Expense Management Tools: The Search for Better Controls

For many businesspeople, the term "expense management" brings to mind a few simple processes, such as reimbursing an employee for travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses. However, that function today is broad in scope, encompassing a company's ability to establish controls around spending by measuring T&E policy effectiveness, streamlining procurement procedures and improving accounts payable workflow. In fact, expense management is one of a company's largest fixed costs, often second only to payroll.

Yet many organizations get failing grades when it comes to managing this major cost bucket. They spend too much time on manual administrative chores surrounding purchasing processes rather than on spend analysis. They wrestle with out-of-control maverick spending. And they frustrate employees, who often must wait up to a month or more for reimbursement.

Companies are looking to alleviate these inefficiencies and frustrations, and many are investigating expense management systems as a way forward. How are businesses leveraging these tools? What are their most pressing expense management needs? And how well are they gauging implementation times? To find out, expensewatch.com Inc., a provider of expense control and automation tools, and Business Finance conducted a survey in April 2006 of 182 finance executives at companies that have installed, or plan to install, an expense management and control system.