The Hidden Costs: Challenges of Tracking and Managing Business Travel Expenses

‍

Business travel plays a crucial role in growth, relationship-building, and operational expansion. But behind the deals and networking lies a less glamorous side: tracking and managing travel expenses. For many organizations, especially those scaling quickly or lacking centralized systems, this remains a significant operational headache.

‍

‍Why Is Travel Expense Management So Difficult?

Here are six common challenges companies face:

‍

1. Expense Fraud and Misreporting

‍

While most employees act in good faith, mistakes or gray areas in policy can lead to issues. Duplicate receipts, personal charges on business trips, or miscategorized expenses can all impact accuracy.

‍

2. Inconsistent Policy Compliance

‍

Policies that are vague, outdated, or buried in handbooks rarely get followed. Employees may book through non-approved channels, choose higher-cost options, or be unclear about what qualifies for reimbursement.

‍

3. Manual Processes and Paperwork

‍

If your team is still managing receipts in spreadsheets or stapled paper forms, you’re not alone. But manual systems are time-consuming, prone to errors, and frustrating for both employees and finance teams.

‍

4. Lack of Real-Time Visibility

‍

Many organizations only see the full picture of travel spend after the trip is over. Without real-time tracking, overspending can go unnoticed until it’s too late.

‍

5. Disjointed Systems

‍

Expense reports often live separately from accounting, payroll, and travel booking tools. This lack of integration causes delays in reimbursement, slows down month-end closing, and reduces reporting accuracy.

‍

6. Vendor and Receipt Challenges

‍

Managing expenses from different vendors, especially across currencies, adds complexity. Lost receipts or those submitted in unreadable formats can delay approvals and impact audit readiness.

‍

How to Get Travel Expense Management Right

‍

Improving your travel expense management processes is easy with Outpave. Our platform provides efficient solutions to the challenges of tracking and controlling business travel expenses.

‍

• Accurate Reporting: Our system lets you see exactly where, when, and on what your company’s money is being spent.
• Merchant Control: Keep employees from booking traveling arrangements through non-approved vendors, or sketchy websites with our merchant control features.
• Digital Receipt Capture: Receipts can easily be uploaded into the app within minutes of making a purchase and expenses can be allocated at the same time.
• Real Time Reports: Don’t wait until the trip is over to approve or deny expenses, with Outpave you can watch the expenses in real time - so you always know what is happening.
• Virtual Cards: Stop letting your employees cover business trips out of pocket and then request a reimbursement. With Outpave you can issue virtual cards that can be immediately activated and ready to use.
  
  

Final Thoughts

‍

Business travel expense management doesn’t have to become an accounting nightmare. Request a demonstration of Outpave’s expense management to learn more about how we can help keep your travel costs in check. Don’t forget to subscribe to our social channels for more information about how our product can improve your finance management.

‍