Even in times of increasing globalization, it is essential for internationally active companies to work personally with business customers. Thus, in the future, the costs of business travel will account for an increased share of personnel expenses. There are various models to plan these effectively. According to a study by techconsult GmbH, 66% of the companies surveyed already use partially or fully automated systems, while 34% still lack innovative automated processes. The aim of the study was to list the advantages and disadvantages of these different billing methods.
Transparent calculations
In order to ensure an overview of the costs incurred, an efficient separation between direct and indirect business travel expenses is required. Only 28% of companies that prepare their expense reports manually succeed in doing so. As a result, travel expense averages 45% of the total cost compared to the planning and booking process here. When using fully automated software, this expenditure is only 38% while saving on the total cost.
Efficiency through travel policies
To secure these savings, internal company travel policies are essential. Since implementing these policies into the software makes it possible to account for a larger amount of specifications, the compliance rate here is 77%. For companies with manual billing, the amount of policies is usually more manageable, allowing for a broader interpretation of the requirements, which is why they score with only 40% compliance rates.
Duration of reimbursement of travel expenses
Automated billing processes significantly reduce the time between submitting travel receipts and repayment. After entering all expenses, the software creates an error-free cost breakdown in a short time, for example on the basis of applicable tax rates, accommodation and meal allowances or currency conversion rates.
This reduces the processing time of a refund request to 1.1 weeks on average. For manual systems, it takes at least 1.5 weeks or more.
Last but not least, the refund period also influences employee satisfaction.
Professional travel expense reports thanks to outsourcing
Despite the advantages of fully automated expense accounting procedures listed in the study, an average of 7.3% of all expense reports are still incorrect. To avoid this problem, it is a good idea to outsource these processes to specialized service providers.
This allows companies to reduce their expenses with regard to travel expense departments, thus saving resources and, thanks to the conditions agreed in the contract with the service provider, are legally protected for absolute compliance with the applicable legal situation, especially with regard to data protection.
Possible individual services
Depending on the service provider, almost all sub-processes of travel expense accounting can be taken over.
It is essential to keep track of the refund applications as well as all necessary receipts, invoices and the like. Often, these documents are digitized by the service provider and stored in an archive created for the company.
The company’s specific travel guidelines are easily adopted and thus a transparent and comprehensible presentation of the billing is created.
If necessary, the amounts to be reimbursed can be determined for each employee concerned and paid out in each case.
In some cases, analyses of savings opportunities or even expense-optimized advice on the booking and handling of business trips are offered.
Advantages for companies
Companies benefit from the know-how of the service provider, which works faster and more efficiently on the otherwise lengthy and expensive sub-processes, such as document digitization or data capture, thanks to its experience in dealing with special billing software. Current and changing regulations are automatically synchronized with the system to avoid incorrect billing.
The digitized receipts can be found with just a few clicks, which means that the operating costs of a corresponding archive can be pocketed.
Refunds are fast and reliable, increasing business traveler satisfaction.
Ultimately, outsourcing travel expense reports makes it possible to use financial, time and personnel resources more lucratively and thus to be able to devote oneself to the actual focus of the company.
How efficiently do you organize your expense report? We look forward to your comments.
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