This article contains general information and is not intended to provide information that is specific to American Express, or its products and services. Similar products and services offered by different companies will have different features and you should always read about product details before acquiring any financial product.
One notable advance in modern business travel is the automation of expense reimbursement. For some businesses, gone are the days of shuffling receipts and second-guessing reimbursement decisions and limits.
This transformation is paying off in improved employee experience: According to American Express’ June 2024 Amex Trendex: Business Travel Edition survey, conducted with 1,012 U.S. business travelers and 502 U.S. business travel decision makers, the automation of expenses and travel and entertainment (T&E) spend management has been transformative for business travelers and companies alike. The survey found that almost half of business travelers (49%) say doing expense reports is easier than five years ago, with 44% saying they’ve seen an improvement from just one year ago.
Expense reimbursement software can help travelers and finance teams with the task of collecting and processing T&E spend. With this type of software, business expenses are captured, categorized, allocated to departments, and sent to payments. Done right, these systems can help improve spend visibility and assist in building compliance, meeting duty of care obligations, and driving cost savings. However, this doesn’t happen by itself – organizations can consider making the right connections for these steps to fall into place, and many systems may still have gaps.
Is Your T&E System Working as Hard as It Could?
As organizations consider ways their systems can be more efficient and effective, here are some T&E integrations to consider:
1. Individual Corporate Payment
This integration enables precise tracking and management of employee-initiated expenses as transactions automatically flow into employee expense reports. It can allow for instant verification of expenditures against corporate policies, reduces processing times, and provides employees with faster, more reliable compensation for approved business expenses while helping to eliminate manual errors and improve overall efficiency.
2. Booking Tool
This integration creates an integrated travel planning and reporting ecosystem. By automatically capturing travel reservations and related expenses in a single platform, companies can facilitate itinerary management and track spending in real time, while ensuring travel bookings comply with company policies and preferred supplier agreements.
3. General Ledger/Accounting System
This integration enables the automated posting of expenses to the correct cost centers and accounts, which may be able to help with financial accuracy and improving financial visibility and financial reporting.
Expense reimbursement software can help travelers and finance teams with the task of collecting and processing T&E spend.
4. Pre-Trip Approvals
With this integration, managers can review and approve travel requests before booking trips, confirming travel is necessary and aligned with company policies. It enables proactive cost controls and more accurate travel cost forecasting by evaluating expenses before they occur (and flags potential policy violations before money is spent).
5. Duty of Care Processes
For some organizations, duty of care obligations are top of mind. This integration can help provide crucial risk management capabilities by connecting expense data with employee safety monitoring. Real-time location tracking through expenses can help support companies in fulfilling their obligations to protect traveling employees by identifying where employees are during emergencies based on their expenses, monitoring spending in high-risk locations, and flagging unusual travel patterns that might indicate safety concerns.
6. Third-Party Software or Supplier Reporting
This integration enables automated data sharing with vendors to create a comprehensive, transparent view of external spending. It can help provide deeper insights into spending patterns and supplier relationships, while potentially enabling organizations to identify cost-saving opportunities and negotiate better rates.
7. Human Resources Systems
With this integration, HR teams can more easily access and manage employee data, such as travel preferences and expense reports, and consider whether policies align with employee roles and departments. It creates a holistic view of employee-related costs, including reimbursements, allowances, and travel expenditures.
8. Virtual Cards
This integration can help enhance company financial security and control by generating unique payment credentials for specific transactions or trips, which can help reduce fraud risk. Virtual cards can help provide a secure and auditable way to pay for travel expenses, eliminating the need for cash advances or payment on personal credit cards. Companies can set precise spending limits, categorize expenses automatically, and provide employees with flexible yet controlled payment methods that feed into the broader expense reporting ecosystem.
The Takeaway
As your enterprise aims to make the expense process far more seamless, consider ways you may be overlooking the additional value you might capture from better integration. Updating expense reporting systems by increasing integrations might allow you to achieve a more holistic view of expenses, while providing benefits to both employees and the finance team.
Photo: Getty Images
METHODOLOGY:
The business traveler survey, conducted by American Express, was conducted among a sample of 1,012 respondents who are employed full time, traveled by air for work 2 or more times in the past 12 months and submit their own travel expenses. The margin of error for this sample size is +/-3.1% at the 95% confidence level. The business travel decision-maker survey was conducted among a sample of 502 respondents who are employed full time as business travel decision makers for companies with 50 or more employees. The margin of error for this sample size is +/-4.4%, at the 95% confidence level. Both online surveys were live on June 7-14, 2024.
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