Diriger's Enterprise Expense Claim Management
...by Mark La CavaDiriger’s Enterprise Expense Claim Solution
The Complex Policies, Remote Locations, and ERP Integrations were easily accounted for!!
A Case Study on how Diriger’s Enterprise Expense Claims (EES) solution was implemented at Australia’s most historical energy generation corporation and was able to cater for standard Government Business Enterprise (GBE) level policies, financial standards, and employee agreements.
The Customer
Our customer is a large Government owned Corporation that provides significant energy generation capability to Australia’s National Grid. Its employees are located in various large cities, regional centres, and some rather remote locations.
The Customer is obligated to ensure it not only meets standard business practices, financial policies, and efficient procedures; it is obligated to meet the requirements of employee agreements that may vary from time to time.
The Situational Problem that presented
Our customer required a modern, easy-to-use, and interoperable Enterprise Expense Claim Management solution to meet the needs of its compliance and regulatory obligations. Key requirements included the need for both online and off-line usage and administration, have a user friendly mobile UI/UX, be cloud hosted, and fully integrated with their ERP system of record to ensure data integrity and governance.
The current expense claim submission process was primarily manual and was dependent on the individual claimant to have a detailed understanding of the organisation's expense claim policies and procedures. There were regular omissions of data and information due to lack of understanding of the salient policies, regulations and ATO requirements; hence manual processes often resulted in too many iterations and delayed payments.
The accompanying documentation needed to support these claims was often incorrect or missing, resulting in further delayed processing.
All the above situations led to a strong reliance on an already overextended Accounts Team to ensure that correct, readable, and accessible receipts and accompanying documentation are lodged in a timely manner and that the claims met the organisation’s policies and tax eligibility requirements.
The Opportunity for Improvement
The opportunity was to improve the user experience and expense claim processes across all levels of the organisation by implementing a robust, yet flexible enterprise level Expense Claim Management solution that integrates with designated approval delegations and reimbursement processing.
Key objectives were:
Improve financial controls and audit-ability, including compliance with the Organisation's regulations, policies and ATO guidelines for GST and FBT.
Cater for, and standardise any complex business rules at the time of logging a claim instead of creating lengthy error recycles between the Claimant and the Accounts Team.
Reduce the burden on the Accounts Team to police detailed controls, identify issues with claims, and decrease the incidence of error recycle for both the Accounts Team and key Staff members.
Better compliance and controls in line with the Organisation's policies and Employee Enterprise Agreements as they evolve over time.
Allow employees to log claims (and submit) ‘on the move’ regardless of their location; hence avoiding misplaced documents when waiting to return to their desk prior to submission.
Build-in and synthesise costings and approvals per item as appropriate to the business rules and delegation authorities.
Be able to seamlessly deploy the Claims Application on any device (Mobile or Desktop) within a secure data fabric, utilising the organisation’s standard livery and logo.
Utilise AI and ML technologies to digitise claim receipts and categorise related documents as required by the organisation’s policies.
The Framework for Delivery
Enterprise Expense Claim Management processes are essential components of financial management within organisations. These processes ensure that employees are reimbursed for business-related expenses they incur while performing their duties. An effective expense claims process helps control costs, maintain accurate financial records, and ensures compliance with company policies and relevant regulations
The key steps typically involved in an expense claims process are:
Expense Policy: Establish a clear and comprehensive expense policy outlining what expenses are eligible for reimbursement and the documentation required. Provide access to and communicate the policy to all employees to ensure awareness and compliance.
Expense Report Submission: Employees should submit detailed expense reports, including receipts and supporting documentation, within a specified time-frame e.g. monthly. Modern expense management software will streamline the required submission process.
Review and Approval: Designate individuals or teams to review and approve expense reports as per the endorsed Delegations of Authority policy. The Reviewers and Approvers shall ensure that expenses align with the company policy and that all required documentation is attached.
Documentation Verification: Verify that receipts and supporting documentation are authentic and meet the policy requirements. Confirm that expenses are legitimate and directly related to business activities and rules.
Coding and Categorisation: Assign appropriate expense codes and categories to ensure accurate tracking and reporting. This step is crucial for financial reporting and budget analysis.
Approval Workflow: Implement an approval workflow that may involve multiple levels of authorisation based on the amount and nature of the expense. Diriger’s electronic approval systems shall automate this process.
Reimbursement: Process approved expense claims for reimbursement via Diriger’s interoperability platform that supports reimbursement to employees through payroll, direct deposit, or other agreed-upon methods.
Record Keeping: Maintain organised records of all expense claims, approvals, and reimbursements and ensure that relevant Officers have timely access for monitoring and control purposes. Ensure compliance with record retention policies and legal requirements.
Communication: Provide ease of access feedback or clarification of status to Users as required.
Auditing and Compliance: Provide the ability to conduct regular audits to ensure compliance with the expense policy. Display and address any discrepancies or policy violations promptly.
Continuous Improvement: Periodically review and update the expense policy and procedures to adapt to changing business needs and regulations. Solicit feedback from employees and stakeholders to identify areas for improvement.
Following these steps and leveraging technology such as Diriger's Enterprise Expense Claim Management, organisations can establish efficient and transparent expense claims processes that contribute to financial accountability and compliance.
Diriger's Enterprise Expense Claim Management in a Secure Data Fabric
Diriger deployed Diriger's Enterprise Expense Claim Management in a scalable, cloud hosted, integrated system for Expense Claims capture, approval and reimbursement in a Secure Data Fabric.
Diriger’s Mobile First Development and Deployment
Diriger deployed Diriger's Enterprise Expense Claim Management mobile using the latest modern Material Design and Offline experience.
