3 Signs It’s Time to Dump Your Outdated Expense Management Software

You’ve been in a long-term relationship with your company’s reimbursement system for years. Collecting receipts, filling out expense reports for every flight booked, pen purchased, and late-night meal ordered to your desk. There’s no passion in the process, but then again, it’s better than having no system at all.

Sharon in accounting used to say “Hi!” and ask how your day was going when she called with a monthly reminder to submit your expense reports. In the last year, though, she’s been sounding progressively exasperated with each monthly call. But every relationship has its lulls, right? 

We know it seems confusing, complicated, and scary to change the system you’ve known and trusted for so long. Yet, you can’t help but wonder if there’s something better out there.

There is. 

This Valentine’s Day, it’s time to reevaluate your relationship with expense reports and receipts. These are our tell-tale signs that it’s time to break up with your reimbursement system.

1. Your approval process is wasting time

Approval processes can be one of the biggest causes of bottlenecks in any workflow, and like any relationship, a little bit of trust can go a long way. We’re not saying every employee should have unlimited access to spending, but they should be able to easily get the tools and subscriptions they need to do their jobs. 

And don’t even get us started on reimbursements — employees typically need to go through the approval process before making a purchase, then again after the receipts have been submitted to accounting. (So, yeah, you’re probably going to be waiting a few weeks to get the money back for the computer charger you needed to replace.)

2. You’re still chasing employees for physical receipts

Save your sanity and the environment by eliminating the need for a fat stack of paper receipts piling up on your desk every single month. And give Sharon in accounting a break from having to call every single employee every month to follow up about her email reminding you to submit your receipts. 

Obviously, you want your accounting department to make sure that the books are balanced every month, but there’s a much simpler and fool-proof way to track transactions and collect receipts. 

Automated expense management saves everyone headaches. By switching to virtual payments that automatically track transactions, employees don’t need to hold on to physical receipts for weeks and remember to submit them at the end of the month. The finance department, meanwhile, doesn’t need to spend the latter half of the month chasing employees to submit their expense reports and corresponding receipts.

3. You’re still collecting expense reports

No one wants to date a cheapskate, but when it comes to business, saving money is simply the smart thing to do. But with traditional corporate credit cards, expense reports, and reimbursement policies, it can take a long time to see what you’re actually spending and make changes to correct the course.

In addition to only seeing what has been spent at month’s end, expense reports take time to complete and process. Even then, there’s a huge risk of human error, causing more time to be wasted making corrections.   

A virtual solution like Mesh can help you save money by providing valuable insights on company spending in real time. You’ll also save time, as the virtual payments and transaction histories eliminate the need for tedious expense reports.

No one wants to get dumped on Valentine’s Day, but in the case of your outdated reimbursement system, it’s been long overdue. Don’t waste time, paper, or money for even one more day.

When you’re ready to jump into a new relationship with a solution that can help your business be its best self, book a demo with Mesh.

• Get the latest blogs from Mesh by subscribing to our newsletter