Webexpenses Guide to Getting your Expenses Policy Fighting Fit
An expenses policy is like a fitness regime - get it right and your organisation’s going to stay lean, healthy and efficient. But, just like those New Year’s Eve promises to start hitting the gym, the danger is that you allow things to slide.
That amidst the hustle and bustle of business life, your expenses policy slowly fades into the background. Over time, it starts to lose its effectiveness - it’s no longer doing what it was created to do.
This is because, as the way we work continues to change, the policy needs to change with it. And worst case scenario is that an outdated policy could leave your company exposed to needless risk in terms of breaching legislative requirements.
It’s for this reason than an effective expenses policy should be considered as something organic; something which is adapted and tightened over time to match the changes to your organisation and the surrounding business environment.
But help is at hand. Webexpenses has created a special guide, using expert advice from the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP), to get your expenses policy back to fighting fitness.
The guide provides advice on the various areas your expenses policy should cover to fulfill the requirements of HMRC and Anti-Bribery guidelines. It also provides advice on how to ensure the policy is properly communicated to your employees.
Webexpenses MD and co-founder, Sanjay Parekh, said: “There are two key factors to taking control of your expenses - an effective management system and a robust policy.
“With webexpenses we provide everything you need to make the management of expenses a simple, efficient and hassle free process. But it also needs to be working alongside a robust and well maintained expenses policy.
“The problem we often see is that companies create a policy but then leave it. This causes problems over time as it starts falling out of sync with changes happening in the business environment - both internally and externally.”
The webexpenses software is designed to integrate with a company’s expenses policy. It allows confirmation messages to be created, reminding employees of policy guidelines, agreements and limits for various categories.
The guide includes a sample expenses policy to give an idea of the way the document can be structured and the areas it covers. It was created using expert advice from CIPP, the official industry body for payroll managers.
The group was formed in 1985 and the organisation now represents more than 5,000 industry payroll professionals in the UK.