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ET's the Name, Expenses the Game
How much time does your
company spend on expense reimbursements? Time spent recording
claims, performing the administration and approval steps, and
actually processing the reimbursement payments, all comprise
actual additional costs to the business, over and above the
actual expenses themselves.
Expense claims are
usually put together by salespeople, technical and other staff
using either pen and paper, or a spreadsheet. Claims are subject
to some form of approval process, formal or informal, and the
format of the expense submission has a significant impact on
this process, both in terms of the time it takes and on how
meaningful the approval process is.
To illustrate this last
point: in a recent sales meeting, the prospect told our sales
staff that he usually just looks at the total of each employee's
expense claim; if it seems reasonable, it gets approved. He does
not review the details because to do so would involve too much
time, based on the different methods used by different
employees, and the numerous pieces of paper he'd have to look at
in each instance.
Bookkeeping departments
spend large blocks of time trying to determine where the claimed
expenses are to be allocated in the general ledger, sometimes
having to use a best guess. They also waste time re-keying
information into their accounting system that was originally
keyed into, say, Excel by the employee.
ET to
the Rescue
In response to these
concerns, Blue Link offer Expense Tracker. As an optional
component of Blue Link Elite (release 10),
ET (as we affectionately refer to it) automates,
centralizes and simplifies the entire process:
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employees enter
expense claims directly into a simple screen, with
pre-defined categories and (optionally) spending limits
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they can optionally
print a detailed report to which they can attach receipts
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review and approval
is on-line, on screen, providing a friendly, structured and
streamlined way to meaningfully review claims - quickly
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approved claims are
transferred into the accounting system with a single click,
already allocated to the correct general ledger accounts and
set for payment
Users of
ET have benefited from:
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a reduction in
administration time spent of expense claims
-
more accurate
accounting of expenses
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an improved review
process which has identified (and thus eliminated)
inappropriate claims
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a shorter time lag
between submission and reimbursement
-
more timely filing
of expense claims by employees
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my personal
favorite: happier salespeople!
Expense Tracker is also
available to users of some older releases of Blue Link software. For more information,
please contact Ron Cocking at ext. 227.
Tech Corner
Free Scripts = Free Time
Microsoft makes numerous scripts available to
automate various tasks. You may find yourself saving a
significant amount of time, by investing a few minutes and
browsing the available scripts (particularly if you manage
servers and/or multiple workstations). Get started at:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/scriptcenter/scrptfaq.mspx
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