In Australian businesses and corporations where employee travel is common for work, it should be standard practice for finance and management teams to ensure all expenses are tracked accurately.
As tracking expenses is a critical aspect of financial oversight, optimising expense management processes in corporate travel and implementing structured workflows help keep your staff in line with company policy while leading to significant cost savings and improved efficiency.
Where expense tracking used to be done manually using spreadsheets and sifting through piles of receipts, modern expense management processes in corporate travel use automated systems and even externally sourced professionals to keep their finances in check.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore why expense management is so important, how it works, and how you can improve your corporate travel expense management process.
Why Is Expense Management Important for Australian Corporate Travel?
As with any business expense, it’s difficult to understand where you are financially if you don’t track and analyse corporate travel expenses.
When you fail to track and manage expenses accurately, you might be unnecessarily and unknowingly losing large sums of money due to overspending or poor financial reporting.
Plus, employees may take advantage of company policy or unknowingly overspend.
In short, effective expense management keeps corporate travel costs under control, ensuring your business stays financially healthy. Here’s why it matters:
- Ensures staff stay within their budgets, reducing overspending while travelling.
- Save time and money by using automated tools, thereby reducing errors and speeding up approvals.
- Gain a clear overview of your spending, so you can identify cost-saving opportunities and negotiate better deals.
- Maintain transparency and gain an accurate overview of your travel expenses.
- Leverage detailed insights into where your money is going, which allows you to spot trends and help you adjust policies accordingly.
- Prevent unnecessary financial loss due to overspending, unaccounted expenses, and even fraud.
- Tracking travel expenses will also help you maximise the tax deductions your business is legally entitled to and ensure accurate records when tax time rolls around.
Ineffective Expense Management Processes in Corporate Travel
It’s standard practice in corporate travel expense tracking for employees to spend money for food and travel from their own accounts, which is then reimbursed by the company once the trip is over.
Historically, Australian businesses and businesses all over the world have managed travel expenses using manual methods, such as keeping physical receipts and handwritten forms, or even spreadsheet tracking, which required lots of manual data entry.
With these methods, inefficiencies and errors are common, and generally time-consuming for both financial teams and employees.
Often, the lack of a streamlined process and time-consuming workflows means delays in tracking, receipts and forms getting lost, as well as delayed reimbursements for staff, plus the lack of real-time expense visibility.
How to Improve Corporate Travel Expense Management
For businesses looking to improve their corporate travel expense management processes, here are some ways to save money, time, and hassle…
1. Engage with Professional Corporate Travel Management
By working with professional corporate travel agents, you gain an expert’s help with everything from booking flights and hotels to comprehensive services such as expense tracking and reporting – all with corporate discounts you can leverage to save money on your travel expenses.
2. Use Automated Expense Tracking Tools
Automated tools can help you simplify the process of employee expense reporting, as well as streamline the reimbursement process. No one needs to save hoards of receipts or spend hours typing digits into a spreadsheet.
This helps your company gain full visibility over your finances and budgets. You can use these tools to analyse historical data and review past travel expenses to identify trends and patterns. Understanding where the bulk of your spending goes will help you set more accurate budgets and spot areas for potential savings.
3. Cost Optimisation
Effective cost optimisation is key to managing corporate travel expenses. By implementing smart budgeting strategies, Australian companies can significantly reduce unnecessary spending while ensuring employees have a comfortable travel experience.
From negotiating exclusive corporate rates to leveraging data for better decision-making, businesses can take a proactive approach to control costs. Cost optimisation not only prevents overspending but also maximises the value of every dollar spent on travel.
4. Establish Clear Budgets and Travel Policies
When it comes to corporate travel expense management processes, it’s important to set clear guidelines on booking classes, accommodation options, and daily allowances.
Having an automated system for approvals increases transparency, which prevents policy violations and reduces unnecessary expenses.
Establishing clear budgets also ensures accountability across teams. By setting spending limits for flights, accommodations, and daily expenses, businesses can prevent overspending and make informed decisions.
With regular monitoring and adjustments and proper corporate travel policies for travel expense, sustainability guide during business travel or rules for bleisure travel…, companies can stay on track financially while optimising their travel investments.
Example of a Streamlined Corporate Travel Expense Management Process
A well-defined expense management process is essential for a number of reasons, including controlling costs and maintaining financial transparency with your expenses. But what does an effective process actually look like? Here’s an example using an automated system:
1. Employee Places a Travel Request
Employees initiate the process by submitting a travel request through a centralised platform, detailing trip objectives, destinations, dates, and estimated costs. For instance, a sales manager planning to attend a conference in Sydney would outline the purpose, expected expenses, and duration.
2. Travel Approval
The request is sent to the appropriate manager or finance team for approval, ensuring alignment with corporate travel policies and budgets. In Australia, companies often implement tiered approval systems where higher-cost trips require senior management authorisation.
3. Booking with a Corporate Travel Management Company
Once the travel request is approved, a corporate travel management company handles all bookings, including flights, hotels, and transportation or car rentals if necessary. They negotiate exclusive corporate rates and ensure the best deals are secured, making sure that everything is handled with care.
4. Expense Report
After the trip, the employee compiles an expense report itemising all expenditures, including receipts for meals and any extra transportation. Employees can scan receipts easily on the automated platform that corporate travel management companies provide, meaning fewer errors, and receipts don’t need to be kept once the expense is reported.
5. Expense Claim Approvals
Designated supervisors review the submitted expense reports to verify adherence to company policies and approve legitimate claims. For example, ensuring meal expenses align with the company’s per diem rates, preventing overspend.
6. Reimbursement
Once approved, reimbursements should be processed promptly. This will ensure employees are compensated for their out-of-pocket expenses quickly without having to manually bank transfer money each time.
Choose Spencer Travel for Seamless Corporate Travel Management
Managing corporate travel expenses can be complicated and time-consuming. From ensuring policy compliance to tracking expenses and processing reimbursements, it’s easy for things to slip through the cracks. That’s where Spencer Travel comes in.
We offer comprehensive corporate travel management solutions designed to simplify your processes, reduce costs, and give you full visibility over your travel expenditure. Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, our tailored services for your company group travel, conference and even travel or corporate incentive trips , we will ensure your company’s travel is efficient and cost-effective.
By partnering with a corporate travel management company like Spencer Travel, you’ll be able to leverage streamlined expense management systems and tailored solutions while accessing exclusive corporate travel discounts and negotiated rates on flights, hotels, and transportation. Plus, you’ll gain 24/7 support so no matter where your employees go, our dedicated team is there to assist around the clock.
Contact Spencer Travel today to learn how we can help you optimise your corporate travel expense management.
