What is the best software tool to automate your Expense Management Process

Expense management software is used by organizations to manage various financial functions. This type of system ranges from simple single-entry applications for tasks such as check writing and accounting to sophisticated double-entry solutions with advanced features. Complete platforms offer features such as inventory and invoicing. An expense management system can help your business in many ways, including eliminating manual tasks and automating repetitive tasks. It goes without saying that a high-quality system has become essential for small and large businesses.

Benefits of an automated expense management system

These are the most obvious benefits that companies derive from the use of advanced expense management system:

Take advantage of continuous savings to make smart decisions. It’s hard to define a business decision as a smart decision unless there’s real-time data on the table. Centralizing information through expense management tools helps managers’ report on all relevant performance indicators and make future decisions based on those reports. A strategy is critical to developing spending policies, calculating project costs, identifying opportunities such as better supply offers or overcoming the risk of non-compliance.

Compliance with internal and external regulations. Remember, compliance is always at the top of your list of priorities, regardless of the size/sector your company belongs to. Of course, neglecting regulations leads to unwanted taxes or reputational damage, especially if a regulation is not permanent, and you need to invest time to follow changes. The role of expense management programs is quite simple: they automatically track legislative changes and update system data to reflect them. Meanwhile, all stakeholders are informed of the change and how it will affect performance parameters.

Fair and consistent cost management. Are you sure you are fair to all your employees? Even the most confident of you will take a second to think about it because it is human nature that loses sight of these things as life gets more hectic. In expense management programs, rules are rules and there are no exceptions to rules. Solutions come from basic policies and employees know in advance what they are entitled to and what they do not have. This system also allows automated approval and payment, which motivates both applicants and confirmers to respond quickly.

Reduction of tax risk. Expense management systems are critical to the accuracy of your data because, unlike tedious manual calculations, they do not allow errors. This is because data is imported directly from company cards and service providers, which is also a good way to reduce costs. In fact, the expense management software is “know it all”: it distinguishes between legitimate and illegitimate expenses, organizes them into categories and consequently reports on each expense claim.

Increase in cost efficiency. To those who are hesitant: The introduction of a cost management system is already an economic solution. You buy the license and extend your internal resources to implement it, but there will be no recurring expenses to make you regret it. The very fact that you automatically import data and link the expense system to credit cards and payment channels is a reason not to question the accuracy of the reports you generate. So, appreciate the fact that you know how expensive transaction-based reporting can be and how long it can take to capture it manually. Overall, a cost management system is designed to give you a complete view of your spending, allowing you to negotiate discounts, reduce or transfer resources or even change entire business policies as needed.

Flexible risk management and fraud prevention. You’re right, there’s no 100% guarantee of success in taking risks. However, expense management tools have proven to be the closest to expense controllers and can quickly achieve savings with minimal implementation costs. With minimal implementation costs, we point out that you do not need to install an additional infrastructure, but you will use what you already have with all updates and maintenance changes.

Popular Expense Management Software Tools

Zoho CRM Tools

Zoho CRM Application gives you a 360-degree view of your entire sales cycle and pipeline. There is also an open source version. Zoho CRM offers small and large companies a complete customer relationship management solution for sales, marketing, customer support, and service as well as inventory management in a single business system.

Whether you are in the office or on the road, Zoho Expense makes it easy for you to control your expenses. Track your costs so you don’t have to spend time on your busy day.

Features of Zoho Expense Management software

1. Auto scan your receipts – Simply photograph a receipt and Zoho Expense automatically captures important details such as date, cost and company name.
2. Add expenses easily – Enter the costs incurred. Enclose a document, enter the costs, and report the costs. You can sort expenses by category, write notes, and add additional input fields.
3. Create per Diem rates – Create and assign packages for all your employees and the countries in which they travel. Establish one-time meal, taxi and accommodation allowances and ensure that your employees do not spend more than the allowable limit.
4. Merge expenses – Merge similar expenses to avoid duplicate entries.
5. Expense in any currency – Zoho Expense supports all major currencies. When you report your travel expenses, Zoho Expense automatically looks up the exchange rate and converts it for you.
6. Store receipts digitally – Receipts can fade and become illegible, but digital documents never disappear. Zoho Expense securely manages document tracking in the cloud.
7. Forward receipts from your inbox – Send receipts to your inbox at Zoho Expense and scan receipts by email for an easy expense report.

Wave Accounting

The fastest growing accounting software for small businesses worldwide. Designed specifically for entrepreneurs, freelancers, consultants and small businesses with 9 or fewer employees.

Features:

1. Actual accounting, for non-bookkeepers
2. No more manual input
3. Simply connect Wave securely to your bank account, PayPal or other data sources. Transactions appear instantly in your accounts.
4. Professional reports
5. Create accurate reports for yourself, your accountant or your investors, such as balance sheets, VAT reports, receivables and payables.
6. Transparent payroll accounting
7. Wave tools are designed to work together in perfect harmony. Use unlimited wave billing and affordable payroll for small businesses when you need it, and your data will be synchronized anywhere and instantly

FreshBooks

FreshBooks makes your accounting tasks easy, fast and secure. Start sending invoices, tracking time and recording expenses in minutes. We have a long tradition of providing exceptional customer service and developing a product that saves you time because we know you’ve come into business to pursue your passion and serve your customers – not learn accounting.

With FreshBooks you can create professional looking invoices with your own logo. When you’re ready to issue invoices to your customers, just send them an email with your invoice, download a PDF or print it with a single click.

FreshBooks is simple and intuitive, so accounting is not intimidating. You calculate customers, track time, capture spend in the shortest possible time. It saves customers an average of 2 days a month on daily billing tasks. Spend less time on paperwork and more time on what’s most important.

• Accept credit cards on your bills
• Know when your invoice is displayed
• Preparation of cost estimates and quotations
• Send recurring invoices to customers

The brand new FreshBooks is accounting software that makes running your small business easy, fast and secure. Spend less time on accounting and more time on the work you love.

Features

• Expense Tracking
• Invoice
• Mobile Support
• Multi-Currency
• Online Banking Integration
• Recurring invoice
• Time Tracking
• Accounts Receivable
• Billing & Invoicing
• VAT / CST / GST Reports

IceHrm

IceHrm is a Human resource management system for small and medium-sized organizations. This HRM software centralizes employee data and allows only one authorized person to access it, providing a high level of security. The presence module monitors employee time based on information about insertion and perforation. It covers all the basic HRM needs of a company such as Expense management, leave management, time management, Recruitment management and handling employee information.

Unlike the other popular HRM software, you can use one system for all HRM functions. As the other HRM functions are designed for different HRM functions separately, using IceHrm will benefit you to utilize all HRM functions in one software. There are three different editions in IceHrm. Each edition has different features. You have a choice to select which edition will suit your organization according to your HR requirements in the organization. Also, you can purchase the IceHrm software based on the number of employees in your organization.

Key Features of IceHrm

• Document Management
• Employee Self Service Management
• Performance Management
• Time & Attendance Management
• Performance Appraisal
• Benefits Management
• Attendance management
• Email Integration
• Payroll Management
• Project Management
• Workflow Management
• Dashboard
• Employee Lifecycle Management

In case you want to learn more about how you can use the IceHrm software for your HR responsibilities, you can easily sign up for a free trial here.