In the context of social establishments, the management of expense accounts is essential, as they relate to expenses incurred by staff in the course of their professional duties, such as travel, training or the purchase of supplies. Although sometimes overlooked, these expense reports require absolute financial transparency. To ensure this transparency, various tools and best practices can be put in place.
We offer you practical solutions to simplify, optimize and make more efficient the management of these expenses within your social center.
6 key elements of financial transparency
Before looking at the tools and best practices you can use, it's important to understand why financial transparency is so crucial for your social establishments.
- It strengthens public confidence by demonstrating your organization's accountability and integrity in managing the funds entrusted to it.
- It reinforces your employees' responsibility for their expenses and fosters trust between employer and staff.
- It reduces fraud and abuse.
- It ensures that your facility complies with the many regulations.
- It makes it easier to monitor and manage allocated budgets, and to make informed decisions.
- It makes it possible to identify inefficiencies in your expense claim process and make improvements.
5 steps to managing your expense reports
Managing your expense reports usually involves several steps:
- Collection of receipts and invoices for all authorized expenses.
- Sending expense claims using an expense claim form.
- Review and validation by designated CFOs to ensure compliance.
- Reimbursement of costs incurred.
- Record your expense reports in a financial management or accounting system for accurate tracking of your expenses and generation of periodic reports.
10 best practices for transparent expense management
For greater transparency, you can implement the following best practices:
- Establish a clear and detailed policy regarding allowable expenses, category limits, expense submission processes and necessary approvals.
- Make sure all your employees understand the expense claim process and are trained on how to submit compliant claims.
- Ask for appropriate supporting documents for each expense, such as receipts, invoices...
- Use dedicated software to facilitate the sending, verification and approval of expense reports, such as an online account. This tool allows you to keep an electronic record of your expenses.
- Encourage the use of business credit cards. Expenses will be centralized and you'll be able to monitor them in real time, set limits...
- Implement internal controls to validate expenses. These controls include checking receipts, comparing with established policy and justifying unusual expenses.
- Require appropriate approval levels based on the amount of the expense and your employee's position.
- Conduct regular reviews of expenses to identify trends, anomalies or opportunities for improvement.
- Communicate your social center's policy, processes and results regarding expense management. Encourage your employees to ask questions and report any issues or concerns.
- Conduct periodic external audits to verify regulatory compliance.
