Many companies attach importance to timely, accurate and optimized financial reporting and financial analysis, especially under the current economic circumstances. And this is especially true for business trips. Whether it’s flight tickets, hotel bookings or just overall business expenses – these expenses must be recorded promptly and accurately as part of your financial reporting. If you have a lot of employees who regularly go on business trips, things can quickly become complicated.
In order to avoid a jumble of papers made up of receipts and travel tickets, the right financial management software is crucial. There are various tools that help you keep track of your business travel expenses and record expenses promptly. The same tools support you in the efficient and comprehensive preparation of financial reports and financial analyses.
In this article, we show you which tools are particularly helpful and cost-effective and what you should pay attention to when choosing them for your company.
What is financial reporting?
Financial reporting is an important topic that you and your company have to deal with in order to be able to act entrepreneurially and cost-efficiently. Financial reporting is primarily about recording all financial activities in a clear and comprehensible manner. It therefore includes income, expenses, profits and losses, and also individual items such as expense management for business trips.
For medium-sized and large companies that send many employees on business trips, various financial tools are recommended that can be used when preparing financial reports. From recording expenses to quickly and easily creating financial analyses, they can help you and your company to keep track of receipts and expenses in a practical way.
What is the objective of financial reporting?
The main goal of financial reporting is to present your company’s financial situation clearly and concisely. This highlights how revenue is generated, how budgets are spent, and how these financial flows affect the overall performance of your company. Especially with regard to business travel, financial reporting offers the opportunity to keep an eye on all expenses and other costs for business travel and to optimize them.
Detailed and focused financial control can help you and your company identify potential savings, avoid unnecessary expenses, and ensure that business trips can be carried out cost-effectively while ensuring the well-being of your employees. It’s about making data-driven decisions that keep your company competitive. Resources can also be used optimally.
Financial reporting software: top tools for business travel reporting
We would like to take a look at the best financial tools currently available to make financial reporting and analysis as easy as possible for you and your company. Of course, the software you choose should be able to efficiently record all income and expenses. In addition, it should also offer the ability to analyze financial flows and how they affect the overall performance of your company.
In terms of business travel, this means that you should always have an accurate and up-to-date overview of all travel-related costs. The software should enable you to carry out financial analyses to identify potential savings and avoid unnecessary expenses. The goal is for your employees to carry out their business trips efficiently and cost-effectively without compromising their well-being.
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Expense management software
Good expense management software is essential for solid financial reporting. It allows your employees to record all relevant expenses and costs on business trips, sort them into categories and create clearly defined and concise expense reports. Below we have put together some of the most popular and well-known options for you.
Concur
Concur is a very popular expense management tool. It allows you to record all expenses on business trips in real time, either on your desktop or via an app on your smartphone. The software can also be integrated into common accounting software offerings, which ensures efficient financial reporting.
Expensify
Expensify is another popular choice and is known for its ease of use. The interface is clear and intuitive and your employees can record receipts and other expenses quickly and easily. The tool includes the option for automatic reimbursements and integration with common accounting software offerings.
Mobile Expense
Mobile Expense is a tool that is particularly suitable for medium-sized and large companies to record expenses and expenditure for a large number of business travelers. The software offers numerous functions that are specifically tailored to business travel management. For example, receipts can be recorded automatically and comprehensive financial reports and financial analyses can be created. GetGoing uses Mobile Expense’s technology in the background to offer customers a seamless experience in expense management.
Travel & expense management software
In addition to systems for purely recording expenses, there are also more comprehensive solutions that include expense management and financial reporting as well as travel management options. These all-in-one solutions often offer a greater degree of flexibility and are more efficient because all business travel processes can be managed centrally.
GetGoing
GetGoing offers a comprehensive travel and expense management solution that is specifically tailored to the needs of small and medium-sized companies with straight-forward travel and expense management needs. The software enables easy booking of business trips and integration of expense management thanks to Mobile Expense to ensure seamless financial reporting. The platform has an intuitive user interface and numerous useful features, such as travel policy automation and automatic expense tracking.
Navan
Navan is a comprehensive travel and expense management platform that not only allows customers to book and manage business trips, but also integrates all processes related to financial reporting and analysis. This enables companies to ensure that all business travelers stay within the set budget thanks to centralized control of travel policies and a modern booking system.
Egencia
This software platform is particularly popular with medium-sized and large companies that have to manage a high volume of business travel. At Egencia, travel management aspects and financial reporting are also fully integrated and all relevant data can be recorded centrally in the system.
Key considerations when choosing a financial tools
Are you in charge of selecting a suitable financial tool for your company? Then there are a few important factors that you should definitely consider, which are listed below.
Integration
When selecting suitable software, the most important thing is that it can be fully integrated with existing systems and processes. Your financial tool of choice must be able to work seamlessly with your accounting software, your travel management tools and other important systems. Otherwise, there may be problems with the reliability of data and data analysis.
Scalability
As your company grows, the demands and requirements for your financial tools also grow. Therefore, the software you choose should be scalable and adaptable. You can recognize good financial reporting software by the fact that it is suitable for small, medium and large companies so that it can grow with your company.
User-friendliness
The user-friendliness of the software you choose is also an important aspect. Employees should be able to use tools easily and intuitively without having to complete long training courses. It is important that the interface is user-friendly and easy to use so that the software is accepted by your employees and used happily and regularly.
Compliance
Especially in the area of financial reporting and financial analysis, it is essential that all tools used by the company comply with legal requirements. For example, in the area of tax-compliant invoices and data protection. The software should be updated automatically and regularly in order to be able to meet the current legal requirements.
How to make financial reporting a piece of cake
As you have already read, financial reporting does not have to be complicated. With the right tools and strategies, you can ensure that all expenses related to business travel are recorded and managed promptly and accurately. You can choose between simple expense management systems that can be integrated into your accounting software or more comprehensive all-in-one travel management platforms. It is important that the software you choose meets the specific requirements of your company.