7 Reasons to Switch from Spreadsheets to Expense Management Software

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In today's fast-paced business world, it's more important than ever to have efficient and effective systems in place to manage your expenses. Spreadsheets, while once a popular tool for expense management, are no longer up to the task. They are prone to errors, time-consuming to maintain, and lack the features you need to gain real-time visibility into your spending.

Traditional Expense Management: Outdated, Time-Consuming, and Error-Prone

In the realm of business finances, expense management has long relied on manual data entry into spreadsheets, a method that, while functional, is plagued by outdated practices, time-consuming procedures, and a heightened risk of human error. With the burgeoning trend of flexible work arrangements, employees are now expensing items such as home office costs, further complicating the process.

Automating Expense Management: A Streamlined Solution

To address these challenges, expense management automation emerges as a transformative solution, streamlining monthly reporting, minimizing the risk of expense fraud, and empowering businesses with enhanced control over employee spending habits. Considering that travel and entertainment expenses typically account for approximately 10% of a company's budget, inefficient expense management practices can have a significant negative impact on financial performance.

A Closer Look at Manual Expense Management

A recent survey of 533 travel managers utilizing manual expense processes revealed the following insights:

• Completing a single expense report requires an average of 20 minutes.
• Processing each expense report incurs an average cost of $58.
• Errors are present in 19% of expense reports.
• Correcting a single expense report takes an average of 18 minutes, adding an additional cost of $52.

These statistics underscore the substantial financial and time resources lost due to inefficient manual expense management practices. Investing in an automated expense management system can yield significant savings in terms of money, time, and effort, redirecting valuable resources toward company improvements and enabling employees to focus on core job responsibilities.

Here are 7 reasons to switch from spreadsheets to expense management software like Cost Tracker for Jira Cloud:

1. Cost Efficiency: Cost management software can save you up to 78% per transaction by automating data entry and eliminating errors. This can add up to significant savings over time..

2. Visibility into Spend: Cost management software provides you with real-time visibility into your spending, so you can make informed decisions about where to allocate your resources.

Cost Tracker provides a comprehensive overview of your expenses, labor costs, and planned budget through intuitive charts. It also shows you the work log amount reported to specific issues and helps you identify cost drivers.

3. Manage Risk & Fraud: Cost tracking software gives more protection to your sensitive data. You can manage access to cost and time reports as well as expenses and even more.

4. Maintain Flexible & Scalable Processes: Expense management software is scalable and flexible, so it can grow with your business.

5. Easier Business Travel: Expense management software makes it easy for employees to submit cost reports on the go, and for managers to approve them quickly and easily.

6. Gain valuable insights into your spending patterns. You can use charts and generated reports to compare with preuvious data.

7. Time efficiency. It is much more easier to generate reports and gain insights which will save to your employees lots of time.

If you are still using spreadsheets to manage your expenses, I encourage you to switch to an automated expense management solution today. Try Cost Tracker for Jira Cloud for free today! You will be glad you did!

Here are some additional tips for choosing the right expense management software for your business:

• Consider your business needs and budget.
• Make sure the software is easy to use and integrate with your existing systems.
• Get a free trial to see if the software is a good fit for your business.