Current trends in the corporate world are seeing a shift in the approach to overall management. Top down hierarchies are not the only way to manage staff and business growth, and other approaches are beginning to lead the path in general operations. Part of this shift includes:

• Reduction of direct micro-managing
• Stronger organizational cultures
• The use of steering committees and horizontal hierarchies
• Staff empowerment for greater productivity

Employee expense reporting software has a large role in aiding companies that are moving in this different direction of leadership, with results that have also helped to set up protocols for expense policies and controls.

Differences In Management Styles

For many years, the traditional top down hierarchies in companies has set a precedent for staff expectations, both for and from the company. However, the stricture of some of these protocols also has a contrary psychological effect for certain personalities. Staff members who are independent, capable, and even creative by nature often feel hemmed in by these strictures, and the result is internal sabotage, malicious or otherwise.

In truth, a large amount of improper spending is as a result of ignorance versus ill intent, although adjunct factors also contribute.

• Feelings of being owed by the company
• Lack of company loyalty due to a sense of distrust
• Lack of job satisfaction
• Frustration over micro-managing trends

However, employee expense reporting software provides a constructive solution to managers and staff.

Moving Towards Empowerment

Of course, with employee expense reporting software, financial managers and accounting teams will still be responsible for ultimately approving charges, but this resource provides more than just oversight. As a way of addressing the combination of variables, from lack of employee education to intentional acts of psychologically lashing out, employee expense reporting software gives tools to everyone involved with the transactions.

For employees who are keeping track of this spending in order to be reimbursed, employee expense reporting software provides a real time link with the accounting department. As a result:

• Employees can see cost approval at once
• Keeping track of receipts and bills is automated through mobile capture
• Immediate resources for verifying expense policies and controls, for staff and managers
• Employees gain a sense of independence, without the sacrifice management input

In this manner, some of the mental factors that can lead to improper spending are addressed, while further giving employees the sense that their actions are best practices that are ultimately trusted on a larger level.

Another important point about expense reporting software is that it does have teaching value within a business. This is especially true if staff understanding of expense policies and controls is somewhat vague. However, the automated program for expenses is essentially a set of built in guidelines, and this can become a teaching point that is also reinforced each time the employee expense reporting software is used. In this manner, the benefits become not only for the company, but also for the staff that is now empowered with greater trust, for greater internally motivated productivity.