{"id":2944,"date":"2017-03-09T16:23:22","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T16:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peeriosity.com\/shared-services\/articles\/?p=2944"},"modified":"2022-08-24T17:57:16","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T17:57:16","slug":"controls-for-timely-submission-of-employee-expense-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peeriosity.com\/shared-services\/articles\/2017\/03\/controls-for-timely-submission-of-employee-expense-reports\/","title":{"rendered":"Controls for Timely Submission of Employee Expense Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Timely submission of expense reports by employees can help improve the quality and efficiency of the overall Travel & Expense process<\/a>.\u00a0 The longer an employee waits, the more likely there are errors or omissions, or lost receipts that require special handling for approval.\u00a0 Given that frequent travelers are most likely either senior-level company employees or employees that are directly involved in generating sales revenue for the company, creating and enforcing strong controls<\/a> for this part of the process can be problematic, with limited leverage in Shared Services to drive policy changes.<\/span><\/p>\n

When questions like this come up, it can be helpful to have clear insight into the policies of peers.\u00a0 Fortunately for members of Peeriosity, it is easy to get objective and unbiased feedback from peers who are interested in sharing their views and helping a colleague, with the option for participants to see the identity of others, and with the ability to easily contact peers using Peer MailTM<\/sup>, an e-mail tool that is integrated into the Peeriosity solution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently, Peeriosity\u2019s iPollingTM<\/sup> was used to examine the requirement for timeliness of expense reporting by asking two important questions.\u00a0 First, information on the timeframe between when an expense is incurred and when an employee is required to submit an expense report, and second, when, if ever, does an employee risk not being reimbursed for expenses, if the expenses are not claimed within a certain timeframe.\u00a0 Responses were posted in real-time, with visibility to company responses available to all Peeriosity members, allowing for direct communication with peers using Peeriosity\u2019s integrated Peer MailTM<\/sup> capabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the first poll question asking about the length of time permitted before an employee is required to submit an expense report, 5% indicated within 5 days, with the most popular response, within 15 days, being selected by 38% of responding member companies.\u00a0 Within 30 days was next most popular, at 30%, with 21% making selections of 45 days or longer<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are the details:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"iPolling:<\/p>\n

Timely submission of an expense report<\/a> is certainly a good idea, but how many companies consider not reimbursing an employee for expenses that are not claimed within a specified time frame?\u00a0 While 48% of responding companies indicate they will always reimburse regardless of the timeframe, a reasonably large percentage, at 33%, will not reimburse if the expenses are over 90 days old. \u00a0Here are the details:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"iPolling:<\/p>\n

Unlike traditional benchmarking, Peeriosity\u2019s iPollingTM<\/sup> capabilities allow members to very quickly examine this issue in detail, providing a range of experiences and viewpoints that can be reviewed to develop an appropriate and workable answer.\u00a0 Tapping into the experience of peers eliminates guesswork and allows members to quickly access the collective experiences of a large community of users who are facing the same challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are a few of the comments from responding companies:<\/span><\/p>\n