Managing employee expenses can be a huge issue for most businesses. Business expense reimbursements are an area in which businesses may suffer losses from waste and abuse. These reimbursement systems exist because employees sometimes have to make purchases for the business so that it can continue its operations. There are several tools that business owners can use to manage, track and control the reimbursable expenses of their employees.
Why is expense reimbursement important?
Employees need to be able to make purchases for their companies sometimes. Many companies handle Business expense reimbursement by having the employees complete paper reimbursement forms, attach receipts and submit them to the accounting department for approval. This process can take time, and employees may not receive the money that they spent for a lengthy period of time. Businesses should try to implement a more streamlined process to reimburse expenses. Employees may feel resentment if they are not paid back for their reimbursable expenses quickly by their companies and refuse to go on business trips or to purchase things that are needed by the business in the future.
Instead of using antiquated reimbursement methods such as paper forms and manual data entry on spreadsheets, some companies have moved to use electronic reimbursement systems. These systems may help to automate and speed up the process, but there are still issues that remain with handling reimbursable expenses such as fraud.
Can business expense reimbursement tools help prevent fraud?
Unfortunately, some employees commit reimbursement fraud. They might claim a personal expense as a business expense, inflate their claimed expenses, double bill expenses or submit false claims for reimbursements. Good business expense reimbursement tools can help to prevent fraud in your company. Businesses can start by having a clear reimbursement and expense policy in place so that their employees understand the types of expenditures that are reimbursable and the company’s policy for expenses. Businesses may be able to end their reimbursement systems completely by choosing to give their employees who need to make purchases business debit cards that they can use.
How does it make accounting and other departments work better?
Business prepaid cards can make the accounting and other departments within your company work more safely and efficiently. When your employees use their cards, the data can transfer directly to your account and help you to avoid the problems of dealing with paper receipts and business expense reimbursement forms.
You are able to determine the amount of money to place on each card and can set restrictions on the amounts that can be spent and the types of purchases that each employee can make. For example, you can limit an employee who will be traveling to buying gasoline at the pump only during business hours. You can make the employee’s card only work during the workweek and turn it off during his or her off-hours. If one of your employees tries to buy something that is unauthorized, the purchase will be instantly declined. With an expense app like Bento’s, you are able to see how your business’s money is being spent by all of employees in real time. With the convenience of the personal dashboard, you can turn cards off or reload any card by clicking a button on your cell phone with the Bento mobile app.
Bento for Business’s solutions for business expense reimbursement issues
The business debit cards at Bento for Business may help your business to end the problems that are associated with expense reimbursements. The cards do not require credit approval, and the process is fast. There is a 60-day free trial so that you can see how the cards work for your business before deciding. Funds held within Bento are FDIC insured to at least $250,000 through The Bancorp Bank; Member FDIC. To learn more about using business debit cards to end the headache of reimbursements at your business, call us today at 866.220.8455 or signup for our free 60 day trial.
