3 Reasons Why Your Employees Aren’t Filing Your Expenses on Time

If you are like most HR and accounting leaders, you understand the importance of timely expense reporting. After all, the sooner employees submit reports, the less likely both HR and  accounting staff will need to work overtime at month end. 
But what happens when your employees don’t share your sense of urgency? 
According to a GBTA Foundation study, the average expense claim takes 20 minutes to file, including filing approval and review. Additionally, 19% of claims are filed incorrectly, and it can take an average of 18 minutes to fix those errors. In the Philippines this process takes even longer because of the number of expense fields that are needed for compliance. 
This causes significant delays in the reimbursement process. 
If you’ve been struggling to get your employees to file their expenses on time, here are a few possible reasons why—and what you can do about it.
Why do employees put off submitting their expenses?

REASON 1: LACK OF CLEAR EXPENSE POLICY

One of the most common reasons why employees don’t file their expenses on time is because they’re unclear about the company’s expense policy. If your employees don’t know what expenses are eligible for reimbursement or how to submit their expense reports, it’s no wonder they’re falling behind. 
The solution? Make sure your expense policy is clear and easy to understand. Include step-by-step instructions on how to submit an expense report and what receipts and documentation you need to include. Creating a detailed and comprehensive expense policy is essential for any business. The policy should answer the 5 W’s: Who can file? What can they file for? When must reports be submitted? Where can they get help or ask questions? And finally, Why does the policy exist? 
This will ensure that employees are aware of what expenses are covered and how to properly file for reimbursement. By having a clear and concise expense policy, businesses can avoid misunderstandings and employee frustration. Additionally, a well-defined expense policy can help to prevent fraud and misuse of company funds. Ultimately, taking the time to create a thorough expense policy will pay off in the long run by saving the business time and money.
Fortunately, we’ve put together an expense policy that you can use as a starting point. Download it here: https://bit.ly/3FcBQ0m

REASON 2: MANUAL EXPENSE REPORTING PROCESS

Another common reason why employees don’t file their expenses on time is that the reporting process is manual and cumbersome. If your employees have to fill out paper expense reports or enter their expenses into a spreadsheet, it’s no wonder they put it off until the last minute—or worse, don’t bother doing it at all. 
This is where an automated expense reporting system can help. With an automated system, employees can simply take a photo of their receipts and upload them—no more filling out paper forms or manually entering data into spreadsheets. Not only will this save your employees time, but it will also help reduce errors and ensure all relevant information is captured.

REASON 3: LOST RECEIPTS

Last but not least, another common reason why employees don’t file their expenses on time is that they lose their receipts—which can often happen when receipts are scattered across different pockets, bags, and desks. Not only does this make it difficult for employees to keep track of their expenses, but it also makes it nearly impossible for you to verify them. 
An easy way to solve this problem is by implementing an electronic receipt management system. With this type of system, employees can take photos of their receipts and store them electronically—so they never have to worry about misplacing them again. And because all the receipts are stored in one place, it will be much easier for you to verify them when needed. 
Encouraging employees to capture the receipt as soon as they spend on an item or service is also important, so faded images do not become an issue.

4. It exhausts employees and turns off potential hires.

Manual accounting systems are not only obsolete but also extremely taxing for personnel. Having to manually encode transactions constantly is a time-consuming and error-prone operation that may rapidly lead to burnout.
Furthermore, potential new hires may be put off by the prospect of working with a complicated and out-of-date system. 
Finally, accountants who want to rethink, reinvent, and use cutting-edge technology may be drawn away if they are bogged down by manual transactions.

Importance of a Simple Expense Process

When it comes to employee expenses, fast reimbursement is key to maintaining a happy and productive workforce. Not only does timely reimbursement show that you value your employees’ time and effort, but it also helps to keep them focused on their work rather than worrying about when they’ll be repaid. 
Of course, processing expense claims can be a time-consuming task for any business. Fortunately technology-enabled solutions that cannow  automate the process and make it much faster and more efficient. With fast payout, employees can submit their claims electronically from wherever they are, giving them the peace of mind they need to stay focused on their job. In today’s business world, fast reimbursement is no longer a luxury – it’s a necessity.

Eliminate Tedious, Manual Processes with Olivia

At Olivia, we understand that slow expense reimbursement can be a problem for businesses. Our technology enables employees to easily submit expenses and expense reports from wherever they are, reducing the problems caused by lost receipts and late expense reporting. Our language and image processing technology captures and transforms information trapped in paper into actionable intelligence, reducing the need for manual encoding of receipts and invoices. This frees up your employees’ time to do meaningful work. Contact us today to learn more.

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