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Make Smarter Expense Management your Goal for 2017

    The start of the year is a time for self-assessment, when we look at ways to improve ourselves for the year ahead - whether it’s hitting the gym or cutting down on chocolates.

    And this same process goes on within the business world as we look to address any flab that our organisations may be starting to show. A common cause of this is a misfiring expenses setup.

    A poorly performing system can stifle an organisation’s growth; eating up resources, enabling fraud and causing employee frustration and discontent.

    But getting a grip on your expenses is one resolution that’s simple to achieve, pain-free and offers long-term benefits. So here’s a look at how to get your business back into shape for 2017:

    Say goodbye to paperwork

    If your company still relies on the old paper-based methods of managing expenses - it really is time to change. The switch to a digital system provides a faster, more cost effective and vastly more efficient way to work.

    It does this by virtually removing the need for paperwork from the process, replacing slow and cumbersome manual tasks with fast and automated processes. Using a system such as webexpenses, a company will typically reduce processing costs by 25 percent.

    Make the most of mobile

    To maximise the benefits of a digital system, your employees need to be using its associated smartphone app. This allows them to instantly convert any paper receipt they receive into a digital form.

    By doing so, it removes the headache of claimants having to fill out forms and attach bundles of crumpled receipts. It’s simple and fuss free and means that finance teams no longer have to process a monthly surge of paperwork.

    Setting yourself targets and goals

    A digital system provides you with accurate and up-to-date information on every aspect of your employee expenses. With these metrics, you can set quantifiable goals in ways which were not previously possible.

    This could be setting out to reduce costs in a particular department or cutting down processing times by a certain deadline. It’s an effective way to constantly refine and improve the way your expenses management works.

    It pays to be petty

    One area of expenses to keep a close eye on in 2017 is petty cash. While the individual costs of office expenses may seem ‘petty’, the potential losses posed by fraud and user errors, are certainly not.

    A digital system such as webexpenses allows any office petty cash setup to be fully integrated into the overall expenses system - providing the same ability to manage and monitor costs in real-time.

    Give your policy a power-up

    When was the last time you updated your expenses policy? It’s one of those niggly tasks that can often find itself on the back burner.

    So now is the ideal time to take an overview and make sure that it’s still fit for purpose - that it makes sure your company is compliant and providing employees with reasonable levels of reimbursement.

    The advantage of using a digital system is that policy changes can be instantly implemented with alerts and reminders delivered to employees via on-screen notifications.

    So if you’re looking for an achievable goal to set your business in 2017 - smarter expenses management makes for an ideal candidate. By making the most of a digital system, you have all the tools required to improve efficiency, cut costs and reduce stress.

    You can find detailed guides on every aspect of expenses management in the webexpenses resource area, here.