Are you struggling to free up time in your expense claims process? How about wanting to streamline reporting for your growing team? As your business begins to scale, certain processes, like expense claims, can become time-intensive and tedious.
From reviewing and uploading physical receipts to monitoring overall spending, outdated expense claims processes aren’t ideal in today’s fast-paced business environment.
In this article, we’ll cover how to simplify employee expense management, freeing up time in your busy schedule while improving productivity and streamlining reporting.
Why Businesses Need a Time-Saving Employee App
Time-saving business tools are crucial for any leader. After all, your time is more valuable marketing with clients, exploring new revenue streams, and focusing on high-level decisions, rather than being bogged down with tedious expense claims.
Here are a few more reasons why your business needs a time-saving employee app:
- Efficiency – Streamlines expense reporting and approvals.
- Accuracy – Reduces human errors in financial workflows.
- Scalability – Supports growth without increasing administrative burden.
- Employee Satisfaction – Simplifies tedious tasks, giving employees more time to focus on their core work.
The advantages of an employee app benefit both you and your team. Employees are empowered to submit their own expense claims with documentation with simple receipt captures and uploads. They no longer have to wait until the end of the quarter or the year to track down dozens of receipts. They have the ability to complete their expense claims on their own time.
Key Features to Look for in a Time-Saving Employee App
Each automated employee expense mobile app has different features. Some focus on overall expense reporting and tracking, while others hone in on expense claims and reimbursements. Tracking down the best expense claim app for your business depends on understanding your goals and objectives. Here are some key features to look for in a time-saving employee app:
Expense Claim Automation
Your app should have receipt scanning with OCR, automatic categorization, and mileage tracking. These three features are important to simply the expense claims process for both you and your employees. Employees no longer need to hand you physical receipts. Instead, they snap a picture of their receipt, which is then uploaded and categorized into your expense claim program.
Integration
Most businesses will house a bulk of their financial data in a central accounting software program, like QuickBooks or SAP. An expense claim app is a niche program that focuses on reimbursements and tracks your spending. As a result, it’s important that your expense app communicates with your accounting software with seamless integration. This means all transactions flow between the two programs, ensuring no missing data and improving accuracy.
Mobile Accessibility
When looking at tenant expense claim programs, inquire about a mobile app. Employees are much more likely to submit receipts and expense claims when they can do so from their mobile devices through an app. An employee app allows employees to manage claims on the go. For example, an employee might snap a picture of a lunch receipt and upload it into the program right after the meal instead of waiting until they’re back in the office.
Real-Time Reporting
If you want to save time with expense tracking apps, real-time reporting is non-negotiable. Expense claim programs with real-time reporting provide clear and instant financial insights for decision-makers. For example, if you notice your expenses are higher than normal and you’re low on cash, you might line up external funding. Having these insights is important to infuse flexibility into your business.
Approval Workflows
Automated employee expense apps have backend controls in place to help the reimbursement move through the proper chain of command. For example, an employee might upload a receipt. Once it’s submitted, their manager will get a notification to review the claim. After the claim is approved, it moves to the payroll department to be included in the next paycheck. Having a defined approval workflow in place avoids bottlenecks and allows your organization to unlock peak operational efficiency.
Customizable Policies
Without rigid spending policies and procedures, employees could submit reimbursements for anything. An expense claim app helps you enforce spending policies directly through the app. For example, if your spending limit is $200 for the month, employees will be restricted from uploading receipts in excess of this amount without prior approval.
Steps to Choose the Best App
Choosing the best app doesn’t have to be a complex process. Here are four steps to choose the best app:
- Understand Your Needs – Why are you interested in investing in an expense claim app? Assess inefficiencies in your current process and determine the features essential for your business size and structure.
- Research and Compare – Which apps have high ratings? Look up leading apps like N2F, Expensify, Zoho Expense, and SAP Concur. Read user reviews and case studies to gauge reliability.
- Leverage Free Trials – You might be stuck between a few different providers, which is why free trials are important. Test usability and functionality with real employee scenarios.
- Evaluate Cost vs. Benefits – Balance the upfront costs with long-term time and money saved to select the right program.
Examples of Top Time-Saving Apps for Expense Claims
There are countless expense claim programs on the market, which is why it’s important to select the best claim app for your business. Here are some top automated employee expense apps to consider:
- N2F – Offers automated receipt scanning, real-time approvals, and seamless accounting integration.
- Expensify – Known for AI-powered expense management and user-friendly interface.
- Zoho Expense – Budget-friendly option with robust features for small businesses.
- SAP Concur – Scalable and highly customizable for larger enterprises.
These expense claim apps were chosen based on their features, pricing, and ratings. There are others available on the market, but these are tried and trusted offerings.
Real-Life Benefits of Using Expense Claim Apps
Let’s look at a short case study that highlights the power of using expense claim apps. The finance leader of a small business was struggling to process employee expense claims in a time-efficient manner. They found themselves spending hours each week sifting through receipts and invoices to ensure the expense qualified under their reimbursement program.
The leader looked into time-saving business tools and stumbled on an expense claim app. After deciding on the right program and spending time training employees on using the mobile app, the leader was able to reduce processing time for expense claims by 60%. Now, they have freed up time to focus on strategic planning instead of processing expense claims.
Conclusion
Most accounting and finance leaders can agree that saving time with expense claim apps is important. You have more flexibility in how you spend your time instead of sifting through receipts and manually processing expense claims. When moving toward a digital solution, it’s essential that you adopt solutions that fit your business needs. Start a free trial with one of these apps today and save valuable time for your business!
