Manual expense tracking can exacerbate remote work costs. However, your business can keep costs under control and have spending visibility by automating and streamlining your expense management process. 

It can be tempting for many small businesses to avoid investing in an expense tracking software at the beginning of the business life cycle. You might have comparatively fewer expenses, but as your business expands, hires more people, builds relationships with vendors and suppliers, and takes on new clients and customers, expenses can balloon out of control.

With that in mind, below are some reasons how an expense tracking software can save your business thousands of dollars! Let's get started!‍

An expense tracking software increases financial and employee productivity

An expense tracking software can significantly boost productivity by allowing employees to take quick actions on their expense receipts. For paper receipts, employees can capture and scan them on the go using their phones. In addition, they can submit their expense reports from anywhere using any device, even when they are traveling or working from a remote setup.

Remote employees can also spend more time on their jobs and less time dealing with tedious expense reports and procedures. For example, they don't need to download expense report forms, print them out, and send them for approvals. This also means Finance teams receive employee expense reports along with the proper documentation on time. This leads to faster reimbursements and more productive and happy employees.  

An expense tracking software saves your business paper and mailing costs

Similar to a digital signature platform, where there’s no need to print, sign, and scan signatures, with an expense tracking software, you can go for a paperless expense management process. You no longer need to think about sending paper copies of expense reports or receipts between offices. For larger companies with their remote workforce scattered across a country, region, or perhaps globally, it can potentially help them save hundreds of dollars per year. 

Additionally, getting rid of the need to store paper reduces the likelihood of remote employees forgetting to file their expenses or losing a copy of their receipts. Further, if your company uses an expense app, they can quickly scan a receipt and log it into the system in a matter of seconds. All these benefits and more, all while also being eco-friendly and environmentally conscious!

An expense tracking software gives Finance teams visibility into spends

Remote working can pose challenges for you and your Finance teams to gain visibility into employee spends. But with an automated expense tracking software, businesses can get real-time insights into employees' spending habits and trends, broken down by project and category. 

Finance teams can also get detailed information on where the most significant business expenses occur. This allows for more data-informed cost management, effortless conversations with employees about runaway spending, and a better understanding of the ROI of expense management automation. 

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An expense tracking software seamlessly enforces company expense policies

An expense tracking software can ensure employees and managers understand and adhere to company expense policies when making decisions. By following customized business rules and leveraging automation, an expense software can immediately flag expenses within your expense policy guidelines. This pushes for easy policy enforcement minus any extra effort.

Additionally, automated expense management can be much more convenient for your remote workforce. It eliminates any confusion or unnecessary back and forths to ensure effortless processes. It also ensures all employee spending, reporting, approvals, and reimbursements are within your company's set rules and regulations. 

An expense tracking software helps with tax deductions

An expense tracking software encourages compliance with internal policies and external legal bodies. In addition, Finance teams can categorize expenses based on various parameters and view a digital audit trail for tax purposes. As a result, Accountants and Finance teams don't have to deal with last-minute categorization, missing documentation, and unnecessary stress during tax season. 

An expense tracking software improves employee morale

Ambiguous policies and complicated reporting processes create stress and potential hassles for employees. Moreover, it can end up distracting them from what they ought to and likely want to be doing: attending to their core responsibilities.

A combination of all of the above helps promote employee morale and satisfaction. In addition, when your business has a clear expense policy coupled with effective policy enforcement, your business will have to deal with lesser policy violations. This also means faster turnaround times between filing and reimbursements.

Conclusion

In a post-pandemic world where most companies are going remote, relying on age-old, paper-based expenses processes will probably do your business more harm than good. Therefore, companies should consider investing in an expense management software to save time, streamline administration, and improve compliance.