How to Automate Employee Expense Process using Xero and Webexpenses?

Many small businesses using Xero probably are unaware of a useful third-party app called Webexpenses – a cloud-based application that automates the employee expense reimbursement process and also integrates with Xero. Employee expense reimbursement can be a painful process for many businesses. For employees who are claiming reimbursement of their expenses, this process includes filling in a form that is not user-friendly, taking photocopies of receipts, and filling in the relevant details manually. This would then be submitted to a line manager or an accounts department to process. By the time the employee receives their reimbursement into their bank accounts, many weeks or months could have passed. Inefficiencies created in the accounting department by the expense reimbursement process include reviewing many receipts of differing sizes and to determine if the expense form has been filled in correctly and where to code the expense in the general ledger. Other issues also include trying to reconcile company credit card statements against expenses submitted while at the same time, trying to decipher the difference between personal and business expenses. This then often leads to uncomfortable conversations with senior employees notifying them that not all expenses will be reimbursed. This whole process is ultimately susceptible to inaccuracies, inefficiencies, and company leakage.

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About Webexpenses

Web expenses is a leading global provider of expense management software that is simple and intuitive. It turns a complex, manual process into an efficient, automated one, which is proven to save businesses up to 30% in T&E costs. It also provides powerful reporting tools and expenses data which provides finance teams with visibility over every part of the expenses process. With Webexpenses you can create and submit expense claims online through any web browser or use their mobile app. The software has a range of features including; mobile expenses app, digital receipts process, mileage expense tracking, credit card integrations, petty cash management, reporting and tracking, software integrations, configurations, set-up, and security.

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Powerful OCR

One of the technologies behind Webexpenses is OCR (Optical Character Recognition), which enables the software to recognize and pre-code data from receipts, tickets, documents, and more in mere seconds. This function alone saves companies money by reducing time on manual input of expenses.

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Corporate Credit Cards

One of the more painful tasks in the expense process is the reconciliation of corporate cards. In many cases, they come in different formats and types which can make processing inefficient. Web expenses allow you to import all credit card transactions and then reconcile expenses submitted against them, again saving company time. This empowers your employees to be accountable and transparent with their credit card purchases.

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Powerful Reporting

With all the expense data being processed in Webexpenses, many companies would want visibility on the historical spending of their employees. Where the expense reimbursement process is manual, this would be near-impossible unless every expense is recorded manually into the accounting system. With Webexpenses, you can easily create reports that are tailored based on the information you want as well as other preferences in real-time. The drag and drop interface allows you to customize your reports and includes only the indicators that you want to show. This feature is not only useful for reporting but also for audit and tax compliance where the division of personal and company expenses needs to be verified or where VAT data needs to be captured carefully taking into account that some VAT may not be claimable on expenses.

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Features

The following is a list of features that Webexpenses provides: 

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• Expenses App - Manage, track and monitor expenses wherever you are using the mobile app. 
• Digital Receipts - Go paperless with an automated digital receipts process. 
• Mileage Expenses - Track and monitor business mileage expenses. 
• Credit Card - Import corporate credit card expenses.
• Petty Cash - Digital management of petty cash expenses. Compliance - Ensuring your company expenses stay compliant. 
• Expense Reporting - Customisable reporting and tracking across all expense spending.Integration - Easy integration with Xero.
• Configuration - Configured to meet the needs of your company set-up.
• Security - Safe and secure data in line with industry standards. 
• Approval Process Control & Workflow Management – Once expenses are submitted, the software automates the approval process via email notification and a workflow. 
• Multi-currency – use many currencies without the need to look up the foreign exchange rate. 
• Receipt management – upload and store multiple receipts no matter how you receive them.

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Xero integration

Setting up Webexpenses with Xero is seamless and easy – it only takes a few clicks and you are fully integrated with Xero. From a process integration perspective, Webexpenses processes expenses into Xero as purchases, and the name of the vendor will be the name of the employee who is claiming the expense. This is especially ideal if reimbursements are made via the bank as the reconciliation process within Xero will be seamless.

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Training and support

Although Webexpenses is very easy to use and user-friendly, it nevertheless provides extensive training resources including documentation, webinars, live online support as well as in-person support. Their support desks also provide 24/7 support if required. Still not sure? Web expenses currently have a 98% customer retention rate, provide excellent customer service, and are rated 4.5 of 5 by Capterra. For small businesses based in Dubai, cutting red tape is a high priority and introducing Webexpenses is one step to cost-effectively achieving that. If you would like to know more about Web expenses or Xero and would like to take up our discounted implementation offer, submit your contact details here and one of our consultants will be in touch.

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DISCLAIMER

This article is written in general terms and therefore cannot be relied on to cover specific situations; application of the principles set out will depend upon the particular circumstances involved and we recommend that you obtain professional advice before acting or refraining from acting on any of its contents.

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