How a cloud-based expenses system benefits: the approver

Take the hassle out of approving expense claims and reports

We are now at the halfway point in our three-part blog post series talking about how cloud-based expenses systems can benefit the three main parties in the end-to-end expenses process: the submitter, the approving manager and the processor.

In this blog post we’ll be discussing how a digital expenses system would help an approver.

As with our first post in this series, we’ll be using various personas to help communicate the annoyances of a manual process and benefits of a cloud solution. Here we’ll be using the persona of Kevin the Sales Manager, who is also David’s manager. Due to the demands of his job, Kevin is constantly travelling and often finds his team’s various expense claims piling up on his desk towards the end of the month. Going through and verifying these reports is not a task he enjoys as he knows his time could be better spent elsewhere.

We’ll demonstrate how moving to an automated system will help Kevin by not only freeing him from seeing multiple expense claims gathering but also give him more control over each individual expense submitted.

No more stacks of expense claims

The feeling of seeing expense reports stacked up with their accompanying receipts on his desk is not a sight that Kevin enjoys. As Kevin manages a team of 5 who are also constantly on the move, these expense reports are regularly quite extensive. This of course means Kevin must dedicate a lot of his time to checking each amount recorded against the attached paper receipt to ensure that the submitted expenses are correct. Not only is this time-consuming work, but also tedious.

Shifting to a cloud-based system such as Zetadocs Expenses would allow Kevin to manage and approve these expense reports as they are submitted. Kevin would receive a notification whenever one of his team completes the report, letting him know that his approval is now required. This not only makes the process easier as all the information he needs to make this approval is available in one place (without any loose receipts/paper), but he can also approve this straight from his mobile application, wherever he is. This frees up his time and provides Kevin with a system to fit around his schedule.

Watch this short demonstration to see how easy it is to approve expense reports using Zetadocs:

Simpler process and increased control

One of the major issues with a manual expenses system is how human error can come into play. Kevin has often found himself in the situation where he has incorrectly approved a claim where the claims report submitted doesn’t match with what’s shown on the accompanying paper receipts. This then results in expense claims coming back to him via the processor which further adds extra time on to the process.

An automated system such as Zetadocs Expenses helps to prevent this by allowing spending policies to be put in place and by presenting the information submitted in a clear way. For example, if Kevin’s team has a daily lunch budget of £20 whilst traveling and David submits a lunch expense for £25, the system would flag this up. This not only helps Kevin to spot anomalies but also allows him to ask his team for extra justification or to read any comments added to each expense. This reduces the probability of these reports coming back to him, meaning less of his time is dedicated to approving expenses.

Make the most of these benefits

As expressed in this post, moving expenses to the cloud would free up valuable time for approvers as well as help them to make accurate approvals.

So if you’re a busy manager looking for a more efficient and simpler way to approve your team's expenses, a cloud-based system could be the solution you’re looking for.

Schedule a demonstration with our team today to see our software in action. We’ll be more than happy to answer any questions you may have around the full functionality of our solution or shifting to the cloud in general, so get in touch today!

In our last blog post of this series, we identify how the processor benefits from moving the expenses process to the cloud. We explain how policies can be applied to various stages to ensure control and how reporting functionalities can help flag up anomalies and reduce any potential fraud. Read this blog post now.