One of the big benefits of using expense report software is saving time. You save the time of valuable employees that shouldn’t be filling out forms and collecting receipts. You also save the time of your finance department, since they can quickly check expense reports online, and no longer need to chase employees, or process a lot of paper.

But good software doesn’t just save you time, it can also save you money. And it can do this in a few ways.

Better Financial Data

Everyone loves to run a more efficient operation, but the only way to effectively do this is by looking at accurate data, and making your decisions based on that information. Travel expenses are one of those areas that have traditionally been difficult to properly assess because of inaccuracies in expense reports, and poor organization of what data was there.

With new expense report software, analytics is actually much easier because not only can you see exactly how much money is being spent, you can see who spends it, and you can see how and when it is being spent. You can even categorize these expenses, so it is suddenly very easy to see that it is meals, for example, that are garnering higher than average expenses, and now you can do something about it.

Less Paper

Traditional forms of expense reporting meant collecting receipts, filling out forms, stapling receipts, photocopying forms, compiling reports, sending them out, having additional forms used to process the initial forms, and then archiving these forms away in corporate files. All of these office activities don’t just take up time, they cost money.

Expense report software does away with much of this intermediary process, meaning you save money on the tools, equipment and stationery required as well. In fact, according to research by the Aberdeen group, processing the average, traditional expense report can cost a company just a little over $20. However, with smart reorganization and good expense report software, that cost can drop as low as $7.60. That’s over a 62% saving in money, not to mention the time!