Expense reporting is a crucial responsibility for many Executive Assistants (EAs). It ensures that company resources are used effectively, employees are reimbursed correctly, and financial records stay accurate and compliant. However, managing expense reports can become complex, particularly where executives travel frequently, work across departments, or handle multiple budgets.
This ACEA® Training guide will walk you through best practices for managing expense reports efficiently and accurately.
1. Understand the Company’s Expense Policy
Before you can manage expense reports effectively, it’s critical to have a thorough understanding of your company’s expense policy. Policies typically outline:
Eligible expenses: What can and cannot be claimed (e.g., travel, meals, accommodation, etc.).
Limits: Maximum allowable amounts for specific types of expenses.
Approval processes: Who needs to approve expense reports before reimbursement.
Submission deadlines: Timelines for submitting expenses to avoid delays.
Knowing these details allows you to review expense reports accurately, ensure compliance, and avoid unnecessary delays in approvals and reimbursements.
2. Encourage Timely Submissions
Encouraging executives and employees to submit expense reports promptly helps avoid confusion, errors, and missed deadlines. Frequent reminders can be useful in ensuring timely submissions, especially after business trips or major events. Consider creating a simple checklist that employees can refer to before submitting their reports.
Delaying expense submissions can lead to missing receipts or forgotten details, which complicates both approvals and the company’s accounting process.
3. Use Expense Management Software
Leverage expense management tools to streamline the reporting process. Applications like Concur, Expensify, or SAP allow employees to capture receipts, track expenses in real time, and automatically categorise items. These tools not only make submitting expenses easier but also enable EAs to track, review, and approve expenses more efficiently.
By using such tools, you can significantly reduce manual work, increase accuracy, and prevent the loss of important documents, like receipts.
4. Review Reports for Accuracy and Compliance
Before submitting an expense report for approval, it's important to double-check the details. Look for:
Complete documentation: Ensure all receipts are included and legible.
Policy adherence: Verify that expenses comply with company policies regarding eligible items and spending limits.
Proper categorisation: Make sure expenses are assigned to the correct categories (e.g., travel, accommodation, meals).
Currency conversions: If the executive has travelled internationally, ensure that exchange rates are applied correctly and consistently.
These checks help avoid delays and ensure the company stays compliant with financial regulations.
5. Simplify Receipt Management
Keeping track of physical receipts can be challenging. Encourage your executives to use digital receipt capture tools—most expense management software allows users to take a photo of their receipt and upload it instantly. If the company doesn’t use such a tool, encourage executives to scan or photograph receipts immediately after the transaction to avoid loss or damage. In addition, establish a clear filing system for both digital and physical receipts to make referencing past reports easy and efficient.
6. Categorise Expenses Properly
Properly categorising expenses is vital for budget tracking and tax purposes. Common categories include travel, entertainment, meals, and office supplies. When reviewing expense reports, ensure that the categories used are consistent and align with company accounting practices. Misclassified expenses can lead to budget mismanagement or incorrect tax reporting, which could cause problems later on.
7. Monitor Spend Against Budget
If you’re managing expenses for a department or executive’s budget, it’s important to track spending against the budget to avoid overspending. Regularly reviewing expense reports in the context of the overall budget allows you to identify areas where spending is high and take corrective actions before it becomes an issue.
For example, if travel expenses are consistently exceeding the budget, you may want to look for cost-saving measures like negotiating better rates with hotels or setting stricter guidelines for flight bookings.
8. Prepare for Audits
Ensuring that all expense reports are audit-ready is essential for both compliance and financial integrity. Auditors often review expense reports to ensure that all expenses are legitimate, properly documented, and aligned with company policies. To be audit-ready, focus on:
Complete documentation: Ensure every report is fully supported by receipts and explanations for each expense.
Policy alignment: Verify that all expenses adhere to company policy.
Consistency: Ensure that all reports follow a uniform format and structure.
Having organised, clear, and consistent expense reports will streamline the auditing process and prevent any potential issues.
9. Train and Communicate with Executives
Sometimes, executives are too busy to stay on top of their own expense reports. You can assist by setting up regular training or communication on expense policy updates, key deadlines, and best practices for capturing receipts and submitting reports. By offering guidance upfront, you’ll help executives avoid common mistakes and ensure a smoother reporting process. Additionally, maintaining an open line of communication with executives regarding their spending habits can help prevent repeated errors or policy violations.
10. Automate Recurring Expenses
For regularly occurring expenses, such as monthly software subscriptions or membership fees, consider automating these payments and integrating them directly into the expense reporting process. This reduces manual effort, improves accuracy, and ensures that these routine costs are consistently accounted for.
Summary
Expense reporting may seem like a routine task, but when done well, it plays a critical role in ensuring financial transparency and maintaining company budgets. By following these best practices, executive assistants can streamline the expense reporting process, reduce errors, and help their executives stay compliant with company policies. In turn, this contributes to more efficient financial management and saves time for both EAs and their executives.
About the Author: Richard Arnott, BA, FInatAM, FIToL, is a Director of BMTG (UK) Ltd, and the author and lead presenter of the groundbreaking, globally recognised Advanced Certificate for the Executive Assistant: ACEA® program. Richard also sits on the editorial board of Lucy Brazier OBE Executive Support Magazine.
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