Finding The Right Expense Management Solution For Your Company financial articles
March 29, 2024 Financial Portal Free Newsletter Bookmark Financial Portal Advertise Here Submit Your Article Other Financial Articles

Main Menu

Financial Polls
Financial Quotations
Financial Articles (Index)
Financial Articles (Categories)
Bank Directory
Gold Price Change
Silver Price Change
Platinum Price Change
Palladium Price Change
Rhodium Price Change
Copper Price Change
Nickel Price Change
Specialty Metals
Other Metals
Currency Rate Charts
Taxe Rates Worldwide
BTC USD
EUR USD
EUR GBP
EUR CHF
EUR JPY
EUR CAD
EUR AUD
USD EUR
USD GBP
USD CHF
USD JPY
USD CAD
USD AUD
EUR vs. Other Currencies
USD vs. Other Currencies
GBP vs. Other Currencies
AUD vs. Other Currencies
NZD vs. Other Currencies
DOWJONES Index
NASDAQ Index
NYSE Index
NIKKEI Index
FTSE 100 Index
TSX Index
CAC 40 Index
DAX Index
HUI Index
XAU Index
AEX Index
Index Reports
Housing Price Index
Oil Price Charts
Gas Price Charts
Commodity Charts
Meat & Livestock Charts
Softs & Tropicals Charts
Grains Charts
Mortgage Rate Reports
US Interest Rate
World Interest Rate
Inter. Stock Exchanges
NY Stock Exchange
AMEX
Philadelphia Stock Exch.
London Stock Exchange
Euronext Lisbon
Korea Stock Exchange
Deutsche Borse Group
Hong Kong Stock Exch.
Toronto Stock Exch.
Debt Collection Agencies
Insurance Companies in Ireland
Insurance Companies in UK
Insurance Companies in USA
Consulting Companies
Plastics Charts
Trade Organizations
Advertise For Free!
Scam Letters
Other Business Resources


Finding The Right Expense Management Solution For Your Company

By Peter Granger,
CEO of Inlogik Pty Ltd.

peter[at]articlepr.com
www.InLogik.com

Advertisements:



In recent times, initiatives such as the Sarbannes Oxley Act in the US have dramatically raised the profile of compliance within the corporate world. As a key element of any corporate compliance policy, expense management has shared some of the limelight. As a result, an Expense Management Solution (EMS) is now critical to any business concerned with corporate compliance. But what is an Expense Management Solution (EMS)? Does your company need one? And where do you find a good one? Just as importantly, how do you successfully implement and integrate an Expense Management Solution (EMS) into your corporate environment. This article sheds some light on these issues.

What is an Expense Management Solution (EMS)?

The term “expense management solution” has been used to describe quite different commercial products and services. In the context of this article, an expense management solution is defined as a technology based system that processes:

(i) transaction records received from a credit card issuer (detailing employee use of corporate credit cards0; and

(ii) cash reimbursement claims originated by an employee.

In practice the target application is Travel and Entertainment expenditure. A robust Expense Management Solution (EMS) will also support procurement (pCard) activities as part of a broader strategy of effectively managing lower value, high volume business-to-business transactions.

The three core steps of any expense management process are:

1. the acceptance/input of validated source data;
2. the application of predetermined rules of handling expense records; and
3. the posting of transactions to a corporate repository such as an ERP system.

What is the purpose of an Expense Management Solution (EMS)?

The objectives of an expense management solution implementation should include the following:

1. to automate the preparation, submission, approval, and auditing of travel & entertainment claims, thus improving the productivity of account holders and reducing the time and cost of accounts staff;

2. to support the implementation of a standardized best practice method of managing high volume expenses through the use of corporate credit cards; and

3. to increase the transparency and enhance the governance of financial transactions conducted on behalf of the enterprise.

Sources of Expense Management Solutions

Australian and international organizations now have access to a range of quality expense management solutions which are well suited to driving down administration cost whilst meeting corporate compliance requirements. There are essentially three sources of “expense management solutions”:

1. ERP systems;
2. systems offered by card issuers; and
3. best-of-breed solutions.

Each will have their own merits and will suit organizations in different circumstances.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems

ERP sourced expense management has the attraction of being fully integrated within the financial suite of software, therefore offering a standard look and feel to all users of the ERP. With ERP sourced expense management functionality, the ERP supplies the core software, and the enterprise needs to customize and configure the system to reflect its own structures and rules regarding the management of staff expenses. If you're considering the option of using their ERP for expense management, you need to be conscious of a number of factors, including:

• the actual functionality available within their specific installed ERP system;
• the backlog of work on the ERP system accumulated for the IT department; and
• the deployment time and the cost of the project (which will usually be substantial).
License costs can be an issue if an enterprise if your company has not paid a license fee that will cover all card account holders and cash claimants.

Card Issuer Systems

Some card issuers promote “expense management” solutions which can range from a computer generated report through to an online system with some embedded workflow concepts. The attraction of card issuer expense management solutions is that they are offered as part of a card deal, sometimes (apparently) for free. If you're considering a card issuer expense management solution, you need to know:

• will you be 'locked in' to the card issuer?; and
• will you be able to configure the expense management solution to adequately reflect internal requirements?

Best-of-Breed Solutions

Best-of-breed expense management solutions from specialist providers can be relatively seamlessly interfaced to an organization's internal systems such as HR and ERP, but will not present a common look and feel to the ERP system. You would usually choose a best-of-breed expense management solution if you want:

1. your company to be independent of a particular card issuer;
2. to achieve a fast implementation; and/or
3. to configure the solution to its own unique rules and policies of expense administration.

Best-of-breed expense management solutions are typically deployed as either an ASP (Application Service Provider) or self hosted solution. Although exceptions are common, small to medium enterprises tend to appreciate the lower up-front cost of an ASP expense management solution, and larger enterprises are attracted to the control available through a self-hosted expense management solution. ASP expense management solutions are typically paid for on a per statement per month basis, and self-hosted expense management solutions have a range of options available from up-front license fees to monthly license rentals.

Overcoming the Cultural Resistance to Expense Management Solutions

Some Finance Directors still have an aversion to corporate credit cards. It's not uncommon to hear a finance director say “if I give everyone a card, they'll spend us broke!”

However, the benefits of an Expense Management Solution are apparent as soon as the Finance Director considers the difficulties of controlling the expenditure behavior of thousands of employees using a manual system of reimbursements which is largely based around a set of uncoordinated spreadsheets. Basic activities such as enforcing travel policies, calculating tax implications, reconciling, posting to a chart of accounts at a detailed level and auditing, are so difficult as to be more honored in the breach than the observance...

Viewed from a different perspective, a company with revenues of $700m $50m in EBITDA, and $20m in annual employee business expenses, can make a dramatic impact on its bottom line using an expense management solution without increasing revenue. If automation reduces these expenses by only five per cent in the first year, the savings alone have the same impact on the bottom line as $14m in new revenue. It isn’t surprising that the return on investment of an expense management project is often achieved within its first 12 months of operation.

Expense Management Solutions also play a vital role in Fraud Control. “Fraud” in this context takes many guises, not all of which are the sort that land perpetrators in court. Information taken from our own customer experience and from publications of the USA Association of Certified Fraud Examiners identify the top four categories of fraud:

1. Mischaracterized expenses
2. Overstated (exaggerated) payments
3. Fictitious expenses
4. Multiple reimbursements

Research in the USA has pointed to as much as 1% of company revenues being lost to employee expense mismanagement. Expense Management Systems will not, in their own right, eliminate this but they are a vital tool in creating an environment that drives down the level of mismanagement.

Conclusion

Over the past 18 months, our company has observed a change in motivation for expense management projects. Whereas formerly expense management solutions were an exercise solely in the reduction of administration costs, now governance is equally a driver to implement technology based controls around high volume expenditure. The Sarbannes Oxley (SOX) act in the USA has captured the attention of any enterprise active in the USA. However, inside or outside the USA, the senior executives must warrant that their company has implemented adequate financial controls that prevent fraud and give a true and correct record of the enterprise’s financial activities. As a result, the Corporate Travel Manager who pitches a proposal on expense management to the senior executive team currently finds a willing audience.

About the Author: * Peter Granger is the CEO of Inlogik Pty Ltd. Inlogik owns and distributes ProMaster, an Expense Management Solution used by major corporations in 40 countries. See www.InLogik.com.

Source: www.isnare.com



Published - December 2005











Free Newsletter

Subscribe to our free newsletter to receive news and updates from us:

 

Polls at Financial-Portal.com :

Poll #039
Will USA announce default on its debt?

Poll #036
Is there a secret world government?

Poll #034
Do you know that money is a good servant but a bad master?

Poll #033
Is Forex similar to gambling?

Poll #032
What is your occupation?

Poll #031
Do you ever spend money for things you can do without?

Poll #030
Do you know that it is extremely hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God?

Poll #029
Why do you want to earn more money?

Poll #028
Are you determined and working hard to get out of debt?

Poll #026
What is your net yearly income (after taxes), USD?

Poll #024
What percentage of your income goes for paying your debts off?

Poll #023
What percentage of your income do you save?

Poll #021
What is the first step one should make to get out of debt?

Poll #018
Have you noticed that the more you give, the more you get?

Poll #017
What part of your income do you donate to charities?

Poll #016
What part of your income do you donate to Church?

Poll #015
What is the most important thing in getting out of debt?

Poll #014
What country has the healthiest (the most stable, reliable, and promising) economy?

Poll #013
Do you think credit cards are useful or harmful for people (not for bank owners)?

Poll #010
What currency is the strongest - in the long run (for the next 10-30 years)?

Poll #009
Do you have any savings?

Poll #008
Do you have any debts?

Poll #007
What is your religion?

Poll #005
What country are you from?

Poll #004
Do you think cash will eventually be removed from circulation?

Poll #003
What investment brings the highest profits with lowest risk?

Poll #002
What is the most reliable way to save money?

Christianity

Copyright 2004-2024 © by Financial-Portal.com
Legal Disclaimer