The real cost of managing expenses is often underestimated. Paper-based expense reports are still widely used by many companies. Processing errors can accumulate, not to mention the risk of losing receipts…

Poor expense management can cost companies thousands of euros per year! However, there are now simple and efficient solutions to optimize expense report management. The N2F expense report management application helps companies to significantly reduce the cost of processing employee expense reports. Find out how it works…

Exactly how much does it cost to process an expense report?

Companies often fail to realize the actual cost of mismanaging their employees’ expense reports. Following the release of a study in 2015, many business leaders and CFOs were shocked when they saw the figures for expense management.

The following key figures from this study are still relevant for companies that have not yet optimized their expense report management:

  • the cost of managing an expense report is around €53;
  • errors occur in the processing of one expense report in five;
  • correcting an error increases the management cost by approximately €48; and
  • it takes around 20 minutes to process an expense report.

These figures show that there is still room for improvement for companies that have not yet optimized the processing of their employees’ expense reports.

Another finding of this study is that US companies have quickly realized the value of optimizing their expense management by using high-performance management software. In 2015, 81% of receipts in Europe were transmitted in paper format. In 2021, will the majority of companies have switched to paperless expense reports? Anything but…

In the digital age, it is possible to opt for a paperless solution that considerably reduces both processing time and the risk of error in the reimbursement of expense reports.

Optimization solutions

Several mechanisms can be used within companies to optimize expense report management. The main mechanisms that can be quickly implemented are:

  • a clear and detailed expense report policy for employees, outlining the various business expenses that can be reimbursed and the applicable limits for reimbursement (e.g., the maximum amount reimbursed for a business meal);
  • using expense report management software that allows rapid paperless processing by scanning and sending the receipts directly to the company’s accounting department; and
  • the mass distribution of a briefing note to employees concerning the process to be followed to recover VAT on their various professional expenses in order to avoid losing significant amounts of recoverable VAT.

On this last point, users of the N2F application have seen an increase in their recoverable VAT of about 3% per year, which is far from negligible when carried over to the amount of VAT applied to a company’s overall business expenses.

Why choose N2F software?

The N2F expense report management application offers several features designed to optimize expense report management, including:

  • employees can scan and directly send the receipt for an expense report to the company’s accounting department;
  • the use of a tool for entering mileage expenses that integrates Google Maps, which avoids calculation errors concerning the number of miles to be reimbursed at the company’s expense; and
  • the calculation of recoverable VAT on an expense report.

This N2F application has been designed to meet companies’ specific needs when managing their expense reports, in order to considerably reduce both their management costs and possible errors in the entry or reimbursement of these professional expenses.