TOP SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS EXPENSE MANAGEMENT. a whitepaper by

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1 TOP EXPENSE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS a whitepaper by

2 Brought to you by Looking for an Expense Management Software Vendor? Our Top 5 Expense Management Solution Companies Expense management is a necessity in order to run a business. Employees incur reimbursable business expenses for a variety of reasons: business travel, sales expenses, local purchases and mileage reimbursement to name a few. And most of the time, they pay out of pocket and get reimbursed by the company later. However, the manual process of submitting reimbursement forms and receipts to obtain approval from the appropriate person can be costly and time-consuming. Enter automated expense management systems. This report will explain what companies should look for in expense management software, its features, and profile today s top 5 software vendors. What is Expense Management? Expense Management refers to the process of the company paying employee-initiated business expenses. For example, these expenses can include hotel and travel for an employee to attend an industry-related conference or mileage expenses to attend a local meeting. Even companies without a lot of traveling employees likely spend a lot on expenses, such as office supplies or food for company events. Some industries such as construction also frequently have employees that purchase their own materials and are later reimbursed. The employee typically pays for their expense with their own funds or a charge card provided by their company. Most companies issue a policy outlining which expenses are valid and reimbursable. To be reimbursed, the employee usually submits the expenses along with receipts and other supporting documentation to a manager for approval. Upon approval, the expenses are routed through a payment process and may be subject to further audit and review. Funds are reimbursed to the employee and/or the corporate charge card to settle the amounts due. Finally, the expense and payment information is updated in the company s financial systems. Benefits of Expense Management Software The process of expense management can be costly, time-consuming, and prone to mistakes when conducted manually. And it can be difficult for a company to enforce their business expense policy.

3 Expense management software streamlines the process and allows employees to focus on important parts of their jobs. It reduces or eliminates errors, gets employees paid faster, reduces internal processing costs, and encourages compliance with policies. In addition, automated expense management eliminates the costs involved with processing paper documents and makes the accounting and payables departments more efficient. In addition, companies can use expense management software to gather information to aid in planning, budget management, policy compliance and other key management needs. Who Uses Expense Management Systems? Users of automated expense management range from small businesses to large companies with multiple locations. However, according to a recent survey by Certify, out of 165 companies surveyed, about 50% still manually keep track of their expenses. But these companies recognize that the manual process is inefficient and costly, as 64% of small businesses and 72% of large enterprises plan to switch to a cloud-based expense management system within the next year. So, who uses automated expense management systems? Users vary by industry, from healthcare to retail to finance. A typical user in a company falls into one of three categories: 1. Users Those employees that incur reimbursable business expenses 2. Approvers Managers who are responsible for approving user-submitted expenses 3. Administrators Administrative employees responsible for the overall operation of the expense management process for the company However, expense management systems go beyond reimbursement approval. For instance, HR can use the system to record employee information, such as pay rate, timesheets, etc, for payroll. Executives can also use the system to analyze financial data and approve the company budget. Since employee business expenses can be the third highest controllable expense in a company, there are many areas that have a stake in the information and controls surrounding this area. Common Features of Expense Management Software Automated travel booking Expense management software allows for booking hotel and flight right from the system which saves the user time in having to re-enter the data. Integration with a company credit card The expense management software allows for importing expenses from the card provider and pre-populate the user s expense report, ensuring accurate expense data and reducing employee data entry and the use of employee funds.

4 Digital receipt attachment Most automated expense management software lets users attach receipts in digital form, either through a fax or attachment within the software itself. The user just needs a means to convert the paper receipt to a digital form, such as a scanner, camera, or fax machine. Compliance with Corporate Policy Some expense management software sends alerts to users that the expense may be in violation of company policy or a risk of overspending even before the expense is submitted. It then gives the opportunity for the user to correct the mistake or provide an explanation. Audit Services While the goal of expense management software is to comply with company reimbursement policy, and the approver should be ensuring this, it is still common practice to audit expense reports as a final step. Whether you audit 100% or just a select percentage based on risk factors, you will need a process to do this. Expense Management solutions often provide audit processes within the software. Mobile access Many expense management solutions offer mobile support. Users can access their expense data and even make travel plans from any device with an Internet connection, including a tablet or smartphone. What to Look For When Purchasing Expense Management Software There are many options to choose from when selecting expense management software. Most vendors today offer a cloud-based (Software-as-a-Service or SaaS) solution. Some offer a more traditional installed software package for on-premise management by the client s IT organization. Before purchasing any solution, companies need to first figure out what they plan to use expense management software for i.e., do they have a lot of employees that travel and need reimbursement? Companies should list what requirements they have for the software before researching solutions and meeting with the vendors. These are the top things companies should consider when purchasing an expense management solution: Cost There are several pricing options when buying expense management software, such as per transaction, fixed monthly fee, monthly per-user fee, to name a few. In comparing fees across multiple vendors, you may want to consider the total annual cost of ownership. Be careful to watch for hidden fees, such as monthly minimum transaction fees, additional services fees, fees for non-users such as administrators, approvers, etc. Ease of Use Expense reports tend to be time-consuming, so you ll want make sure the system is easy to use for everything involved to the expense reimbursement process.

5 Support for policies Make sure the system can support the specific rules the company has in its own expense reimbursement policy. Scalability Does your company anticipate making any changes to its procedures or systems in the future? If so, you ll want to find a solution that offers the ability to scale up or down, especially if any additional employees are expected to use the software. Ability to integrate existing hardware, databases, and systems - Make sure that the software is compatible with any other hardware or software your company uses. This is especially important for Accounting, HR, and Finance to ensure this software can work with their payroll systems to provide timely reimbursement. Input from users - The company will need to get buy-in for the software, not just from the top executives, but all the employees that will be using the system. One way to do that is to get those users involved in choosing the system for example, have them participate in software demonstrations. Training and support after software deployment - Does the vendor offer training remotely or onsite? You ll want to choose a vendor that can provide training at your company s convenience, if feasible for example, having a rep conduct training sessions to multiple users at the company s site. Also, make sure if the vendor provides support after the software is deployed, such as 24/7 tech or customer service support via phone or online.

6 Top 5 Expense Management Software Vendors Below we ve listed our five top companies to guide you in your expense management software purchasing. Within each company, we ve listed its profile, key features of its system, and customers that have used it. Key Links: Certify Free Trial: Certify LLC 20 York Street, Suite 201 Portland, ME [email protected] Certify Videos: Certify Whitepapers & more: Certify Customer Success: Certify's Automated Expense Management: Certify Mobile: Company Profile: Certify is a web-based, easy-to-use expense reporting and travel booking solution for all sized organizations. With automated expense reporting and streamlined workflow, Certify can eliminate the need for spreadsheets and paper receipts while reducing the time spent creating, approving and reimbursing an expense report. Gain insight into your travel and entertainment spend with Certify s Suite of Reports, employee policy enforcement tools and audit/trend analytics. At Certify, innovation is one of the many driving forces behind its industry-leading product. Certify is continuously creating and developing revolutionary features built to pivot themselves into the top spot for expense management systems. The latest innovation from Certify is the industry s first fully automated expense management system, called ReportExecutive, a feature that comes standard with the Certify service. Certify s service now automates the creation and delivery of expense reports to employees at predefined intervals, saving employees hours of time every month and delivering visibility into employee expenses before corporate credit card bills are due. With ReportExecutive, Certify users can now scan receipts from their mobile device or desktop computer into Certify and the software automatically creates a complete, policy-compliant report from

7 those expenses on the day specified by accounting. Finance employees can schedule Certify to create reports on a weekly, twice-monthly or monthly basis, and the software notifies employees when reports are ready to review. For companies with flexible reporting policies, individual employees can set their own schedule for expense report submission. With Certify s automatic credit card integration, employees automatically receive corporate card charges populated in their expense reports, dramatically reducing reconciliation time for accounting personnel. Finally, Certify s Cleanup Wizard quickly guides users to add any missing data items before submitting the report online for approval. Certify is among the fastest-growing cloud expense management software vendors. Launched in 2009, the service is used by thousands of employees at companies including Pitney Bowes, Subway Sandwiches, Little Caesars Pizza and Dr. Maartens Shoes. In 2012, Certify released the industry s first mobile app to automatically populate expense reports using the camera on a smartphone or tablet. Certify is still the only expense management vendor to offer this feature, which it calls ReceiptParse. Certify s mobile app, including ReceiptParse, is available for all major mobile platforms, including ios, Android, Windows and Blackberry. Key Features: Auto-Generated Expense Reports with Report Executive Company-Wide Scheduled Automated Expense Reports Mobile Applications for On-The-Go Functionality 11 Methods to Capture Receipts & Expenses Integrated Travel Booking Solution Spend Reporting, Auditing & Analytics Global Functionality with 64 Languages and 120 Currencies Options Enforce Corporate Travel and Expense Policies Sync Corporate Credit Card Transactions Integrate with Accounting Systems Live & Web-Based User Training Live Customer Support for All Users

8 Customers: Pitney Bowes Zoll Medical Little Caesars Pizza Subway Daktronics 800-Flowers Atlanta Hawks Larkspur Hotels Netscout Wingstop

9 Concur North American and Worldwide Headquarters th Ave NE, Suite 1000 Bellevue, WA Phone: Fax: Web: Blog: Key Links: 2013 Expense IQ Report - App Center - Resource Center - Integrated Travel and Expense Overview - Company Profile: Concur is a leading provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions. Through Concur s open platform, the entire travel and expense ecosystem of customers, suppliers, and developers can access and extend Concur s T&E cloud. Concur s systems adapt to individual employee preferences and scale to meet the needs of companies from small to large. For organizations, Concur helps ensure that corporate travel is booked within policy before the trip is taken and reconciles expenses after travel is completed. And by delivering electronic receipts from airlines, hotels, and car rental companies directly into expense reports, Concur virtually eliminates the need to track and manage paper receipts. To keep employees productive while traveling, Concur s mobile applications enable business travelers to keep track of and share their travel plans, create, review and approve expense reports and book and change travel itineraries, all from a smartphone. By capturing and reporting on every aspect of T&E spend, Concur s services provide detailed information to help clients effectively negotiate with vendors, create budgets and manage compliance. Trusted by businesses of all sizes in more than 100 countries, Concur s on-demand services process over $50 billion in T&E spend a year equal to roughly 10 percent of the world s T&E spend. Key Features: Concur Travel and Expense: End-to-End Travel and Expense: Book employee-preferred, in-policy travel Manage travel and expense anytime, anywhere with mobile apps (Concur mobile app, TripIt Pro) Get accurate data with e-receipts

10 Built-in compliance controls flag out-of-policy spending Three-way match ensures accuracy Concur Open Booking you want control. Your employees want choices. We have the answer. Customers: Elizabeth Arden Ericsson T-Systems United Health Group University of Colorado Unisys

11 Key Links: ExpenseWatch.com Expense Reports Video Demonstration ExpenseWatch.com 620 W. Germantown Pike, Suite 175 Plymouth Meeting, PA General Information & Sales Inquiries: Partnerships: ExpenseWatch.com Customer Profile with American Medical Technologies ExpenseWatch.com Expense Reports Product Overview Company Profile: ExpenseWatch.com Expense Reports empowers you to spend with confidence. It transforms time-consuming and costly manual expense reporting into a comprehensive automated expense management system, providing complete visibility and control over expense spending. If you re like most companies looking to better manage expense processes, you fall into one of two categories: You either have a defined travel and expense policy, but have difficulty finding efficient and reliable ways to enforce it, or You don t have a travel and expense policy yet and need help establishing controls With ExpenseWatch.com Expense Reports, everything is automated, from expense report creation through to reimbursement, reducing or eliminating the need for paper. No matter what your company role Submitter, Approver or Finance/Executive ExpenseWatch.com allows you to work more efficiently. Submitters can download business expenses from credit cards and travel management programs onto their expense reports and easily create a new report or add expense items and receipt images to existing expense reports directly from their smartphones. Approvers automatically receive s alerting them that reports have been submitted and are awaiting review. They are provided with all of the information they need in one place to approve or reject the entire report or individual line items, sending the approved reports through the system and rejected items back to submitters to re-work. As expense reports are created, your specific internal spending policies and controls are automatically enforced. Finance and executives gain complete visibility into expense report spending what s been paid, and expense reports waiting to be approved or paid providing real-time visibility to the impact spending will have on your bottom line. To ensure transactional efficiency, ExpenseWatch.com s open spend management solution provides you with the flexibility to integrate spending data with a wide range of the business applications you use. From budgeting information imported into the system through to payments via ACH, reimbursements through payroll systems, and posting approved transactions into your accounting or ERP system, ExpenseWatch.com enables you to create an end-to-end system to control, reduce and report on all company spending.

12 ExpenseWatch.com is by your side with implementation, training and support for all users to ensure your success. All of this capability is available for one low annual subscription. In fact, our pricing incents you to use us -- the more your company controls expenses with ExpenseWatch.com, the bigger the return on your investment. We invite you to learn how ExpenseWatch.com empowers you to spend with confidence. Key Features: Submitters: Mobile Apps; integrated travel booking data and credit card charges; drag and drop to create expense items; easy receipt attachment (phone, fax, ); visual policy queues. Approvers: Empowered approver inbox and detailed review everything provided in one place for approvers to make educated, intelligent approval decisions. Financial Reviewers: integration with accounting, payroll, and ACH for reimbursement; adjust reports as needed; easily separate reports for reimbursement: company-paid vs. submitter. Administrators: credit card administration; flexible approval configurations; unlimited categories with unlimited attributes; flexible policy configuration; alternate expense limits based upon company role; use taxes. Finance/Executives: Aggregate analysis of information; predefined and optional custom reports; detailed visibility to transactions and documentation. Comprehensive: Expense Reports is one of three modules offered through ExpenseWatch.com s integrated spend management system, along with Purchasing and Payable Invoices. By automating expense reporting processes with ExpenseWatch.com, you gain complete visibility and control over expense spending and are empowered to spend with confidence. Customers AbeBooks American Medical Technologies Copart Delta Dental EducationDynamics Miami Dade County Santa Rosa Consulting Gaming Laboratories International Solairus Aviation TM Forum Trius Therapeutics Wycliffe Bible Translators Trinity Health Walt Disney Company

13 Key Links Free trial: WSG Systems Corp c/o Steve Macquade 393 Fifth Avenue, 8th Floor New York, NY Direct Fax Skype: steve.macquade Products: Company Profile WSG has been in business since 1984 and our entire business is focused on the development of timesheet and expense management software. In 1992 we added on billing, project financial accounting and resource scheduling software which is designed for project-based environments. We have over 75,000 users in over 40 countries worldwide. WSG is proud of the quality of our offerings, customer support and product capabilities. Our enterprise software, Empire SUITE, is designed for growing, dynamic companies. A key difference between the Empire SUITE and competitive products is the ease and speed of deployment. In fact, two of the critical factors in a competitive win were the significantly shorter implementation time frame and lower implementation costs for our solution compared to the other tools under consideration. Another major differentiator of the Empire SUITE is that once you have configured the software to meet your needs, any future changes in business requirements will not make your investment obsolete. Some software companies use scalability as the ability to accommodate an increasing number of users. We use scalability to mean both accommodating user growth and that the Empire SUITE will grow with the organization functionally to meet evolving business challenges. We are also very proud to have a version of our worldwide tested enterprise version in the software as service offering, EmpireSUITE. Based on the enterprise version, uniquely designed and developed for ease of use and simplistic administration, but under the hood, strong enough and configurable for small to midsized firms. Users can manage prospects, opportunities, activities, projects, time and expense and billing, all conveniently accessible via an internet browser or mobile smart phone. Key Features Supports time and expense data entry using web-based software, our Empire MOBILE application, and through our Empire CALENDAR add-in to Microsoft Outlook. Auto-population of timesheets with scheduled work, personal time off and holidays.

14 notifications for time and expense sheets including those due, rejected and/or late. Configurable automated rule/policy checking on time and expense submissions. Electronic submission of time and expenses, including scanned expense receipts. Captures expenses in incurred currency, converts to employee reimbursement currency and into the project s contract currency. System can be configured to capture and process VAT information through billing and reclamation. Employee time off module available. Integration with financial and human resources systems. Empire TIME is easily customizable to meet your complex business requirements and can be quickly implemented for both on-site and hosted solutions. Customers: Atlantis Healthcare Deloitte Gabriel Roeder Smith & Company Guidewire Independent Catalyst

15 InterplX Inc Valley Park Drive, Suite 115 Shakopee, MN Key Links: Solutions: Services: Case Studies: Company Profile: At InterplX, we provide business expense management solutions through a unique offering that combines our proprietary ExpenseNet expense automation software and back-office services. In fact, we are the only company that offers the total business expense management solution from the receipt submission through expense audit, payment processing and expense reimbursement, archiving and discrepancy resolution. Known for providing highly customized implementations, InterplX has consistently delighted its clients by helping them strengthen controls, reduce costs, improve employee satisfaction, and minimize the burden on internal resources. Over the years, we have established ourselves as a leader in the expense management industry, serving an ever-expanding client base across North America including many Fortune 500 clients. In doing so, we have taken great care to develop strong, dedicated, and mutually beneficial industry partnerships. Key Features: Flexibility Our goal is to offer the maximum amount configurability to meet each of our client s unique needs, regardless of size or type of business. Compliance Our automated expense report software and back-office services have passed the rigorous SSAE 16 (formerly SAS 70 Type II) review, a requirement for Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) compliance. Value We charge based on volume and level of service provided. We do not make you pay a large monthly minimum regardless of how many expense reports you process. Mobile App Our approach is device agnostic. In addition to our cloud solutions, we provide a mobile-optimized site that works with any browser-enabled smart phone or tablet.

16 Booking Integration We integrate with any booking tool you choose and provide booked versus actual comparison after the fact. By comparing booked data from your travel management company with actual expense data, we are able to identify travelers and organizations that are not booking according to prescribed procedures without burdening all of your travelers. Audit Services Our audit services are completed by internal resources and are tailored to your selection criteria. We also make two attempts to resolve any discrepancies before burdening your resources. Reimbursement Services We reimburse 2-3 days, which faster than most of the competition. We also support direct payment to card providers and we manage the exceptions (rejections, reversals, etc.) so that you don t have to.