Streamlining Expense Claims
Wondered how streamlining expense claims can help your business? By putting in place a process and systems, you can be sure that claims are all legitimate and entered into your accounting software correctly. This will mean your staff are paid back correctly and quickly, and also their expenses are then entered in to your accounting software with the correct codes. This will reflect in your budget and ensure your items to be claimed are correct.
So, what are expense claims?
If you are a business owner with staff members and they spend something for the business from their personal pocket and they want you to reimburse it – that is an expense claim. If you don’t have staff but you are under a company structure where your identity is different from the business and you spend money for business from your personal pocket, this is also an expense claim. For accurate record keeping and to be sure you can claim deductions etc, it is imperative to get expense claims right and have a clear process to follow.
What are the methods of processing an expense claim?
Manual
Everyone’s been using it for a long time, but obviously, it’s not the best method. Automation is a lot more efficient. Mistakes are easily made and it is labour intensive.
Automated
- Inbuilt in your accounting software (Xero)
One is the inbuilt expense claim feature in Xero accounting software. If you’re using Xero and don’t have many claims, this is a solid option. It is easy to use and does the task well.
- (My preferred) Dext
Another option is Dext (Formally Receipt Bank) which is a receipt system. Dext has a really good system where people can enter the expense claims, attach the receipts and it becomes a report that gets entered. It all becomes one bill in your accounting software, making it easy to pay at the end of the month or in your payment cycle. It also helps in keeping track of invoices for reporting purposes.
Whichever you choose, as long as you follow a solid process, then you can be sure things will not be missed. If you have a lot of staff who are making claims, Dext is amazing for reporting so you can be sure the claims are warranted and you aren’t being taken for a ride.
Where can I find out more info?
I welcome any questions on any of these methods, whether it’s Dext expense claims, or even a manual system, feel free to reach out to me at info@sumsubstance.com.au or through out Contact Us page.
If you are wanting to set this up and aren’t sure how, we have an easy to follow webinar which can be found here:
https://www.bookkeeping-training.com.au/offers/CTEZzLL2/checkout
You can also watch a slightly older video of me discussing this here:
