Need More Science and Less Art
for Project Expense Billing?

You’re Not Alone.

Especially in the services industries.

Professional services of all types count this as one of their most critical business processes.
billing back most – if not all – project expenses to clients.

It’s a matter of profitability. The money is spent, billing for expenses is part of the contract,
and the client expects to see the expenses as part of their invoice. Getting that backup documentation, aka the billing statement, out to the client quickly with the complete
details required is all too often a manual process – for everyone.

Cue the Artists.

It starts with collecting individual expense reports along with the original receipts, often followed by calls to the spender to double check on client names, projects, and allocations. The information for each client is assembled manually along with copies of receipts. One last review and approval is almost always in order because the data collection and verification is manual. The most state-of-the-art tool for both spenders and finance is often only a spreadsheet. Weeks can elapse before the client sees their billing statement. Months can go by before you see that money (again).

A Scientist On the Other Hand …

Looks for opportunities to automate the workflow and eliminate errors.

Here are their findings. Begin where the money is spent.

The teams that spend while out in the field capturing transactions on expense reports and the accounting group for project-related purchases done via an invoice payment request. These folks know without a doubt who the client is, what project to assign the expense to, and how much to allocate in each case. Provide them with applications that collect information on-the-fly including active client and project lists.

Did you know a picture of an expense receipt can auto-fill an expense report? Try that with a spreadsheet!

Science vs Art. Profit vs Loss.

The billing process always happens.  Period. It’s a matter of how long it takes and the accuracy of the result.