Does Your Spend Management Solution Feel Like It’s Solving Anything?
You keep a sharp eye on spending, but every now and then you’re bound to blink.
Think about it: If you’re missing any amount of expenses or anything on your invoices, you’re not in full control of what’s going out the door. You run the risk of making purchasing, budgeting, and forecasting decisions based on incomplete and, therefore, inaccurate data. And you could argue there has never been a more critical time to see all of this spend – every digit in every scenario.
But employees aren’t in their offices right now, so it’s harder for them to follow spending protocols and harder for you to see what they’re up to. New spending categories for things like personal protective equipment, home office furniture, and internet connections weren’t on your radar last year, now you’re spending – how much? – on them every month. People are using cash and personal cards to buy what they need for work, and you’re left in the dark on these transactions until expense reports come in weeks or months later. And while employees may have the best intentions, they still make typos, so not only is that spending data late, it’s often inaccurate.
The question, of course, is how do you open your eyes wider to where and why and when your employees are spending: How do you make sure your solution offers the order and oversight to see it all without blinking?
Well, you could stop reading right now and take a look at this solutions overview, which outlines all the tools and tactics it takes to get spending under control.
You’ll get an accurate account of expenses in time to do something about them.
You’ll put an end to all those paper receipts.
You’ll know how much money is left and how much more must be spent.
It’s a quick review of the tools it takes to actually solve your spending concerns. It’s not just a “solution,” in other words. It’s the solution.
You could also ask yourself six very important spending questions, as outlined in this spending checklist:
- Does your expense report process support your policies, and vice-versa?
- Is the right type of spending going on your p-cards?
- Are you focusing on invoices?
- How adaptable are you when it comes to new expense categories?
- Do your current reporting abilities match your needs?
- What’s the spending experience like for the people doing the spending?
Comparing your answers to those detailed in the checklist will give you a clear picture of where you’re succeeding and where your spending is slipping by unnoticed. But they aren’t meant to be discouraging, they’re intended to be inspiring – there are solutions out there that really can organize the chaos and complexity of spend management.
There are ways to turn an unblinking eye toward every expense and invoice, you just have to know where to look.
