With the recent issues in Parliament regarding misuse of funds and fraudulent spending on travel and entertainment, many companies are also beginning to look into better ways to have control over expenses. Expense report software has become a rising trend through many industries, including:

• Large corporations
• Small businesses and start-ups
• Non-profit organization
• Municipal institutions
• Public health programs

Beyond this, the application for expense report software can also become viable to other organizations that are looking to reduce spending and improve productivity.

As noted, the major push in this trend has been the concern over internal fraud. As recent news has exposed, questionable expenses have included:

• Personal purchases while on business travel
• Travel and sustenance expenses that are not work based
• Altered receipts for expenses
• Padded receipts
• Superfluous spending that is still technically business based

The biggest issue that has contributed to these fraudulent expenses being approved is a lack of oversight, and the process of reimbursement. In traditional methods for attending to travel expenses, there is a combination of paperwork and spreadsheets, as well as a lag time in completion and approval of these reports.

However, expense report software gives managers the ability to have greater control over spending with real time expense updates, and an ability to quickly approve or deny a claim.

Further, expense report software also encourages employees to follow proper protocols with spending, since even at a distance, the managerial oversight is quite present. This can not only discourage the temptation to skim from the company, but it can also show managers exactly where losses in the budget are coming from.

Although this aspect of expense report software already makes it a strong consideration for many businesses, it is also important to remember that programs can manage company expenses beyond just travel. In this respect, the generation of different filtered reports provides owners and managers with further analytics that can be used to bolster corporate sustainability and growth. This also provides greater control over both the budget and the company.

Finally, an incredibly strong point for expense report software is the fact that it lessens the workload for many employees in the firm. Traveling employees have an easier way of tracking and submitting expenses, while mangers are able to handle the workflow for expenses in an extremely streamlined manner. Other staff in administrative positions can also find that less paper work to process means better efficiency in other important tasks. In this manner, expense report software can certainly help lessen travel expense fraud, but it can also give the business the benefit of a more effective work force.