Tool that takes A/P out of tight T&E spots

It’s a tough position to be in: Your A/P clerk has to go tell a senior manager his reimbursement check isn’t ready yet because it wasn’t due yet. Or worse — that his expense report’s being bounced back because of errors. Arm your staffers with this tool to help.

Nobody’s exempt from T&E policy compliance, no matter how high up the chain of command. (Finance answers to a higher authority: IRS.)

But to keep your A/P staffers from feeling like they’re being put in an uncomfortable position when they have to enforce those policies, think about giving them the ammunition to prove their case: a T&E log.

All you need to do is have A/P date and time stamp expense reports when they come in for processing, when they were bounced back, etc.

That way, when those inevitable “Where’s my check?” calls come in, the log will let people know in a snap exactly when the check is due to be cut. (You may even see a decrease in time draining questions, since people know Finance has an exact schedule of what’s due when.)

To take your log to the next level, you might also start recording the reasons for any delays or bounce-backs.  The patterns that emerge may point to areas of your process that could use some tweaking.

For example, maybe Excel usage errors are the cause of problem expense reports. A few brief tutorials or even an Excel “cheat sheet” could wipe out those problems — and the delays that result.