submission
- Uploading of bills in digital format
- Approval according to policies
- Tracking claim status
- History of approval
- Total visibility in expenses
- Reimbursement support
- Dashboards and reports available
With these features, it will not be necessary to manage various emails, Excel sheets, and printed documents separately.
Moreover, the software platform integrates both travel and expense functions. This makes it useful for companies seeking better organization when managing employee expenses.
FAQs
1. What are employee expense claims?
Employee Expense Claims refer to a request for reimbursement of expenses during business travel. It covers costs that may include their travel, meals, local transportation, or any other costs that may have been approved.
2. How does SpendMantra simplify expense claims?
SpendMantra combines all claims, bills, approvals, and their status in one centralized location. Employees can submit and review claims with less manual work.
3. Can employees upload bills when filing a claim?
Yes, employees can upload invoices and receipts while filing a claim. This helps to record expenses associated with any particular claim.
4. Does SpendMantra to support OCR to capture some receipts?
Yes. OCR has the ability to recognize receipt information. This could include the value of the transaction, date, and would include the information regarding the GST.
5. What is expense approval workflow?
Expense approval workflow involves moving the claim through stages where it needs approval. The approvers can look into the claim and take action on it.
6. Is it possible for employees to monitor their expense claim status?
Yes. Business Travel Expense Tracking software allows employees to monitor their current claim status, including approvals.
7. What are the benefits of using SpendMantra for finance teams?
Finance teams have access to the details of bills, claims, and approved amounts. They also have an option to make any necessary adjustments before granting final approval.
8. What are the Benefits of utilizing Employee Expense Management Software?
The Employee Expense Management Software reduces manual processes. It also enables users to submit, approve, track and analyse expense claims.
