A woman smiling demonstrating how when you need to travel for business, there are a number of variables that can make your trip a productive experienc

The easiest way to make business travel expenses a breeze

When you need to travel for business, there are a number of variables that can make your trip a productive experience, or a stressful one – and it doesn’t take much to flip from one to the other.

Maybe your itinerary is packed too tight, you don’t have a big enough case to fit everything in, or perhaps you’re just doing everything last-minute and are worried about getting to your next meeting on time.

And of course, not to mention all the claims you need to lodge for reimbursement when you get back.

For many business travellers, expenses are something that seem to slip through the cracks. You might hold on to some invoices...but they’re never in a standard format, they’re usually crinkled up and you often lose them (or keep them in your wallet for far too long).

Are you experiencing some of these pains? If so, it might be time to investigate a completely new way of handling your business travel expenses...

There’s way too much paperwork – or not enough

Fast-growing businesses are so stretched for time that it can often be difficult to introduce a new process or system in the middle of all that growth. This can mean that travellers are having to scan every single receipt, get that signed off and then send to a supervisor for approval.

On the other hand, many businesses don’t have a process at all – so there’s a missing link for oversight and no record of these receipts in the first place. They just get handed over to the finance department or accountant. Either way, it’s a problem.

All the receipts keep getting lost

As a busy traveller, sometimes you don’t always think about where you put every single receipt. Having no digitised system and relying on paper means the paperwork builds up, and sooner or later you end up missing one or two. Which means getting money back from the business is even more difficult.

Additionally, sending scans of receipts over email to a dedicated travel booker can be rife with problems, too. Sometimes they get lost or accidentally deleted, which leads to even more delays.

It takes far too long to report

Whether or not your business has a robust travel policy in place, getting these expenses approved can often take quite a while. Especially if you have a dedicated travel booker within the business, and they’re having to look over every single record before passing that on to the finance department.

There’s a better way to handle all of this: a digital platform for keeping your expenses organised.

Not only does it mean you can upload photos of your receipts and throw the paper copies away, it means your business and finance team get a single source for financial records.

What type of systems are available for your business?

There are multiple systems available that can automate expense filing for travellers. The question is, which system is going to fit best with your business?

For instance, many businesses choose to use SAP Concur for their expenses, which is one of the most comprehensive offerings on the market. One of Concur’s strengths is that it integrates with plenty of other business travel booking tools, so you get everything done in one place.

Expensify is another popular system, and features several ways for travellers to get easy access to their data. Another offering, Serko, is often chosen for its mobile reporting capabilities – travellers can send expenses straight through their phones. Coupa is regularly used by businesses to integrate with software used by their internal finance teams.

Whatever system you choose, it’s important any digital expense solution give a number of different options to make sure your travel is easier:

Credit card charges automatically pushed into the system, so there’s no need to manually copy items one by one
Invoices from your business travel manager are updated and sent in the same way, all in one place
Travellers can upload and send expense reports from their phones, so they don’t have to waste time scanning receipts in one-by-one – they can just take photos
Your finance team can create rules to automatically allocate certain expenses

Is it time for your business to adopt this type of system?

If you’re spending too long organising receipts for all your travel, it might be time for your business to adopt a more productive system – and not just for your expenses.

About Flight Centre Travel Group

The Flight Centre Travel Group is one of the world’s largest travel retailers and corporate travel managers. The company, which is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, has company-owned leisure and corporate travel business in dozens of countries, spanning Australia, New Zealand, the Americas, Europe, the United Kingdom, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and Asia. ASX listed Flight Centre Travel Group (FLT) also operates the global FCM corporate travel management network, which extends to more than 100 countries through company-owned businesses and independent licensees, along with Corporate Traveller, the flagship business specific to the small-to-medium-sized enterprise sector. For more information, visit fctgl.com.