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New Feature: FWD Receipts Over Email

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On the heels of our recent and popular ‘track mileage expenses with Google maps integration’ feature we have come out with another zinger of a feature (currently in beta mode). This is the ReceiptFWD feature that is available on the web application AND on our mobile app (in the Email tab).

Let’s discuss the current challenge:

 

Users receive receipts in emails from Airline or Hotel vendors that they have to download and then attach -OR- have to save the email as a PDF and attach it to the expense transaction

Our solution:

Our new email feature (in beta mode) allows users to FWD an email that has a single PDF receipt attachment to a fixed email account (example: receipts@abc-inc.com). If there is an attachment in the email, the application will automatically insert that into the receipt box within Gorilla Expense.

The user can also enter keywords in the body of the email (like: ‘Expense Type Meals’, ‘Total $200’) and the application will enter those values in the expense transaction within Gorilla Expense. This way when the user logs in to the application, the transaction in complete. See below for an email example, where the user is FWDing an email with a PDF receipt and has inserted keywords for the application to complete the transaction.

Painless-Receipt-Scanning-and-Expense-Tracking

If the email does not have a PDF receipt attached and if the email itself functions as a receipt, then the user simple needs to FWD the email for the application to create a PDF of the body of the email and attach it to the receipt box in Gorilla Expense. Similar to above, the user can use keywords to fill in the other details of the transaction. This is especially useful since many airline companies no longer provide attachments. Below is an example of a user FWDing the email itself.

Submit-receipts-and-expenses-using-email

The benefit of this feature is that solves the pain of having to manage expense related data that can come in from another source, namely email. We expect this to make traveler’s lives a lot easier.

So, the next time you get ready to do your expense report, these transactions along with receipts are waiting in the mobile app or the web app, ready to be dropped into an expense report. Click – Click – 4 seconds and your expense report is done!

As always we love hearing from you. If you have any questions, we are here – info@gorillaexpense.com

The 10 Commandments of T&E Expense Reporting for the 21st Century

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According to the Aberdeen Group research, surveys based on millions of expense reports submitted by 3,000 companies reveal that U.S. T&E costs are constantly rising. The largest increases were in airfare (up 5.7%), hotels (up 4.5%), and meetings (up 7.7%).

With T&E spend ranging from 7% to 15% percent of the total budget for the average mid-market company ($50 million to $800 million in revenue), the challenge facing CFOs and Controllers in this area is dramatic with millions of dollars at stake! For most companies, travel related expenses remain a significant area of spend – second only to payroll.

Scope of challenge

Fundamentally, most companies struggle to tackle these challenges because of not knowing where to start, when it comes to managing their T&E Expense reporting process, resulting in thousands of dollars of reckless spending and waste. Aberdeen’s report (Expense Management for a New Decade and The Mid-Market Expense Management Program) says that:

* 56% of mid-market companies have limited visibility into T&E spending

* Less than 45% track their expenses via analytics and business intelligence in real time

* Only 33% leverage cloud-based expense reporting solutions and 28% integrate corporate cards

* Just 15% provide T&E data to C-level executives for financial forecasting purposes

Solutions for a new decade

The good news is that cloud-based solutions have significantly brought down the cost of automating T&E expense reporting. These solutions have been shown to deliver huge reductions in expense processing costs. But the big questions is – where do you start?

The Best-In-Class corporations (a term used by the Aberdeen Group to classify the top 20% of companies that manage their expense related processes by creatively blending technology & strategy) combine strategy, core capabilities, technology, a culture that embraces change and a desire to optimize. The objectives of most Best-In-Class programs include cost savings, enhanced productivity, improved efficiencies and better compliance. This is usually achieved by unifying the different processes in the lifecycle.

By advocating a culture that fosters Best-In-Class programs and by investing in a system that ensures achievement of this status, Best-In-Class companies constantly reap gains and realize immediate ROIs.

Here are the 10 Commandments of Expense Reporting that Best-In-Class companies consistently execute on:

1. Centralize the control and operation of T&E expense management programs

2. Automate the process to greatly reduce unproductive manual work and eliminate errors

3. Integrate the front-end expense reporting system to the ERP system to minimize manual data entries and errors (here is a video of automated integration with Dynamics GP)

4. Establish generally accepted corporate-wide policies and processes

5. Educate employees regularly on expense report related policies and processes and appoint a designee for any questions from employees

6. Encourage usage of corporate cards for better accuracy and mobile device applications for convenience to users (read our blog on Credit Card Integration)

7. Leverage and close the loop on expense management data to fine-tune the system and also provide better deals with travel vendors for the company

8. Develop audit mechanisms that capture errant data and provide real-time visibility into spend

9. Invest in the latest technology to maximize efficiency, provide long term ROI and reduce paper usage

10. Provide flexibility and convenience to the end users to improve productivity, reduce inherent delays and to capture expense data immediately after incurred

For some companies, executing on all 10 steps immediately might prove to be a challenge. In those cases, it would be beneficial to select a few and to focus on those, till the desired results are obtained.

Automating T&E processes does more than just reduce costs. It makes it harder for employees to inflate expenses — and far easier for companies to detect fraud. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, up to 13% of company fraud arises in this area, so that’s a huge advantage. Expense reporting time is reduced and employees are reimbursed faster which is a major boost to morale. Automation results in an average 28% reduction in expense approval times and 27% reduction in employee expense report creation times according to the latest Aberdeen reports.

To read the complete white paper on ’10 steps towards best-in-class status for expense management’, click HERE

If you have any specific questions that we can help with or need more information, contact us at questions@gorillaexpense.com

Additional resource:

To calculate savings from automating the T&E Expense Reporting Process, click HERE

Cache Me If You Can

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We wanted to capture a few notes about getting the PDF Preview function in the application to show the latest values – whether it is new expense entries or change in status. Since every user’s browser settings can be set differently, it is important to understand how these settings can affect the PDF Preview function.

Depending on the stage of the expense report in the approval process, it can retain various statuses. The initial status is always ‘Saved not Submitted’. When the expense report is submitted the status will change to other levels and consequently, the PDF will show the updated status. Also, as the user adds new transactions or make updates to existing transactions, the PDF content will change content-wise.

In 99.99% of the cases, the most recent entries/statuses are not visible in the PDF due to the cache settings of the user’s browser. If the settings are done correctly, the updates within the PDF would be instantaneous. In most cases refreshing the browser will show the updates. If doing a CTRL + F5 shows the updates, it proves that it is a cache setting issue (Basically CTRL + F5 re-downloads the page while just F5 reloads the content from the cache)

If your cache storage setting is large, you may need to clear the cache (periodically) to see the updated PDF. Alternately, the user may choose to reduce the cache setting to, say, 1MB. Here is how the cache can be cleared in some of the frequently used browsers –

(Make sure you are checking under the correct OS)

Internet Explorer |  Firefox (the browser all cool people use :))  |  Chrome

For the uninitiated, here are a few references to understand what the cache really is and it’s function.

Cache 101 – It is not cash spelled incorrectly

Cache 102 – link 1 |  link 2 (a technical note from friends at Cisco)

Hope this quick guide helps you understand how your browser’s settings play a vital role in the application’s functionality. As always, let us know if there are any questions – info@gorillaexpense.com.

Finance Speak – ‘We lack visibility with our travel expenses. Please advise on how to tackle this’

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(Finance Speak is a series where we discuss typical questions & concerns expressed by our customers. We will delve into each of the points and discuss the best way for the company to handle it. If you’d like to contribute or ask a question, send a message to info@gorillaexpense.com with ‘Finance Speak’ in the subject line.)

Executive (E) at a large manufacturing company –  We have a sizeable mobile workforce. This mainly includes sales folks and purchasing managers who travel to meet with vendors and OEMs. We currently have no visibility into how we spend on travel. We have a very manual expense reporting process and travel expenses are approved without any due diligence. This leads to almost no visibility in where & how we spend. I would like to establish a process without rocking the boat too much. How do I go about this and what would be your recommendations…..

G – Do you currently have an established and well communicated process to manage T&E spend at all?

E – Not really. Some of the travel we do is last minute and there is minimal planning. After that, there is almost no reconciliation with the spend, not to mention our travelers take forever to send in their reports. The whole process pretty much runs open loop

G – Do you have a policies document for travel expenses? Do you know what your spend limits needs to be in a year?

E – We don’t have a policies document. We are paying more attention on how to budget our spend and making serious attempts to be within that budget. Some of these vary by projects so it does become a little hard to tackle

G – So, it sounds like managing spend by projects would definitely be an area of interest. It would also appear that you would like to automate this process as much as possible so that all stakeholders are involved. Would this be a correct assumption?

E – Absolutely! We would like for your company to guide us on how to setup a process and gradually automate it as we bring in more tools for the traveling folks. Can we connect this afternoon and discuss this in more detail?…….

This was definitely a very engaging discussion with our customer. Every company struggles with visibility into spend. Even the ones with a mature process. As companies grow their needs change and their tracking of parameters evolve – much more so for T&E because of the dynamic nature.

So what did we propose to our customer? We discussed many items but we recommended to take small steps that would converge at measurable goals over time. Due to the company’s culture, it made sense for them to not try too much at once. Here’s what we discussed –

T&E expense reporting process –  We talked about the typical expense reporting process (See our website). This was a great way for them to start thinking about it. The key point was the importance of communicating this process and guidelines clearly & frequently to employees. After they looked at it, we helped them fine-tune it much more to meet their needs.

Expense reporting automation – A no-brainer really. This would solve several of the immediate inefficiencies and move them away from the manual process they have today. With this, their employees cannot make excuses for delays in submission. The other advantages are discussed below.

Policies for Expense Reporting – Our application includes setup of policies on various parameters. They were broken down into expense types for this company. This made a huge difference for them in being able to enforce limits. Here is an example screenshot –

Manager Approval – The application also has the ability for managers to view, correct, redirect & approve/reject expenses (See video). This way the right stakeholders were involved in the process and it wasn’t open loop anymore. The company setup a list of approving managers and specific employees to these managers for approval. Over the last few weeks, they have started creating additional layers of managers to review and monitor expense reports. A far cry from what they were doing a few months back!

Allocation of Expenses to Projects – We helped them track project expenses within the application. Project numbers are available to employees who allocate them to the report. We are working through the integration to their ERP system so that all these expenses are pushed to specific project accounts with no manual data entry. Their Accounts Payable manager now does more AP work instead of entering expenses!

T&E Analytics and Reporting – Finally, we walked them through our reporting and analytics engine that helps them slice and dice data to find out biggest areas of spend, expenses that were out of line, budgeted VS spent analysis, expenses by employees, expense types etc. so that they have better visibility on the where and how of travel spend. This has helped them review areas they would have never thought of looking at before.

End Result?

– The company now saves thousands of dollars per month by taking these steps

– The finance team has more details on travel spend

– Employees now submit expenses faster and they love the tools that have enabled improvements

– We helped them expand on their travel policies document when they had none

– The executive we interfaced with is loving his new approach and system having implemented all these steps without breaking the bank

While the company still needs to address other challenges, they are definitely on the right path towards tackling these tricky T&E problems one at a time. At the end of the day a big win-win for all!

Send us any questions or comments below or email us – info AT gorillaexpense

Year End Introspection on Benefits and Value

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As we approach the end of 2011, we have been discussing with our customers about the benefits they have seen from using our system. The feedback we received was plenty and came in several flavors.

Some of our customers loved getting away from the manual systems they used before. Some others loved the mobile app and how it simplified their lives. Others found huge benefits in integrating with their back-end system, which minimized manual work at two places – one at the user level and other at the accounting level.

We found a common theme running through several pages of feedback we received. It is no surprise that this resonated with research published by The Aberdeen Group in 2007.

It all boils down to this – At the end of the day, an expense management system must help a company achieve the following:

Cost reduction: Companies must cut costs associated with the managing of expense reports. With the help of a vendor who knows the game, companies can trim the fat at every step in the lifecycle – creating, submitting, processing, tracking and auditing of expense reports.

Enhance Productivity – By incorporating a system that is user-friendly and intuitive, employee productivity takes a shot in the arm. Using the latest technology, employees spend less time on unbillable work such as expense reports, thereby leaving more time for the important tasks.

Reduce Compliance Risk – Compliance comes in two flavors – internal compliance and government/tax compliance. Internal compliance includes the set up of policies that are lenient in nature, well understood and constantly communicated. Government/Tax compliance includes compliance to Sarbanes-Oxley, receipt capture and expense data as required by the IRS and other regulatory requirements.

Economical to Own – The application must not break the bank. It must be economical for the company to use while providing a modest if not quick ROI.

Seamless Interoperability – The application must be able to seamlessly integrate with the back-end system. Typically, this is less complicated with certain systems such as QuickBooks but can be complex for ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle etc.

Quality Intel – The application must provide access to data that can be used to fine-tune various aspects of the process. Stakeholders should be able to slice and dice the data which should help them take steps that directly improve the bottom-line.

If all of these points can be achieved, the application’s implementation may be considered a success. It is also important to note that the process of selecting and implementing a solution is not linear. There are various dynamic parameters that vary drastically from organization to organization.

We specialize in implementing our application with least disruption to existing processes. We help customers recognize the pertinent level of implementation while evaluating potential risk at every stage. Our expertise in integration with almost every ERP system under the Sun helps customers understand the benefits of going 100% automated.

If you haven’t contacted us yet, lets talk. We can be reached at info AT gorillaexpense.com. We’d love to hear from you and look forward to meeting your requirements.

2011 was great strides and 2012 is going to be greater strides. We are excited!

The IRS and electronic receipts

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Over the last several months, we have been receiving questions about the IRS’s acceptance of electronic receipts. The IRS does accept electronic receipts, but there are a few caveats. All the details are specified under IRS Rev. Proc. 97-22 which can be found:

Here

The general requirements (page 10 of 36) in this PDF specified by the IRS are:

“(1) reasonable controls to ensure the integrity, accuracy and reliability of the electronic storage system
(2) reasonable controls to prevent and detect the unauthorized creation of, addition to, alteration of, deletion of or deterioration of electronically stored books and records
(3) an inspection and quality assurance program, evidenced by regular evaluations of the electronic storage system including periodic checks of electronically stored books and records
(4) a retrieval system that includes an indexing system
(5) the ability to reproduce legible and readable hard copies of electronically stored books and records.”

Please note that this is NOT legal or tax advice. Please contact your attorney for more information.