Learn the best ways to manage your expenses | Expense Management (4)

Expense fraud remains a pressing problem for companies globally, especially with the economic downturn brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. With an estimated 13.2% contraction of the economy in the latter half of 2020, the onset of the pandemic has brought about Singapore’s worst economic recession to date.¹ Expense fraud further contributes to significant economic losses for companies that fail to detect it, making it more crucial now than ever to tackle this challenge.

What is a discretionary expense? Expenses, whether for potential audits or to save money. The term discretionary expense indicates a cost that is not essential to the functioning of a business or organization. In a corporate or organizational environment, this kind of expense is associated with improving standing with customers, clients, and/or employees, and is often considered important for long-term profitability. However, it remains a type of spending that is not strictly necessary, meaning that the business could still function even if all discretionary spending stops. A business or organization has the “discretion” or choice when it comes to this kind of expense, for example, meals at restaurants or entertainment costs. It is important to have an efficient system for filing and tracking these and other kinds of expenses.

“For this first time, we have decided at Jenji to launch an Index, which is based on real Data with several million anonymized expenses worldwide, from the Jenji solution”- Head of Marketing, Jenji

Managing expense reports is a major issue for all companies. But how do you put a structured management process in place? What measures allow you to efficiently handle and simplify your expense reports? We have compiled a list of 10 rules for you to follow!

In 2019, home office arrangements applied to around one out of five employees worldwide but COVID-19 has left many companies no choice: in an effort to gain control over a global pandemic, offices around the world shut, forcing employees to work from home.¹ Not just as a crisis response, work performed from home is an increasing trend, yet companies struggle with the transition.

Reclaiming VAT on expense reports is a major issue for companies. Expense report management software is a powerful optimization tool available to companies. The configuration should also be adapted to the company, however, otherwise the technology will not deliver its full potential. Claudia Marie-Huet, VAT manager at Ayming, explains the importance of expense report management software and configuring them to optimise VAT recovery. 

As you may know, there is no particular established method for creating expense claims. The law has no specific conditions, and each company is free to create its own expense reporting template. However, without there being any standard template or dedicated solution, entering expense claims can be a long and tedious process, both for employees gathering and submitting their supporting documents and for accountants collecting and sorting the receipts. 

Expense reporting software is an integral part of the business automation process. With the help of specialist SaaS software and a dedicated app, companies can optimize their expenses and revitalize their management policies.

An expense claim is a document that allows employees to be reimbursed for business expenses incurred while at work. Since this reimbursement system is largely based on trust, it's not uncommon for some employees to abuse it. Unfortunately, expense claim fraud is not an exceptional occurrence – it's estimated to account for 15% of business expenses. VSEs and SMEs, which do not always have an established expense claim management policy, are the most exposed to this risk. 

With companies digitising all around, it is high time to pick a smart and efficient expense management solution. However, there are several criteria to consider before you choose…