5 Ways to speed up employee reimbursements

Reimbursements can often be a tedious and time consuming process for employees to claim back. They have to fill out an expense reimbursement form, track and attach receipts, and add memos justifying each purchase. This process is even more time consuming for the finance team who handle reimbursement approvals, monitor the reimbursement cycle, and resolve common reimbursement issues. 

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Here are some best practices for quick reimbursements to streamline and expedite reimbursement claims:

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1. Create clear reimbursement policies.

Make a simple but well defined reimbursement policy for employees that provides clear guidelines on how to claim reimbursements, which expenses are eligible, and what documentation is required for reimbursement. This will help avoid reimbursement bottlenecks by ensuring that employees are filling out reimbursement forms properly, with only appropriate purchases. This allows the accounts payable teams to process reimbursements quicker as they minimise the back and forth communication. 

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2. Ensure your stick to it.

There's no point having great reimbursement policies and procedures if your employees find it more convenient to manually send receipts and expense reports.

Give employees reimbursement tips and best reimbursement practices to reduce mistakes and ensure submissions are accurate. Clear training on claiming reimbursements can cut down delays on the reimbursement cycle and ensure that employee reimbursement benefits are processed on time. 

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3. Give them timelines.

By setting a clear reimbursement time frame you can increase accountability and reduce delays in expense report claims. Your finance team won’t have to worry about processing expense reports with missing receipts from the previous quarter if there are clear deadlines for employees on when to make claims. When employees know how long reimbursement claims typically take, they are less likely to follow up unnecessarily, freeing up time for finance teams to focus on processing claims efficiently.

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4. Automate as much as possible.

By using modern technology in reimbursement you significantly reduce reimbursement processing time. Digitising and automating the reimbursement process with solutions like Qashio can allow your finance team to save time and manual paperwork. This will also allow them to attach receipts and reports on the go. Investing in faster reimbursement technology solutions and corporate reimbursement systems can make it easier to track and manage reimbursement claims, enhancing reimbursement efficiency for the finance team and the employees. 

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5. Eliminate the need for reimbursements. 

Instead of dealing with missing receipts, manual processing, and delayed reimbursements, consider eliminating the process altogether. Save your finance team time by empowering your employees to spend through Qashio’s corporate cards. Set custom limits with spending and approval policies to ensure your employees aren’t overspending, and collect receipts via the mobile app to ensure you have full visibility into company spending. As an added bonus, the company can earn benefits on all corporate purchases including Emirates Skywards miles, Cashback, Shukran and Enoc points.

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Still wondering how to improve the reimbursement process? Contact the team today by clicking here.

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