It’s important to take all the steps necessary to keep your company moving forward and to give it the upper hand. If your business relies on employees who travel regularly, you already know that getting assistance with managing employee expenses is one thing well worth taking a look at. Using an online expense report system could help, and it’s in your best interests to consider adding one to your current setup if you haven’t already – or to review the one you’re already using to ensure it offers everything you deserve.

It should go without saying that you need to turn to an online expense report system instead of an offline one. After all, the ability to connect to the system from anywhere means that you and your team will have much better results due to decreased hassle, real-time approval, and more. But beyond online connectivity, what other features do you really need? That all depends largely upon the specifics of your company, but there are several things worth looking at. With that in mind, here are three key features you probably want to look for.

1. Receipt Imaging – Simply put, this has become the must-have feature for any good expense report system to offer. The reason is that by letting your employees photograph and upload their travel receipts with their smart phones, you’re offering them an escape from the hassle of keeping up with those paper receipts, It results in decreased error, reduced fraud, better compliance, and the opportunity for your team to focus on making you money instead of managing their receipts constantly.
2. Credit Card Integration – While most programs will automate a large number of expense processes, you often still have to manage credit card expenses separately. By using a program that integrates credit card accounts into the system, you add an additional layer of automation to the process and improve the simplicity and accuracy of your reporting.
3. Data Reports – This is often overlooked, but any good expense program will offer you data reports. You can then use those reports for everything from developing new expense policies to identifying employees who are consistently spending too much. Knowledge is power, and the data reports your software gives you will deliver plenty of that power.

There are other features as well, but start by making sure you have access to these key features. They’re the foundation of any good expense report system.