Expense management refers to the process through which expenses raised by employees or staff of an organization or a business establishment is processed, paid and audited. There are several costs that are included here such as entertainment and travel expenses. Though every business has rules and policies that employees have to keep when spending but the rules are not always followed by the employees. This coupled with other factors makes the expense management tasking.

Before the invention of software for managing expenses through the internet, the entire process of expense management is done manually and offline too. This was very tasking and posed some auditing problems. However, the introduction of software for expense management online has made the entire process easy and fast. It has also provided extra advantage to the business using it. It makes auditing easy and helps to reduce over/under spending.

Steps in managing expenses online

Just like in manual management of expense, there are some steps that are observed when managing expenses through the internet. Below are the processes of managing expenses online.

• First, your organization should have the online expense management software. The software applications for management expenses are available in a number of types. The ease of use depends on the software that you have.
• Open the online software in your Smartphone, laptop or desktop which should be connected to the internet. The expense form will open. File the expenses claims online and send to the appropriate quarters.
• The next step is the review of the expenses raised by the right offices or managers. You do not need to take your expense paper to the offices or managers that will approve it. They will get it online also. After reviewing the expenses, the managers will either approve the claims online or reject it. If your expenses are approved, it will be forwarded to the account department for payment.
• The account department will now do the payment and keep records of the payment for easy auditing.

Adding the support document

Online software for management of expenses also has features for uploading of any supporting documents. So, if you have any documents and receipts to support your claims and to facilitate the approval, you should upload them online. You can snap the documents if you are raising the expenses using a Smartphone and then upload it. You can also scan the documents and then upload them if you are using your laptop or desktop.

 

The difference between managing expense online and doing it manually

The process of managing expenses online is not quite different from managing it manually. The major difference is that in the latter, the expense is raised on paper. The employee has to send the paper to the managers in person for approval. But this is not the case with online expense management. You do not need to see or visit the managers unless you are invited for clarification.

The process of managing expenses online is time saving, easy and fast. It helps an organization to cut auditing cost and to limit the employees to the spending policies of the business.