How Expense Tracking Software Can Save Your Business Money

You may think your low-tech expense tracking system is free, but in reality, it may be costing your business a lot of money in errors, fraud, and limited financial data. And even though expense tracking software may come with a price tag, it can save you money in the long run. Here’s how.

Expense Tracking Software Reduces Errors

You probably don’t think about administrative errors in terms of revenue loss, but there’s a real price tag attached. It costs, on average, $52 to correct an expense report – and one in five expense reports contains an error. If the expense report contained reimbursable monies, the cost to correct it climbs even higher as additional time and money are needed to recover funds released in error.

Expense tracking errors aren’t necessarily the result of carelessness or irresponsibility. Instead, they are commonly the result of paper-and-pencil methods or sub-par business systems. Consider the following common scenarios:

• Staff misread an employee’s handwritten number on their expense report.
• Someone miskeys an entry when entering dollar amounts into multiple financial systems.
• A sales manager finds a receipt they forgot to include in their end-of-month submission.

Expense tracking software helps eliminate these common errors. Mobile-friendly platforms allow employees to enter expenses right after they’re incurred and even upload a photo of their receipt. Digital entries eliminate the need to decipher messy handwriting. Integration with other financial systems removes the necessity of duplicate manual entries. If you want to reduce frustration with your expense tracking process, don’t try to tweak your existing cumbersome process. Switch to an expense tracking software instead.

Expense Tracking Software Reduces Fraud

Nobody likes to believe that their trusted employees could commit fraud or steal from the company, but statistics indicate otherwise. A whopping two-thirds of small businesses have been victims of fraud, with the most common being embezzlement schemes. Employees may alter documents or electronic files and fraud is rarely a one-time incident. The average fraud scheme goes undetected for 14 months and can result in the loss of thousands of dollars. 

Expense tracking software reduces your fraud liability with built-in safeguards. Established approval workflows mean false documents can’t slip through the process and post-approval tracking records any changes for transparency. If an employee is trying to falsify an expense report, you’ll have a record of it with expense tracking software.

Expense Tracking Software Improves Business Decisions

You can’t make wise business decisions if you don’t have a full financial picture. When you use expense tracking software, built-in reports can give you up-to-the-minute data to keep better tabs on project costs or other line items. Filter expenses by project, client, task, or report, to give you information to control costs and assess overall profitability. Expense tracking software gives you the information you need to make data-informed decisions and keep your company financially healthy.

Expense Tracking Software Made Easy

Are you intimidated by the prospect of expense tracking software? MindSalt Time & Expense makes it easy! Their online platform means there are NO hefty set-up fees and nothing to download, install, or configure. All you need is a web browser and internet connection. MindSalt integrates with major accounting and payroll systems, and customized approval workflows mean you can design it to fit your business processes – not the other way around. Ready to get started? Try it free for 30 days. No credit card required!