In a study conducted on companies to examine their travel and entertainment expense processes, it was discovered that many companies shared two big concerns over how their reports were conducted. While the #1 concern was employees simply losing receipts and being unable to account for all expenses, an equally prevalent concern was lateness. Simply put, many employees have a tendency to file their expense reports after an expected deadline.

Secondary Concerns

There’s a perfectly understandable reason for why this occurs. Usually the point of a business trip is for employees to achieve a specific task or goal within a very brief period of time. That means that a business trip, far from being a leisurely activity for relaxation and enjoyment, is a stressful affair where the clock is always ticking.

Over the course of the trip, work has to be done in an unfamiliar environment, often under a tight deadline, and while all this is occurring, receipts have to be collected so that an expense report can be accurately filled.
Upon return home, all that office work that was put to the side for the sake of the business trip still needs to be addressed because it’s still important. If an employee is being diligent about ensuring a business trip was a success, while at the same time tackling the pile of work that was accumulating during his or her absence, it’s no wonder that taking the time out to slowly, accurately fill out an expense report is going to fall by the wayside when the professional obligation to do what a salary is being paid for reigns supreme.

With automated expense report software, late expense reports can be dramatically—if not completely—reduced. The reason for this is because an expense report can be filled as each expense occurs, and only takes a few moments at a time this way. Rather than having to save every receipt and fill out a form all at once upon return, an automated form available on as an app on a phone or tablet allows employees to use up just seconds—rather than hours—to quickly make an expense report and take a picture of the receipt as proof. If a corporate credit card is used, employees don’t even have to take the time to fill out a report, the automated expense report software can simply log the transaction on their behalf.

This saves enormous amounts of time for the employee and also means they don’t have to dread filing a report once they get home. Once the trip is over, so is any need for additional reports if they’ve been taking a few seconds at a time during the trip to keep up to date.