Manual, paper expense reports are like using an abacus in a world full of computers. Great expense management systems remove the need for paper expense reports altogether. Instead, employees can claim a reimbursement with a few taps of their mobile device.

Digital expense reports are faster to create, free from errors, and save teams from the hassle of data entry.

Built-in approval workflows also cut down on long email trails. Finance teams can see that a manager has validated each expense, and can proceed to processing the reimbursement right away.

Most importantly, budget managers and finance leaders can see their team's claims in real time. This makes project management easy, and puts the right people in control of the expense management process.

Yes. Expense tracking apps let employees submit a photo of their paper receipt on the spot, before it can get lost or damaged. You can also create disincentives for employees who fail to submit receipts, like blocking access to funds until their claim is complete.

Spendesk users report receiving 98% of employee expense receipts on time. And OCR technology (included in the platform) ensures that every receipt is legitimate.

Policy compliance is difficult for many businesses. Most employees want to do the right thing, but don't actually know the rules.

Spend management software lets you incorporate your customizable expense policy within the platform. The tool then guides employees through the expense management process, so they always submit valid and complete claims.

Employees also know clearly who their budget manager is, and can request information easily.

One of the biggest benefits of expense report management platforms is their impact on expense reconciliation and bookkeeping. Spendesk users save on average 4 days per month thanks to easier bookkeeping.

You'll have 98% of expense receipts submitted on time, automated account reconciliation, and no more maverick payments. All you have to do is validate payments, and export to your accounting software or enterprise resource planning tool.

Corporate credit cards are a useful tool for team members who have access. But in most companies, that's a small number of employees. Expense reports were designed as a workaround for this, but when done manually they still create plenty of headaches.

Credit card reconciliation is also constant challenge for businesses. Most don't know what's been spent on the card until they receive the card statement, once it's too late to do anything.

Expense management platforms make tracking payments easily, remove most of the admin work, and virtually eliminate fraud. And the company knows who's claiming what in real time, even if rather than waiting months for the claims to trickle in.

There are a range of expense tracking tools available, including Expensify, Certify, Rydoo, SAP Concur, Zoho Expense, Emburse, and more.

When choosing an expense management software, it's crucial to consider all the ways your company spends, and how these tools can help. A simple expense tracker can be useful, but it only fixes one process. You'll still have issues with company cards, invoices, budgeting, and accounting.

That's why we recommend a full spend management solution like Spendesk, which creates one simple process to manage all spending.

Any employee expense can be repaid via an expense management software. An employee who pays online using their own credit card or PayPal can be reimbursed through your expense report software.

But Spendesk also offers single-use and recurring virtual cards for online expenses. These prevent employees from having to use their own cards, and provide more visibility and security to companies. This way, the vast majority of spending can be done with secure cards, and expense claims are just for exceptional circumstances.

Businesses of all sizes benefit from better expense management. It helps with everything from corporate travel management, to cash flow, to team budgets.

Small businesses (SMBs) love that it keeps them efficient and lets them move quickly. Larger businesses need more visibility over spending, and to save time processing lots of paper receipts.