Business travel is often the second-largest operating cost for businesses and one of the most complex to manage. The administration associated with travel and expenses needs to be simple, fast, and easily managed, making people’s lives easier. Business travel is not simply a cost of operating; it is a strategic investment for growth.

Every organization has specific needs when it comes to managing employee expenses. It should be a simple and quick process so that employees can focus on more important things. There are ways to help make the process as streamlined as possible. The following are some important tips to simplify expense reporting in your organization.

1. Have a clear-cut and current expense policy
   

   Your procurement team (or whomever handles expenses) should have an up-to-date post-COVID policy. If they don’t have one or it’s not up-to-date, we recommend that you create one while keeping in mind the procedures that may have changed in response to COVID-related concerns. Once it’s created, make sure it is accessible to employees on your intranet, sent via email and/or they are provided with hard copies.Your procurement team should revisit the expense reporting policy at least once a year to make sure it is current. The team should be committed to making sure that the expense reporting process evolves over time.The company expense reporting policy should be clear and the team should be available to answer any questions on it. It should cover topics such as spending limits for different expenses, how to monitor expenses, how to upload expenses, etc.

2. Make the process easier with automated tools
   

   There are countless tools available for monitoring expenses. For example, the Amex GBT Mobile app has a tool available for Neo™ clients, with expense functionality, where they can upload their receipts so that their organization can monitor their expenses and provide reimbursement per their company policy. There are many other applications out there that making monitoring expenses a breeze. If your team doesn’t already use one, it is highly recommended they start researching options to do so. It is essential to find a tool that will provide a better user experience so that employees are more likely to follow your policy.

3. Make expenses easy to monitor
   

   Encourage your team members to scan and upload their receipts at the time of purchase. This minimizes the chance that they lose or cannot categorize a receipt. Automated tools can help make everything easier because a lot of them pull the information from the receipts when scanned. Employees may also receive their receipts via email and can take a screenshot of the receipt and upload it to their expense monitoring application.