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Why Expense Tracking Software is Important in Modern Business Environment?

The traditional way of managing expenses have become obsolete. The risks involved and room for error in manually managing expenses is way too high. From collecting physical receipts to filing and approving them, the loopholes are plenty and the reliability of the process is questionable.

A business expense tracking software aims to simplify expense management and make it a seamless and reliable process.

This tracking software also known as a business expense management software, automates the process of expense management. It does everything from collecting, storing, approving, and facilitating payment of business expenses.

With online reimbursements and action against fraudulent claims, expense management software for small business has become an important automatic verification tool.

Also Read: How to Find the Right Expense Tracking Software for Your Business

Track Expenses Anywhere
Business expense tracking software record every business transaction you make and stores it on cloud. The cloud framework allows for ease of access through multiple channels, like the phone, laptop, iPad, etc. thereby making it exceedingly easy for managers to track business expenses in real time. This allows managers to set up a more accurate verification channel, and track employee-wise spending to match the budget.

Organize Expenses
Filing for business expenses is tough for both the employees and the managers. The sheer volume of receipts can be intimidating. The business expense tracking software allows employees to file in the receipts on their own. The software auto scans each and every receipt uploaded through it, and implements multiple factor verification to approve the receipt.

This can be done by simply taking a picture of the receipt and uploading it to the software application or directly uploading an e-receipt. Expense tracking software gets the information it needs from scanning the receipt; it then creates a cloud-based record for it.

Once created, a business expense can be verified on many counts, and rejected in case of non-compliance. Users can create an approval profile with a detailed policy that every filed expense will be run through.

Overall, the business expense tracking software records and organizes business expenses seamlessly. It allows users to make a note of every expense, and its impact on the overall budget. Users can easily search for any business expense, and they can find the necessary information in seconds, unlike manual filing.

Implement Policies Accurately
No matter what your compliance policy regarding business expenses maybe, a business expense tracking software abides by it. You can customize the software to implement your compliance policy and it does so accurately. This free expense tracking software scans every business expense through the compliance policy you set up, and auto rejects even the slightest incompliance. This expense automatically is flagged, and the manager in-charge is notified.

Verify Expenses without Ambiguity
Unlike manual receipt checking, business expense verification through a business expense tracking software is an extremely reliable and transparent process. Employees get a checkpoint list for verification of their business expenses, including but not limited to sharing receipt. Further, the company compliance is displayed, and every expense is auto scanned on parameters set by the manager. Employees can track the business expense they filed and check for approval instantly, and get an explanation for every rejected expense.

Also Read: 6 Reasons Expense Tracking Software is Important

Save Money
The free expense tracking software records every business transaction made by you. It creates a digital audit trail that will help you when you are filing for taxes. Organizing the business expenses manually empowers business owners to move through the tax season unscathed, and save money through tax benefits received on business expenses. With the expense tracking software, users will have a record of valid expenses and will avoid filing fraudulent ones based on a strict verification process.

The business expense tracking software also cuts the hidden costs incurred for expense reporting whilst seamlessly handing business expenditures.

The use of expense management software for small businesses is on the rise. It not only automates anxiety inducing tasks, but allows a business to grow safely.

5 Features You Need in an Expense Tracking Software

An expense tracking software can instantly streamline the process of filing, approving, and reimbursing business expenses. A recent survey revealed, businesses that uses this tracking software cut processing costs by 53% and improved reimbursement of employee expenses by 71%.

If you are planning to get an expense tracking system for your business, first analyze your existing expense tracking process. For example, if you are collecting a high volume of business expense receipts, you might want to look for a cloud-based expense tracking software that auto scans receipts. This will allow you to automatically collect, record, and store data that is accessible to you from multiple channels.

In a more generic view of things, these are the 5 features that every business must look for in a business expense tracking software:

Automatic Receipt Scanning
One of the more important expense management software features you should look for is auto scanning of receipts. Manual data entry is the most cumbersome part of business expense management, and in fact expense management in general.

The foremost thing you should look to automate through a business expense tracking software is receipt uploading, and scanning. Automated scanning allows employees to upload receipts as soon as the expense is incurred. The software breaks down the receipt to collect relevant information and record it categorically in a cloud based data storage.

Automated scanners capture images as well as e-receipts. This is done by Optical Character Recognition (OCR) that converts the image to a text file and extracts information like name, date, amount, etc.

Also Read: How to Find the Right Expense Tracking Software for Your Business

Categorization of Expenses
An expense tracking system should have the ability to categorize your expenses. As soon as a business expense receipt is scanned, it should sort it under the relevant category, automatically.

For example, if the business expense is an accommodation, then as soon as an employee scans the receipt from the lodging facility, it should automatically upload into the “Accommodation” category. This is done by recognizing past entries, or users can add certain brands or receipt types for a category.

Sophisticated Verification Process
A key aspect of business expense tracking lies in verification of the expenses, a task most managers struggle with. Every receipt needs to be manually checked for a few parameters. Subsequently, a receipt either qualifies as a reimbursable business expense or flagged off as otherwise.

An expense tracking software should entirely automate this process without compromising the integrity. Look for a software that automatically approves genuine business expense receipts, and flags anything that does not comply with the company policy. This is an absolute must-have feature.

Report Creation
Business expenses are never sent for reimbursement individually to the bank or accounting department. They are compiled into an expense report and then approved by the concerned entity. Making expense reports by doing a manual data entry of business expense receipts can be tedious. An expense tracking software is required to automate this process as well. Expense reports should be generated post the auto scanning, and categorization of physical receipts. An expense report should contain expense from a range of dates and appropriately categorized. Further, the software should send this report to the concerned department or employee automatically, from time to time.

Also Read: Software for Tracking Income & Expenses for a Personal Business – The top 7

Analytics and Suggestions
Through the course of its functioning, business expense tracking software will collect a huge volume of data. This data can provide you with important analytics, and show you scopes of improvement. That is exactly what a good expense tracking software should automatically do. An expense tracking system should enable you with analytic reports that highlight important facts like top violators, department-wise expenditure graphs, and other customized analytics reports.

Business expense tracking is a great way to save your precious time and money. So, choose an expense tracking system that is in tandem with all the must-have features mentioned here.

Here is How the Time Tracking Software Can Help Your Business Grow

Time. Only the most important thing in the world!

Businesses have long stood by the mantra, “time is money”. But, time is life. The better you manage your time, the more productive you can be.

Although, the million dollar question is – how can you measure that productivity? The answer to this is a productivity tracking software that supervises and records your productivity at the workplace. Since productivity is directly proportional to effective time management, this software is the perfect solution.

A time tracking software, to that effect, is the same as a productivity tracking software. Unlike a stop watch, it tracks your productivity as you go about performing your tasks. It is also not a manager’s whip that will sound an alarm when you seem to appear inactive for ten minutes. The software will help you do your best and be effective, at your own pace.

Here are a few ways how the software can help your business grow effectively:

Make Accurate Estimates
Once you start using a time tracking software, you will know exactly how much time was spent on a project. Both collectively and time spent on each task. This information will help you understand how your team functions and complete upcoming projects. This will help you draw accurate estimates, and keep your clients happy.

Also Read: Why Your Small Business Needs Time Tracking Software

Improve Work Operations
A productivity tracking software is always on, whether you are working or not. You can fill in your working hours but it will keep running. That means it will have collected data after every finished project. This data can give you important productivity boosting insights. You can then effectively use a time tracking software to better your operations in real time.

Complete Projects on Time
The thing about time tracking is that you become more aware of what you spend your time on. If you are filling out time sheets every day, religiously, you might just open a window into your own working style and push yourself to do better. The compiled data you collect will help you become more efficient. It is a subtle push productivity time tracking provides professionals.

Analyze and Earn More
A productivity tracking software will enable you with reports and analytics on your data. These metrics can be customized to your needs and will help you decide a better approach to work. Overall, you will have enough information about your working operations to create a wholesome, more productive environment, customized for you as well as your employees. This productivity-conducive environment will enable you to take on more tasks per day with confidence and eventually more projects, every year.

Checks and Balances
The most common and important use of a time tracking software is for managers to supervise their employees. The time sheets filled by employees may have errors. As a manager, it is necessary to keep a check on employees to ensure that their productivity is not affected. It is not an easy task, and especially with people working remotely. In times like these, the time tracking software is a great tool to help record the time spent by your employees.

Also Read: 3 Steps for Tracking Your Business Monthly Expenses

Keeps the Ball Rolling
After you assign a job, it can be a little difficult to keep track of a project as a whole. With a time tracking software, you can always access the progress of the project. Every task is recorded in the tracking software to make up the entire project. You can then check the status or assess the progress of projects though its multi-channel access, anytime, anywhere.

Time management need not be a mystery anymore. The time tracking software can track your productivity to help you manage your time better. This will only make you and your employees more efficient and thereby improve workplace productivity.