Efficient Expense Reports

November 29, 2011

Does this sound like the expense report process at your company? 

• Employees dread taking the time to save, retrieve and compile receipts, fill out an expense report, and put it on their manager's or bookkeeper's desk
• Accounting staff dreads re-typing all the line items into the accounting software using time that could be utilized on more valuable activities 
• Managers don't know if all their staff have submitted their monthly expense reports 
• The process is so onerous it gets put off and never done, or 5 months of expenses are crammed into one mega-sized expense report, and sometimes it even holds up closing the books at the end of the year 
• Late expense reports cause expenses to be recorded in the wrong month and skew financial reports or delay billing reimbursable expenses to cleints
• Expense reports only include reimbursable expenses. Reports omit documentation of charges put on a company credit card which may be needed in the future. 

With today's technology expense reporting can be streamlined, paperless, and can capture and report information much more efficiently.

Now imagine this process: 

• Employees photograph receipts with their phones and upload the photos and any other electronic receipts onto expense reports  
• Employees with credit cards download transactions onto their expense reports. This captures non-reimbursable expenses charged to company credit cards to help properly code and document them. 
• Reports are created and submitted online to accounting, with line items mapped to QuickBooks so no double entry is required
• Managers approve reports online and can see who has not submitted expense reports 
• All documents are saved in electronic form for easy access and reference 

Let's face it: expense reports are never going to be fun, but they can be done more efficiently. If you would like to learn more about how an efficient online expense report system would benefit your company, or would like to discuss specific software options, please contact SmartBooks founder Calvin Wilder at cwilder@smartbookscorp.com or 978.202.3064 x700.