What is the best way to incentivize employees to follow expense report policies and procedures?

It starts with simplifying the process and making people understand about need of following such policies or processes along with consequences like non-compliance, audit concerns etc for the organisation. Technology should be used to make the expense submission process easier like only key details should be entered manually not taking too much time. Clear timelines & checklist should be defined for processing the claims, making it rewarding for the employees who follow the process in timeline. Exceptions should be restricted with strict approval matrix, to ensure the compliances at large. Having adequate support available to help with technical issues, makes it convenient for employees.

Firstly, we have to ensure that all employees understand expense report policies and procedures, train them and provide sessions to walk through the process and submit demos to illustrate how correct and appropriate expense report would be very helpful and will address positive impact on their productivity and company as well.

In my opinion and experience. People first need to understand ‘expenses’ - having said that they need to know what they can incur and what they cant. OR what is an allowable expenses vs whats NOT. This can all be interactive videos or leaflets as bigger documents will go unnoticed - period. Secondly, most of the time it’s all about using the tool, no matter how friendly the tools nowadays are, training and eduction still stands higher in the cause as opportunity cost could be be quite high in terms of - finance business partners fixing those expense reports ‘everytime’

It is very important that there is significant uniformity in the understanding of cost policy compliance for everyone, right from the CEO to the employees. Employees should be clearly and precisely explained the benefits of following expense report policies and procedures, that is, what they benefit from it. One way to do this is through meetings and team building where employees are shown with concrete examples how it can make their work easier and become more productive.

1. Make it easy and relatively frictionless to report expenses promptly and accurately. 2. Make sure compliant reports are reimbursed as quickly as possible. 3. Shine the spotlight on employees who "get it right". 4. Limit distribution and use of corporate payment cards to those who incur large out-of-pocket expenditures on behalf of the entity. 5. Suspend corporate payment card privileges for repeat offenders.

In this digital world... Employees should have needed resources in the form of usergguide and a testing box, with clear support levels and escalation matrix.

I have found success in offering one-on-one training with a co-worker that struggles submitting the expense reports. By personalizing the training it should help the associate to better understand the steps and it will help you improve the training materials if there is an identified gap.

Many individuals are not formally trained on how to complete expense reports, often mirroring the practices they observe from their managers or colleagues. Given this, offering guidance becomes paramount to ensure accuracy and compliance. Recognizing that not everyone may have received formal training in this area, providing clear instructions and support helps create a more consistent and reliable reporting process. By offering guidance, whether through written instructions, training sessions, or one-on-one support, managers contribute to a more streamlined and error-free expense reporting system, fostering a workplace culture that values precision and adherence to policies.

Proper cost control to be adopted makers and checkers both should maintain transperency in their policies framing and due care must be taken for implementation time to time training must be provided which will not only leads to growth and development of personnels but will ultimately boost the morale and efficiency of them, proper bilateral feedbacks to be implemented to check the results. Many more such steps could be taken from time to time.

I have had the most impact with creating awareness amongst the employees for the policies. However, it starts by explaining and elaborating the terms and the consequences of not following them.

This sounds like giving a “participation trophy”. Compliance with company policies and legal requirements is a job expectation. If employees are fairly compensated, why would you give them a “bonus” for doing their job?

En mi experiencia, todos los empleados tenemos derechos y obligaciones, y no se puede premiar al que cumple con sus obligaciones y dejar que otros no cumplan sin ninguna explicación. Los procedimientos son obligaciones a cumplir en una organización.

In my experience I have seen that keeping timelines for reimbursements works best for both the employee and the employer. There is no way an employee will want to wait for months to be reimbursed because of office politics and prolonged processes from submitting expense reports, reviewing and approving. This can be avoided by ensuring employees send through their expense claims in time and the payment processing timeframe doesn't take time

Simplifying the submission process and allowing cardholders to classify expenses as they occur helps eliminate paperwork buildups and keeps the data up to date regarding classifications and budgets totals. Creating a behavioral pattern around rewarding users that submit accurate and timely reports helps reinforce positive outcomes.

Everyone loves rewards and recognition. Often be it small and inconsequential, a job well done goes a long way! I have seen champion programs where someone is recognized as being the "Champion" of the behavior.

1. Enforce cut off ie if they miss the submission deadline, claims will only be processed the following month. This will push employees to prioritize timely expense report submission. 2. Make it easy for claims to be submitted and processed via an integrated system that is robust and user friendly. 3. Make it easy for approvers to approve timely, with effective limits of authority in place

Hacer cumplir la rendición de cuentas a través de informes detallados de gastos es esencial para la transparencia financiera y fiscal de una entidad ya sea pública o privada. Estos informes proporcionan una visión clara de cómo se usan los fondos, lo que ayuda a evaluar la salud financiera de una organización y a cumplir con requisitos legales. La importancia radica en que estos informes ofrecen confianza a accionistas, inversores y la comunidad al mostrar cómo se asignan los recursos. La rendición de cuentas a través de informes detallados de gastos es crucial para mantener la integridad financiera, generar confianza y cumplir con regulaciones, contribuyendo así a una gestión financiera transparente y sólida.

Staff tend to perceive enforcement as negative - and this is true in some organizations. I have experienced a downrating on a performance appraisal which had to be fought to the CCMA to ensure the correct rating was allocated. I have experienced that government entities is the worst offenders in this regard; although lip service is paid to "think outside the box", if you dare you are hounded till you get so fed-up, you tell the senior what to do with the job and walk - as I did.

System will flag errors and will not allow the employee to submit the expense report for approval until all policy requirements are met. Once submitted the system will check for possible duplicate or previously submitted items, perdiems and mileage rates are correct for the approving management to verify compliance and that the receipts provided are for the correct month expenses are submitted. Non-compliance may cause rejection or request to revise the expense report that can prevent or delay employee reimbursement. Rejections and delays will also be tracked in the KPIs, as well as, any deductions or corrections by management in the approval process, which will cause a deduction in employee company store credit issued.

Esta etapa en la siguiente y lógica de cualquier procedimiento que exista en una empresa, y debe ser llevado a cabo por la etapa siguiente de control, donde se analiza la coherencia (magnitud y tipo) del gasto, que la rendición cumpla con el procedimiento etc etc etc.

That’s where you would normally struggle a little feedback also ever you require is quite minimal. The best way to solicit feedback is after doing live sessions and before closing them.

The feedback culture is a powerful tool that is often underestimated by companies. It is not only essential but should also be actively encouraged. Its benefits are vast, promoting a stronger synergy among employees and cultivating a deep sense of belonging.

Little to no feedback is received. The best way to get feedback is to physically enter the employees' work space and observe and question. If the trainer is lucky s/he may have a 5% response on feedback. For me it worked to observe the employee executing what was taught in training. Even then a small sample is selected, trying to cover all the bases from best to slowest. The trainer should not listen to the senior and only attend to the nominated staff, but randomly select staff members based on the participation in and result of training sessions.

Once the expense report has been successfully completed in the system an automated email will be generated by the system to the employee. This survey will give the employee the opportunity to evaluate and report any issues with the process.

Como cualquier proceso, se debe buscar feedback de todos los usuarios para mejorarlo y hacerlo más eficiente para todos, desde la tesorería que entrega y reintegra los fondos, los supervisores que controlan y aprueban los gastos, hasta contabilidad que debe registrar y asignar correctamente cada uno de todos los comprobantes.

The first thing is to understand the culture of the organization, as well as the society you’re living in. In some societies the employees have to be almost forced to abide by the rules. In some other cultures employees naturally follow rules and there would be rare cases of gross violations.

All of the methods need to be evaluated for their effectiveness with each employee. It is up to management to determine which method, or combination of methods, works best for their employee(s).

Lead by example. By this I mean, when executives and senior management travel, they should demonstrate how they keep their expense cost down. Therefore the others should.

Assuming the perspective is the expense report is getting above or below budgeted limits then there is a need to: a)preapprove the expense (before posting)and cap to amounts for the specific period if above budget. b)Enlighten the staff on prescribed submission timelines eg before 20th of every month and have an automated reminder. c)Simplify the data capture interface so that it's easy to accommodate all the users with different capabilities levels. d)Have a resource preferably within finance to help at the backend on the issues raised and running compliance reports and circulating them for action. e) Induct the importance and impact at small user groups. That way they will also share their challenges and ways of overcoming.

Segundo Fayol que provou com experiências práticas, melhor maneira é fazer o funcionário se sentir como parte vital para o processo empresarial e fazer com que os superiores se interessem pelo e como ele procede em suas rotinas. Esse grupo di Fayol competiu com um outro cujos salários tinham sido dobrados para a tarefa eleita e um grupo não sabia do outro. Quem mais produziu foi o primeiro grupo.