At Klippa we know everything there is to know about expense management. We process anything from travel expenses to receipts for cups of coffee and laptops. We do this for small SMEs but also large corporates. Traditionally, these costs are claimed using an Excel form, so below we offer some sample formats, free of charge. We have expense reports in Excel and Word, but it is much easier (and cheaper!) to digitize your expense management. Our digital expense tool can save your organisation a lot of time and money and often leads to happier employees.
(1) Template expense report in Excel
Via this link you can download a free expense report template in Excel: Klippa expense_report.xls
The form contains a number of master data that you need to fill in first, because without a name, bank account number and date, claims can probably not be processed properly. In the report you can add one line per claim, receipt or invoice. Then simply add a description of the purchased product, the date of purchase, the amount excluding VAT and the amount including VAT. This is followed by an option for claiming mileage. Finally, there is a section for the budget holder to approve the claim with a signature.
Benefits of using Excel
- Doing calculations: Excel and financial administration go hand in hand. For all kinds of processes, the Office app is used to create overviews and edit lists, which is why using Excel for expense reports seems like an obvious choice. In Excel you can easily add up rows and multiply amounts.
- Simple formatting: In addition, Excel is easy to format, allowing you to easily add and remove fields that apply to your company.
Disadvantages of using Excel
- Formatting may vary per device and per program: For years, organizations have preferred programs that run entirely in the cloud over on-premise programs. So no more installing programs on your computer, but working online with cloud services such as Office365 or Google Docs. The big disadvantage: not everyone uses the ‘standard’ Excel, but different editions. This can cause problems with the formatting of documents.
- Spreadsheets take a lot of time to share: In addition, documents are not easy to share. They have to be sent by email, attachments have to be added and unpacked, etc.
- No real-time updates: Also, Excel doesn’t allow you to make changes that are immediately visible to everyone. For example, when you add a cost type to the form, only the people who downloaded the same version will see the update.
- No images as attachments: Another inconvenience is that no images can be added in Excel. This means that attachments always have to be added separately. And this leads to the last point:
- Wasting paper when printing
(2) Template expense report in Word
Via this link you can download a free expense report template in Word: Klippa expense report.doc.
Just like Excel, this form starts with a number of master data. The name, address details, bank account number and date are needed to process the form properly. In the middle column there is space to add items. To do so, first note the date of purchase, then a description of the costs, an amount excluding VAT and an amount including VAT. Lastly, there is space for the total amounts and a signature of the budget holder.
Advantages of using Word
- Employees are familiar with file format and program: Word is a commonly used file format, most of us open a .doc every day and we understand how to fill out and print forms.
- Adding images as attachments: Another benefit is that you can add images to documents in Word, so no need to attach receipts separately.
Disadvantages of using Word
Word has numerous drawbacks when it comes to claiming expenses.
- Deviating formatting on different devices: Fields are never scaled the way you want them to and sometimes jump randomly.
- No automatic calculations: Also, you cannot do automatic calculations in Word, this needs to be done manually – taking up extra time.
- Waste of paper: It is a shame to print out out paper to submit and process expenses, right?
- Inefficient and not real-time: Employees actually do unnecessary extra work: one employee copies data from the receipt to the form and another enters it into the accounting package. This process is inefficient and error-prone.
- And more… Unfortunately, the disadvantages of Excel also apply to Word.
Our advice: do not use Word to submit and process claims!
(3) Other companies are reaping the benefits of online expense management systems
If not Excel or Word, then what? Nowadays, there are all kinds of solutions for digital expense management. Some solutions are integrated with accounting programs, others with payroll administration systems. Almost all solutions have the option to export expenses to standard formats such as .csv or .xml, which you can then import into your financial system.
Advantages of digital expense management
- Easy to use software and happy employees: Digital expense management is quick and easy. Submit expenses by simply by taking a picture of the receipt, the software will do the rest. Organizations decide which fields they want their employees to fill out.
- Easy set up of workflow: Digital expense management enables you to quickly set up a workflow. You decide which claims are sent to which manager to be digitally approved, which saves an enormous amount of time, because forms no longer end up in mailboxes and communication is done online.
- Integration with accounting package: Processing is also more efficient this way. All approved claims are automatically forwarded to your accounting package. No more copying data and less errors.
- Real-time data available anywhere, anytime: Most digital solutions are fully cloud-based, which means that all employees, no matter where they are, have the most recent data at their disposal.
- Secure backup in the cloud: All documents are securely stored in the cloud.
Disadvantages of digital expense management
We can be brief about this: digitization costs time and money.
- Time: Employees need to get used to a new way of working and the new software may need to be integrated into your current systems.
- Money: New software tools are never free.
Fortunately, we offer helpful manuals and a help desk to our users.
Our solution usually delivers a positive return on investment, which means you will earn back your investment quite quickly. Klippa charges 3.99 EUR per employee per month. As soon as your administrative process speeds up with more than six minutes per employee per month, you will already see a return on investment. On average, the traditional process of submitting, approving and processing takes twenty minutes per claim. With our software, it takes a minute. Count out your savings!
Are you considering using our expense management solution? Then take a look at our page on digital expense management, where we show you how Klippa works. Not quite sure yet? Send us a message via chat or email: [email protected] Would you like to schedule a demo with one of our product specialists? Then take a look at the options below