What do you do if your corporate accounting team is struggling with expense management?

As we do with other issues, the current situation or expense management process should be reviewed. Mainly, 1.The nature of the expenses and frequency of claims. 2.The process of pre-approval or post-approval of the expenses. 3.The supporting documents required vs. submitted. 4.The proportion of wrong or fraudulent claims. 5.The extent of manual activities in the process. 6.Feedback from the corporate accounting team as well as other departments.

To improve expense management, first I would find the reasons for problems, train staff with any exceptions and documenting the processes, and simplify procedures as much as possible without any comprise on process quality. Secondly, use controls, technology, and communication support and give feedback for progress. These actions will enhance how your corporate accounting team handles expenses.

A system (software) managed process is desirable over manual processing of expense claims. The advantages are, 1-Maintaining records is easier. 2.Past records can be retrieved for reference as and when needed. 3.Submission of claims is convenient and faster. 4.The chances of error are minimized. 5.Maker / Checker / Approver concept can be implemented. 6.Report generation for MIS and review purpose is easier, faster and accurate.

Whether for expense management or any other activity, training is important and helpful in achieving the objectives of the organization. 1.There should be a well-defined documented process for expense management which should be shared with all the stakeholders. 2.The expense management team should have a checklist to ensure compliance with organization policies as well as statutory requirements. 3.There should be periodical review with corporate expense management team and other stakeholders to be up to date with latest developments to revise the process, if required. 4.Management can make use of a feedback system to get views of all concerned.

There has to be communication of what the problem is and Ask the Why questions so you can get feedback of their understanding.

There is always a scope for improvement and same applies to expense management process. 1.There should be a mechanism for periodical review of the process, with the objective to align it in line with the organization and industry needs. 2.The objective should be to simplify the process, with requisite controls in place to prevent mis-use. 3.It's important to take into account the view of different stakeholders. 4.To the extent possible, manual processes should be minimized for better control. 5.Regular reporting and review of expense management would also improve the process.

Some other factors important to consider improving corporate expense management process are, 1.Materiality of the expense being managed i.e. all expenses do not need equal monitoring and control. If the expense as a whole is high, the control should be more and vice-versa. 2.The organization can make use of budgeting to keep a check on the expenses. 3.To simplify the process, the organization can provide fixed allowance based on the nature of expense and industry, to minimize the requirement of supporting documents. 4.Also, past experience and the level of compliance is helpful to decide the level of checking.