Spend management is about adhering to organisation-wide expense policy, streamlining processes and improving the employee experience.

We recommend you focus on the three Ps of financial efficiency as you tackle hybrid working, talent shortages and high inflation. These three Ps include:

1. Organisation-wide spending policy adherence
2. Efficient, seamless processes
3. The empowerment of people to be more productive

In this blog we’ll explore how finance automation can help businesses boost their finance efficiency to achieve intelligent spend management.

 

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So, how do you achieve financial efficiency? Whether it’s submitting expense claims, paying invoices or booking travel, you need to start with your business spend policy.

1. What Role Do Policies Play in Finance Efficiency?

A travel and expense (T&E) policy is a set of guidelines created to educate employees on reimbursable expenses.

So, what is a good expense policy? Here are some of the things you could include:

• Guidelines on spending limits
• Authorised travel providers
• Favoured dates for travel
• Permissible suppliers
• Preferred booking channels
• Class of travel
• Limits on alcohol
• Additional travel related costs e.g., hire of SatNav/GPS in hire cars

Once in place, how do you enforce these policies and eliminate maverick spending?

Spend automation helps you define your policies based on accurate spend data. It also transforms them into bottom line savings and improved efficiency.

Here are some of the ways a spend management solution does this:

Real-time policy checks: SAP Concur solutions allow administrators to compare business expenses against predefined policy rules. Exceptions are automatically flagged, so necessary steps can be taken before reimbursement.

Custom reports: Businesses can generate customised reports for spend analysis to monitor policy adherence, identify policy violations and track exceptions.

Compliance and risk management: SAP Concur solutions help organisations maintain compliance with tax regulations, legal requirements and internal auditing standards. The benefits can be huge. According to the Analysys Mason 2022, Travel, Expense, and Vendor Invoice Management Study 26% of businesses worldwide saw an increase in tax reclaim savings through SAP Concur solutions or SAP Concur partners.

If keeping within spend policy is the destination for finance managers, seamless spend management processes are the clear roads that take you there.

2. What Role Do Processes Play in Finance Efficiency?

Finance automation gives you the tools you need for better workflow management. It enables you to create spend management processes that eradicate bottlenecks and drive finance efficiency.

These processes can include:

• Travel booking, itinerary management, travel spend policy enforcement and expense reconciliation
• Submitting and approving expense reports and the enforcement of business spend policy compliance
• Capturing, coding, approving and paying invoices
• Running reports to identify cost-saving opportunities and track spending patterns

Here are just some of the ways finance automation can improve processes:

Mobile apps: Employees can easily capture and submit expenses using mobile devices, for improved accuracy and saving time.

Automated routing and notifications: SAP Concur solutions automatically routes expenses to the designated approvers based on the configured approval rules, ensuring timely and efficient processing.

Travel spend management: A centralised platform for managing workflow when booking travel, tracking itineraries and capturing travel-related expenses gives you greater visibility into travel spending, better deals with suppliers and reduced overspending.

The Analysys Mason 2022, Travel, Expense, and Vendor Invoice Management Study showed that businesses worldwide using SAP Concur solutions reported a 26% reduction in budget overspending because of increased visibility into spending data.

US researcher John Seely Brown said, “Processes don’t do work, people do.” This brings us to the third P of finance efficiency – people.

3. What Role Do People Play in Finance Efficiency?

If the current talent shortage shows us anything, it’s that policies and processes are nothing without skilled and knowledgeable people. It’s your finance team that plays an active role in identifying spend policy and process improvements and it’s their insight and feedback that leads to change.

It’s people that:

• Manage financial resources and develop budgets
• Track expenses and identify cost-saving opportunities
• Follow compliance guidelines
• Monitor cashflow
• Analyse data and make informed decisions
• Collaborate with other departments
• Implement strategies to optimise spending

Finance automation equips people with the tools to do all these tasks more efficiently. It frees them up to focus on more meaningful, satisfying work that drives more value to your business. The Analysys Mason 2022, Travel, Expense, and Vendor Invoice Management Study showed that worldwide T&E users of SAP Concur solutions reported that 148 estimated hours were saved by finance/AP teams per week.

A spend management solution should include:

Integration with financial systems: Seamless integration with other systems, such as accounting and ERP systems, eliminates manual processes such as data entry, reducing frustration and enabling faster decision making.

Travel booking and itinerary management: A centralised location for managing travel itineraries makes it easier for employees to plan and organise their trips, eliminating the need to switch between multiple tools or platforms, saving time, improving Duty of Care and improving efficiency.

Data analytics and reporting: Employees can access real-time dashboards and reports, enabling them to undertake strategic work more easily. According to the Analysys Mason 2022, Travel, Expense, and Vendor Invoice Management Study, 74% of businesses worldwide say an automated T&E solution has helped reduce time spent on administrative tasks to focus on growth and strategic planning.

What’s the Purpose?

The goal of spend management software is seamless processes that are undertaken by productive, satisfied people who adhere to the right policies.

Finance leaders must make continuous improvements to ensure that all three Ps are aligned to your larger business purpose.

With the right spend management solution in place, your business will build resilience against whatever the future brings.

To adapt your policies, processes and people for greater finance efficiency, let SAP Concur solutions do the hard work. You can also see the solutions in action on our demo page!

For further insight into driving value through identifying and improving business outcomes, watch our 3-part on-demand webinar on Achieving Business Outcomes.