How much time can automation save your auditing processes?

Expense automation can significantly reduce the stress of auditing expense claims, which can often be a huge drain on time and resources for businesses, according to Concur.

The company says the traditional process of auditing expense claims often gets shifted to a single person who ends up being overwhelmed by the process of collecting receipts and expenses, and comparing one to the other manually.

"In most cases, there is not a lot of time to audit expenses and doing it manually is time consuming," explains Matt Goss, managing director, ANZ, Concur.

"This results in auditing processes that are often rushed, and don't adequately scrutinise claims," he says.

"In worst-case scenarios, 60 to 80% of claims are simply rubber-stamped without anyone carefully reviewing them to pick up mistakes or exceptions," says Goss. "This can mean companies might be spending more than they need to on travel and expenses.

An automated expense solution can address the top four pains of manual expense review processes:

1. Time pressure

The amount of time spent to double-check expense claims can weigh heavily on the mind of the individual or the manager overseeing the process. Even if those further up the management chain can delegate the task, it remains a drain on the organisation's valuable time resources. Automated systems remove the burden from individuals and provide accurate claims.

2. Confrontation

The auditor has to deliver the bad news to colleagues that their problematic claims will be rejected. An automated expense claim review system covers this task, negating the need for awkward confrontations.

3. Unclear policy

It doesn't take much for a policy to be unclear or hard to follow. It could be badly written, hard to access, or simply incomplete. Whatever the reason, if it is difficult to interpret, it can cut across all levels of expense claims. The same errors can appear repeatedly, costing time and money, if the policy is not clear. Automated systems make policies clear and ensure they are universally applied.

4. Scalability

It is difficult to grow the business if there are systems or processes that are not scalable. Once expense processes are streamlined via automation or through more efficient systems, the organisation has the flexibility to scale swiftly.