Claims are known to be a frustrating process all around. For employees, it's the long wait to the end of the month for the reimbursement to show up in their personal account. As for finance teams, it’s dealing with the tedious process of managing unpaid invoices that pile up once the cut off date closes. This can double or triple in complexity for startups who have hit their Series B round and beyond, where there’s typically a 50 to 100 headcount一which means there’s an unenviable pile of unpaid claims to sift through.
The good news is that setting up a fuss-free claim structure is not impossible to do.
The process of reimbursing claims can be a smooth and effortless process altogether if you’re using the right tools with smart automation capabilities. This frees up your workload, giving you more time to look at higher level spending insights that will grow the company instead of impede its growth.
To get you started, here’s a rundown of the steps you need to take to get your claims process up and running faster than ever before.
Life hack: you can even reimburse claims with just one click!
Step 1: Centralize claim requests and expenses in an all-in-one platform
Now this is a lifesaver for finance teams who are struggling to keep track of claims. The importance of onboarding a software that not only tracks spending but auto-categorizes them into the different spending categories in your company can greatly reduce the risk of miscalculating spend or going over-budget一particularly if you’re currently using manual workflows. In short, categorizing spend from the different teams under the right budgets is key to knowing how money moves in and out of your business.
That said, the Aspire account provides you with the bird’s eye view you need to manage out-of-pocket expenses as well as control business spend without running multiple apps at once. Think of it as your ultimate finance control center for all things business finance. If you run the risk of overspending in certain categories, Aspire gives you the power to freeze or set new limits so you’ll never have to worry about going over that department’s budget. Easy peasy.
Pro tip: With Aspire's budgets feature, set aside budgets to track expenditure in real-time and never worry about over-spending by allocating spend limits.
Step 2: Ensure that your employee claims are synced with your accounting software
With your business finance in one place, you’ve successfully reduced precious man-hours for managing spending significantly. However, the next step to really amp up your finance team’s efficiency is making sure that your spend management account is able to sync with your accounting software.
By doing so, you’ve successfully dodged an obstacle that is the hassle of business expenses mixed in with your payroll. What we’ve learned from step #1 is that categorization is key一and with your claims auto-categorized under the right budgets, you need not input the spending manually into your accounting software. Aspire facilitates a painless process that seamlessly integrates your go-to accounting tool the likes of Xero and Quickbook to save your finance team even more time.
Step 3: Approve and reimburse in real time
The end is in sight for your new and improved claims process. Now that you’re categorized expenses under the right budgets and that your accounting software is linked to your business account, what’s left to do is simple: approve the claims that comply with your company’s expense policy and disburse it to the employee’s account.
Depending on your platform of choice, this is where an integrated finance stack such as Aspire would pay off in boosting your finance team’s efficiency. Built to solve common pain points such as delayed payments, Aspire gives you the power to approve and release disbursement to your team by clicking a button. Better yet, the payment will be reflected in their account lightning-fast. Gone are the days where one needs to wait to the end of the month for what could be done in real time.
Team reimbursements made easy, with Aspire Claims
Ready to streamline your employee expense reimbursement process for your startup? Let us help you get started.
With the Aspire Business Account, startup founders can gain access to a plethora of features that will help simplify the way you manage your business finances. Virtual corporate cards, accounting integrations, automated bill payments, expense reimbursement has never been this simple.
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