Even if you’ve set up comprehensive guidelines for how employees book business trips, expenses can still add up ?? (and someone in your company is probably doubting if that parking fee or hotel spa visit qualifies as a business expense ??)
So how do you make sure everyone is on the same page, when it comes to travel expenses? Giving employees a clear structure will make sure there is no ambiguity around the topic, and that you can control your travel budget. It will also help you gain more visibility when you’re doing your financial planning, because you’ll have more information to allocate the right budget towards your business travel.
- Communicate the expense guidelines clearly; Explain why it’s important to have employee cooperation around the travel expense policy - that it makes it fair for everyone, but also helps the business better monitor how much it is spending on travel. Emphasize that expenses out of policy will not be reimbursed.
- Set up a clear structure for reimbursement; Depending on whether you’ve issued company credit cards, or employees need to charge expenses directly to their personal cards, set explicit guidelines for how they should expense and how they will be reimbursed. Getting employees to label their expenses correctly will also help save you a lot of time sorting through and allocating the expense to different budgets.
- Be explicit about the sign-off process; Typically an employee would need to provide proof (usually a receipt) of the business expense, which is then submitted to their manager. The manager checks and then approves the expense.The finance team is then responsible for the final sign off. There are a number of great software solutions on the market that can take the strain out of this process, such as Expensify, Brex and Center.?
- Provide a point of contact for any questions or feedback; It’s better for the employee to check whether something is in scope before they make the purchase, to avoid any awkwardness in the reclaiming process. Having a readily available contact, such as the travel or office manager, can help with this.
Read on to discover what qualifies as a business expense, best practices for reimbursement and how to successfully roll out an expense policy that's easy for employees to follow.
