How TST Construction reduced its reimbursement cycle from 2 months to 20 days

TST Construction is a professional management and construction company serving both local and U.S. federal government bodies, including military and civilian agencies.

With a team spread across seven locations, TST specializes in diverse projects like industrial construction, roofing, renovation, and emergency response. This broad scope brought complexity to expense management.

CFO Brad Salter and Accounting Manager Lynette Arnold knew their growing company needed a better way to manage expenses for field employees and the finance team.

The Challenges

Before implementing Sage Expense Management, TST Construction relied on manual, Excel-based expense reporting. As the company grew, this system became increasingly inefficient and frustrating for everyone involved.

Excel-based Templates

The company had outgrown its Excel-based expense reporting templates. The finance team had to manually check every expense for compliance, a process that was time-consuming and prone to errors.. Allocating expenses to the right projects required significant effort, and corporate card reconciliation was described as a “nightmare”.

Receipt Tracking

Collecting physical or scanned receipts from employees was a major problem. The finance team had to constantly follow up with employees to remind them to submit expenses.

Frequent Follow-ups

Because field employees often placed low priority on expense submissions, frequent follow-ups created tension between the home office and the field teams. What should have been a simple process became a source of stress and inefficiency.

Transformation with Sage Expense Management (formerly Fyle)

The finance team at TST Construction was in search of a platform that fits with their core goal - making the expense process as easy as possible for the employees.

Faced with these challenges, the team began searching for a solution that would:

• Automate reimbursable expenses so employees can submit expenses quickly without manual paperwork.
• Streamline corporate card management by automatically reconciling card transactions and providing real-time visibility into spending.
• Accurately track mileage and per diem allowances for field employees traveling between job sites.
• Ensure that every expense is tagged to the correct project or cost center, so budgets remain accurate and project spending is always transparent.

Sage Expense Management stood out because of its employee-first design and powerful automation tools.

Effortless Expense Tracking

With Sage Expense Management, employees can submit expenses instantly using tools they already use every day. Whether through the mobile app, text messages, or email integrations like Gmail and Outlook, field employees can submit receipts in real-time.

This flexibility dramatically increased on-time expense submissions and improved employee experience.

Corporate Card Reconciliations

Sage Expense Management automated the reconciliation of all corporate card expenses, freeing finance and employees from tedious manual work. The result was fewer errors and complete, real-time visibility into card spending.

Seamless Project Spend Tracking

Sage Expense Management allows the finance team to accurately map every expense to the correct project or cost center. This visibility helps TST Construction predict costs more accurately and ensure projects stay on budget in real-time.

Automated Approvals

By automating project-based, multi-level approval workflows, Sage Expense Management has eliminated delays from manual reviews. Managers can now approve expenses from anywhere, keeping the process fast and seamless.

The Outcome

With enhanced accuracy, real-time visibility, and smarter insights, TST Construction can now make faster, better-informed financial decisions. For the first time, both field employees and the finance team are connected on one powerful platform.