To be a success in business we need to keep track of and minimize, every possible outgoing as far as possible. This can be in a few ways, from getting the best rent on a unit, the cheapest deals on a fleet of vehicles or finding the best value supplier. But one area that is often overlooked is employee expenses.
In many workplaces, the problem with this is that too much control is left down to the individual employees and they do not always think value first. So, it’s good to have some systems in place and control over this aspect of your company’s outgoings.
Capped Expenses Cards
Giving your people company credit cards with which to pay their expenses is a great way to avoid the extra paperwork of them using their own funds and claiming back from the business. It is important to follow the law of the country that work is being done in. Many countries require employees to be paid while traveling. For instance. The US and Germany have per diem laws. That means an employee is supposed to be paid a minimum for food and hotel. The downside to this is that they could rack up quite a bill without authorization, especially if the worker develops a grudge or is fired. To prevent this problem, you can get cards that have capped limits, beyond which the employee will need to get an approval of previous purchases before more can be made.
Get an Account with a Hotel Chain
If you must send people regularly on overnight trips, then the cost of accommodation can be a real cost. This can be brought down if you open an account with a national or regional hotel chain as you will be able to qualify for good discounts based on the fact that you will give them a certain level of custom over the years.
Save on Fuel
Fuel may seem like a cost that you cannot get rid of, which is true but the next best thing is getting discounted gas which, as you can see via that link is very possible in a range of ways. This varies from freebies to cashback offers and incentive schemes.
Require Management Approval on Large Expenses
Be careful who can give the OK on larger purchases. Now what a large purchase is will be dependent on you and your business model, it may be too restrictive to have a meeting about every single item that needs to be bought. So set a limit on a level of cost that could harm your cashflow if it happens too often and make sure only management level people can approve these orders or make them.
Stipulate Approved Suppliers
There are so many various ways to look at how to assess a supplier, and this is definitely true when allowing staff to use and claim back their own expenses. If left unchecked your employees could rack up quite the expenses list by using the wrong suppliers.
The way to get around this tricky issue is to only allow expenses to be claimed from an approved supplier checklist so that this way you can be sure that they are getting good value for the business. Keep an eye on this and update as necessary as things always change.
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Interesting related article: “What does Expense mean?”