Travel expenses can be a significant cost for many businesses, especially those that require employees to travel frequently. Fortunately, there are several simple tips businesses can follow to keep track of their travel expenses more effectively and make sure that their travel expense management stays on track.
Here are some of the most effective strategies:
Plan Ahead
Planning ahead is crucial when it comes to managing travel expenses. Before you travel, make a budget for your trip, and allocate funds for each aspect of your travel, including transportation, accommodation, meals, and activities. This will give you an idea of how much you can spend on each item and help you stay on track.
Use a Corporate Card
Using a corporate card for travel expenses can simplify the expense management process. Corporate cards allow you to consolidate all expenses into one account, making it easier to track spending and create expense reports. Additionally, many corporate cards come with perks like travel insurance, cashback rewards, and discounts on travel-related expenses.
Book in Advance
Booking in advance can help you save money on travel expenses. For example, booking flights and accommodation several weeks or even months ahead can result in significant savings. Additionally, some hotels and airlines offer discounts for booking in advance, which can help you stick to your budget.
Set Limits on Expenses
Setting limits on expenses can help you stay on budget. For example, you can set limits on the amount you can spend on meals or activities. This can help prevent overspending and ensure that you stay within your budget.
Encourage Employee Responsibility
If you have employees who travel for work, it’s important to encourage responsibility when it comes to managing travel expenses. You can do this by setting clear guidelines and policies for expense management and encouraging employees to stick to these guidelines. Additionally, you can incentivise employees to save money on travel expenses by offering rewards for staying within budget.
Monitor Expenses Regularly
Monitoring expenses regularly can help you stay on top of your spending and identify any potential issues before they become major problems. You should review your expenses regularly, preferably on a weekly or monthly basis, to ensure that you are staying within budget.
Finding The Right Approach
Managing travel expenses can be daunting, but with the right approach, it can become a lot easier. By planning ahead, using a corporate card, booking in advance, setting limits on expenses, encouraging employee responsibility, and monitoring expenses regularly, you can easily manage your travel expenses and stay on budget. Remember, the key to successful expense management is to be proactive and stay organised.
Payable, spend and expense management, as well as corporate credit cards can easily work in one centralised account. That helps you reduce manual processes by managing and automating global T&E as your employees travel across countries and your business operations expand from one country to the other.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
