Global Expense Management: The Questions To Ask

Global expense solution features

To find the right global expense management solution for your company, it's important to determine your needs and goals. By identifying the essential features that align with your objectives, you can streamline processes and achieve faster, error-free results. Here are some key questions to consider when evaluating global expense features:

• Is the application user friendly (and does it have a mobile app)?
• How is master data synchronised?
• Are out-of-policy expenses automatically flagged?
• Are checks performed to avoid fraudulent or duplicate expenses from being entered?
• Is it possible to escalate approval or implement dual approval?
• Is it possible to customise the approval workflow?
• Are multiple currencies supported?
• Is the application able to manage and proactively update country rules regarding VAT and per diems?
• Is the application able to handle cash advances?
• Is there an audit trail per expense item?

Integrations with your global expense solution

Integrating your global expense management solution with other automated systems in your company helps you overcome many challenges that your managers face when trying to keep costs under control. You need a flexible expense management software provider that understands your needs and is able to support you with the integrations your company really needs to start obtaining results. To help with this, you need to ask questions such as:

• Describe the integration with ERP/accounting/payroll software
• Does the tool integrate with credit cards/lodge cards? If so, how?
• Is there an automated interface with our accounting software or G/L interface?
• Does your tool have a mileage feature?
• Does it provide updated information regarding exchange rates?

User management

A user-friendly solution is essential for positive user experience and your key to new sources of savings. You must ensure that the user interface has everything your company needs to encourage employees to use it regularly to manage expenses in your company. Here are some user-related questions you could ask:

• What are the available languages for the user interface?
• What kind of support is offered for the end-user and the administrator?
• Can users be identified through SSO?
• Is access differentiated by user role?
• Can users attach receipts at item/report level?

Mobile app

Mobile expense applications are designed for the needs of modern companies and their business travellers. A solution that allows your employees to manage their travel expenses on the go is exactly what you need to obtain real-time information on their spending behavior and to facilitate the automated approval process. Mobile apps make everything easier during business trips, meaning you will want to ask questions regarding mobile features such as:

• Is there a mobile app?
• What functionalities does it have?
• Are the mobile functionalities the same as those on the desktop app?
• For which OS is the mobile app available?

Travel integration and management

Integration with travel booking tools is one of the most important features you might need for your global expense management software to decrease the costs related to business trips. Look for flexible expense management software suppliers and ask them questions such as:

• Describe the travel integration
• Can pre-approval be required before booking travel?
• Which OBT/TMC do you have a partnership/can you integrate with?

OCR

With Optical Character Recognition (OCR), receipt submission and checking for your employees can be done automatically. For frequent travellers, an OCR-enabled app allows them to scan receipts immediately and avoid spending time manually processing receipts. However, OCR features may also benefit other categories of users. To find out exactly who, ask the following:

• Describe the OCR functionalities for expense creation
• Describe the OCR functionalities for expense control
• What information can the OCR read?

Reporting on expenses

Submitting reports on time and generating insightful reports are probably two of your biggest pain points when it comes to manually processed travel expenses and two of the reasons why you are so determined to invest in a corporate expense management tool. Pay attention to the reporting features and ask the right questions:

• What reporting solutions are available with the tool?
• Can reports be exported to excel or other tools?
• Is there a business intelligence solution to help analyse and reduce our costs?

IT & Implementation

You have now defined your problems and identified the features that you need to achieve your goals regarding corporate expense management. When searching for the right software provider, be sure to collaborate with your IT department to ensure a smooth implementation process. Delaying the implementation of a global expense management solution only generates higher costs. Be sure to obtain answers to the following questions:

• What is the average implementation time?
• What customer resources will be required to assist in the implementation?
• Where are your data centres located?
• How long is the data stored?
• What data safety and security certifications does the application hold?
• How are receipts archived?
• What are the security features of the application?

You should involve all critical stakeholders in the evaluation process and add questions to our suggested list based on the feedback from you colleagues. Consider including members from IT, finance, accounting, training and performance management.

Ultimately, you want a solution that will help you minimise expenses while keeping employees happy. Choosing an enterprise expense management solution is a team effort, and we hope that our list of questions is helpful for your project committee.