In a recent release from Levvel Research, a number of suggestions are made as to what challenges a company may encounter when they manage their expense management processes manually.
1. Manual keying and handling
The first place goes to manual keying and handling. This is the biggest problem by not having automated your processes. It’s not necessarily a problem itself but the consequences are often comprehensive. Manual work is extremely time-consuming, and it usually entails that more employees are becoming involved in the process. This means that a number of employees must focus on tasks that’s not a part of their core competencies.
The process costs can therefore suddenly get out of control if a highly paid employee must spend time filling in and forwarding envelopes with completed schemes and receipts in.
2. Lack of data insight
Insight to real time data is crucial for a company’s administration or management. If they for example fails to gain real time data insight on time spent on a given project, it leaves the management without the possibility to automatically be notified if more time has been spent on the project than the company can be reimbursed for.
Therefore, it can quickly lead to a conflict between customer and company, if the lack of data insight into an employee’s time or money consumption isn’t in accordance with company policy or what has been agreed with the customer.
3. Company policies aren’t incorporated
The previous point is completely in line with the next major challenge of manual handling of expenses. If a company has automated its processes around expense management, then company policies can set up limitations to ensure that no more money than agreed can be used. At the same time, it’s possible to dispatch two things: fraudulent overspending and cheating with expenses and the settlement hereof. Incorporation of company policies are therefore a good idea.
4. Missing reports
It may seem quite absurd, but one of the biggest challenges of managing expenses is that reports are disappearing. 24 % of the surveyed mentioned missing reports as one of their biggest challenges. We really hope that a hard-copy backup of the receipts is being taken. The error margin will always be greater when we carry handheld expense reports instead of automating the process.
There is almost always room for improvements and that is also a part of the journey towards developing your business, and yourself.
