A Guide to an Effective Expense Policy and Procedure Review Process

The business world moves at a constant, rapid clip, one that starts to feel even faster as the business landscape continues to develop and evolve. Such a fast-paced environment is made even faster when you have mobile employees constantly on the move. No matter how quickly it feels like things are moving, it’s always important to take a moment to make sure you have the correct policies and procedures in place to manage the hustle and bustle. This is especially true when it comes to expense management policies. After all, poor expense guidelines for employees could cost you in more ways than one. If the prospect of expense policy and procedure review sounds like an overwhelming, time-consuming endeavor, you aren’t alone.

In this article we’ll walk you through the policy review process, from gathering feedback from the right personnel to outlining ways in which technology can improve policy compliance and enforcement.

Expense Policy Review Should Be Routine For Your Business

If you already have a formal expense policy on the books, that’s great! However, if you haven’t kept it up to date over the years, it may not be doing you much good. It’s important to regularly review and update expense policies and procedures to ensure alignment with existing financial regulations and current operations of your organization. 

While it might not sound like an urgent step, regular policy review helps a company’s policies stay compliant with local tax laws and IRS guidelines—a must for any organization that wants to maintain a pristine financial reputation.

When reviewing existing expense policy and procedure guidelines, make sure that they are compatible with trends in current technology, especially those related to remote or mobile work. Expense management that doesn’t take into account non-traditional work methods are doomed to fail from the start. 

Risks of outdated or inflexible expense policies include compliance issues, increased operational costs, and the potential dissatisfaction of an organization’s employees. These effects could lead to delayed reimbursements or inaccuracies in expense tracking, which will further erode trust and efficiency.

How often you’ll need to conduct these reviews depends on factors like organizational size, travel frequency, and any industry-specific changes to relevant laws or regulations. For example, larger corporations with complex operations may need to conduct frequent policy reviews, while startups and smaller businesses might benefit from biannual reviews to stay agile. Businesses in industries with high levels of entertainment or travel expenses may also require more frequent and agile policy updates to address the rapid pace of operational and regulatory changes. 

Engage Stakeholders for Comprehensive Policy Updates

Teamwork makes the dream work! Don’t leave your stakeholders off to the side while considering expense policy and procedure changes that may affect them and their departments. When your business conducts expense policy and procedure review, involve a mix of internal teams, from finance to HR to operations, to ensure well-rounded and well-considered development. Each department can provide unique insights into how expense policies and guidelines impact different aspects of the business. 

Never let yourself lose sight of the fact that employee feedback is invaluable, especially from those that will be most impacted, such as employees who incur travel expenses on a regular basis. Utilizing tools like surveys or focus groups can help gather stakeholder feedback, which in turn will help organizational leaders tailor policies to the real-world needs and challenges of employees.

Leverage Technology for a Smoother Future

We’re living in the future, and businesses should take advantage of that! Advancements like automated tracking tools and AI-driven analytics can help enhance an organization’s efficiency and accuracy in many fields, especially expense management. While employees are the backbone of any business, human error can cause serious damage to a business’s expense policy and procedure workflow if not caught in time. 

By embracing technology, including software options for processes like mileage reimbursement, companies have the option of efficiently automating elements of the expense management process. These resources can simplify the reporting process, reduce the margin for error, and offer real-time expense tracking, all while giving employees, supervisors and management the space and time to perform their jobs without having to worry as much about managing or calculating expenses. 

Implement Updated Policies and Prioritizing Continuous Improvement

Communication is key. A crucial step in efficient expense policy and procedure management is utilizing effective communication and comprehensive training to ensure smooth implementation of new procedures and policies. Company- or department-wide training programs and centralized resources for information can aid in bridging the gap between new procedure and daily practice. 

Also key is soliciting, receiving and analyzing post-implementation feedback, to monitor the policy’s effectiveness, as well as for identifying any areas that may require improvement. Creating a feedback loop of constructive criticism and thoughtful, attentive response can help guide future adjustments and enhancements of company expense policies as needed. 

Making an ongoing commitment to policy refinement will help your organization’s expense management processes and policies keep pace with regulatory changes and continual evolution of the business landscape. Paying attention to data analytics and the ongoing feedback you should be receiving from employees, management and other supervisors will help identify emerging needs, and opportunities for policy optimization in the future. 

CompanyMileage: Expense Management for a Business on the Move 

Regular reviews and updates of your company’s expense policy and procedure system is crucial to a business’s financial integrity. Implementing the strategies outlined above will help businesses manage their expenses effectively, as well as long-term stability and employee satisfaction. 

You don’t have to do it all on your own, though! CompanyMileage is designed specifically to simplify expense management and reimbursement for organizations that need to reimburse mobile employees for their work-related travel. Our suite of software solutions—SureMileage, SureMobile, and SureExpense—simplifies and automates the process from travel all the way to reimbursement.

Using our mobile app, SureMobile, employees simply report their start and end points for trips from their smartphones with the tap of a button. SureMileage then uses a unique point-to-point calculation method to determine the best travel route for reimbursement. From there, reimbursement claims move smoothly through an automated, customizable workflow. CompanyMileage software integrates with all major accounting and payroll systems, securing fast and efficient reimbursement once employee claims have been approved. 

CompanyMileage might be exactly what your organization’s expense policy and procedure management processes need. Contact us for a free demo today to learn more!