Fall is a good time for finance teams to review business expenses and prepare for the end of the year. Waiting until December can leave teams dealing with missing receipts, late expense reports, and approvals that still need attention.
A year-end expense management checklist can help your team catch these issues early. It can also make the year-end close easier and give your business a clearer view of its spending.
Here are a few areas to focus on this fall.
1. Review Outstanding Expense Reports
Start by checking for expense reports that have not been submitted or approved. Employees may have older business expenses that still need to be recorded.
Ask employees to submit outstanding reports before the year-end rush begins. Finance teams should also look for reports waiting on manager approval. Clearing these items now can reduce the amount of work left for December.
Using ExpenseVisor can help businesses manage expense reports and keep the process organized in one system.
2. Track Down Missing Receipts
Missing receipts can slow down expense reviews and create gaps in company records. Fall is a useful time to identify expenses that are missing documentation.
Contact employees about missing receipts and remind them of your company’s receipt requirements. You should also review how receipts are collected and stored.
A digital receipt tracking solution can make it easier to connect receipts with the correct expenses and keep records available when they are needed.
3. Review Your Expense Policy
Business needs can change throughout the year. Your expense policy should reflect those changes.
Review rules for business travel, meals, mileage, company purchases, and other common expenses. Make sure spending limits and approval requirements are still accurate.
This is also a good time to remind employees about the policy before holiday travel, company events, and other seasonal spending begins.
4. Check for Unusual or Out-of-Policy Spending
Review expense data for purchases that do not follow company rules. This could include expenses above approved limits, duplicate charges, or purchases that lack required information.
Finding these issues in the fall gives your finance team more time to resolve them before closing the books.
Expense management software can also help teams apply company rules throughout the expense process instead of waiting until a final year-end review.
5. Prepare for Year-End Deadlines
Set clear deadlines for submitting and approving expenses. Share those dates with employees and managers early so everyone knows what is expected.
Finance teams should also confirm who will approve expenses during the holiday season. Planned time off can cause delays if there is no backup approval process.
Make Year-End Expense Management Easier
Year-end preparation does not have to start in December. Reviewing expense reports, receipts, company policies, and approval deadlines during the fall can help finance teams enter year-end with fewer unfinished tasks.
A more organized expense process can also provide better spending records throughout the year. ExpenseVisor provides expense management tools that help businesses manage reporting, receipts, approvals, and other parts of the expense process in one place.
