Modernizing Employee Expense Reimbursement: Reducing Fraud and Improving Efficiency

In today’s fast-paced business environment, efficiency and accuracy in financial processes are more crucial than ever. For accountants, bookkeepers, and controllers, managing reimbursements is a critical, yet often cumbersome aspect of financial oversight. Traditional reimbursement processes are inefficient and come with risks, but modern solutions are transforming the landscape, reducing fraud, and streamlining operations.

Challenges of Traditional Expense Reimbursement Processes

Traditional reimbursement processes rely on receipts and manual data entry, which are both time-consuming and prone to errors. Beyond these inefficiencies, this outdated process can often lead to several challenges:

1. Human Error:  We, as individuals, aren’t perfect and despite our efforts, errors in data entry are bound to happen—intentionally or not. The need to go back and fix these errors not only takes time but also resources, and in the long-run they can hurt the company’s financial health.
2. Lack of Visibility:  Reimbursements can take weeks and, in some cases, even months to be submitted and processed. This lengthy process leads to a lack of visibility into a company’s spending patterns and financial status, making it challenging for them to effectively manage budgets and accurately forecast future financials.
3. Increased Fraud Risk:  With technology rapidly expanding, the monetary loss from fraud has increased by $2.2 billion from 2022 to 2023 in the United States alone. If companies continue to rely on traditional reimbursement processes, this number will continue to rise. The sheer volume of reimbursements can overwhelm accountants, bookkeepers, and controllers, making it easier for employees to falsify or inflate their expenses by exploiting loopholes in the outdated system.

Embracing Modern Solutions for Streamlined Operations

To address these challenges, modern solutions have been introduced to improve efficiency, provide greater visibility into a company’s spending, and minimize fraud. Here are how these solutions are transforming the reimbursement process:

1. Automated Tracking:  Through a software or mobile app, reporting errors are kept to a minimum and the entire reimbursement process is sped up. For the 38% of employees who face financial troubles while waiting to be reimbursed for work-related purchases, they will be able to go about their day-to-day lives with less worry.
2. Real-Time Visibility:  By consolidating all the expenses into one platform, the company and accountants can easily access real-time reports and analytics, helping them make more informed decisions. A survey by Deloitte found that 65% of organizations believe the greatest benefit of using real-time data and analytics is improved decision-making and strategic planning, further emphasizing the need for real-time visibility into company spending.
3. Fraud Detection Technology:  To effectively and efficiently detect financial fraud, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are being adopted. With AI and ML, the system can recognize patterns commonly associated with fraudulent claims (e.g., inflated claims, duplicate submissions, pricing discrepancies) and will trigger automated alerts when suspicious activities are detected.

As technology continues to evolve, modern solutions to expense management are a necessity—not only to help reduce fraud but also to streamline operations.

FISPAN’s Solution

At FISPAN, we understand the unique challenges that accountants, bookkeepers, and controllers face. To address these challenges, we partner with banks to bring our solution directly to their clients. Our advanced expense management solution is designed to streamline the process and integrate directly into Oracle NetSuite*, providing businesses with the tools they need to simplify the workflow. Here’s how our solution works:

1. Direct Integration with ERP:  Our solution enables businesses to initiate reimbursement payments for approved expenses directly through Oracle NetSuite, eliminating the need for costly third-party payment processors and manual payment file uploads.
2. Centralized Expense Management:  FISPAN works in tandem with your expense management module, allowing employees to easily track, submit, and approve expenses. This centralization provides businesses with complete insight into expenses across the organization, enhancing visibility and financial control and directly addressing the lack of oversight in traditional processes.
3. Simplified Expense Report Management:  Similar to how vendor bills are managed in your ERP, expense reports are stored within the system with various statuses (e.g., “Pending Accounting Approval”, “Approved by Accounting”, and “Paid in Full”), making it easy to track the progress of each reimbursement.
4. Effortless Payments via FISPAN:  Once expense reports have been approved by accounting, entitled users can pay these expenses directly within their ERP, streamlining the entire reimbursement process.

*Our Employee Expense Reimbursement is currently available only for NetSuite but we plan to expand it to other ERPs

By integrating your bank directly into your financial management software, FISPAN enables you to initiate reimbursement payments without leaving your ERP or accounting system. This seamless integration ensures quick and efficient payments for all employees, no matter where they are located.

Here’s an example from one of our bank partners and a case study highlighting how their client leveraged the J.P. Morgan Embedded Solutions NetSuite plug-in, powered by FISPAN: J.P. Morgan Case Study

In just four easy steps, you can modernize your reimbursement processes with us, and turn your focus toward strategic financial management rather than administrative tasks. For more information on our solution, get in touch with us today or request a demo.