Product Update: Introducing Certify for GSA Per Diems

Certify is all about making travel and expense management easy, and we’re never one to shy away from an opportunity to put our approach to the test. So, when it came time to tackle the complicated world of GSA per diems, we knew we had to deliver a simple and elegant solution that would allow our customers to cage this unwieldy and seemingly unpredictable T&E beast. Today, we’re pleased to introduce Certify for GSA per diems, a truly simple service to help manage the complex reimbursement policies, regulations, and other travel- and expense- related guidelines set each year by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).

What are GSA per diem rates and why should I care? Established by the U.S. General Services Administration, GSA per diem rates set the maximum or standard allowances that federal employees can be reimbursed while on official travel within the 48 continental U.S. states (CONUS).

GSA per diem rates also extend to companies and contractors that conduct work for the federal government but are not employed directly by government agencies. Still, there are some companies that don’t do any work for the government that use GSA per diem rates to shape their own policy standards. It makes sense, not only because many hard-earned tax dollars are spent by the GSA to research and define per diem rates. But, absent a well-funded and well-researched policy of their own, companies can have a degree of confidence they’re paying fair reimbursement rates when adopting GSA per diems. For these companies, the GSA has already done all the heavy lifting.

How does it work? The Certify GSA service allows administrators to easily configure travel and expense reporting requirements using the federal standard allowances established each year by the U.S. GSA. Once configured within a system, Certify automatically calculates allowable GSA reimbursable amounts based primarily on the date of expense and destination. Additional variables that affect reimbursable rates, such as meal combinations, incidental expenses, GSA reimbursable type, and travel days, are also included in the calculations. And all calculation values are compared to the most current GSA-supplied data to ensure accuracy and expedite approvals.

Our new GSA service works as part of the integrated Certify system to streamline processes, automate policy control and provide greater visibility into organization-wide T&E spend. And getting started is easy, too; GSA is included as part of the Certify Enterprise Plan.

Whether you work for a government agency or contractor, or you’re part of a company that follows the federal standard, navigating all the ins and outs of GSA per diem policies and reimbursement is anything but simple. Our hope is that with available GSA functionality, Certify can help make travel and expense management easy for even the most complicated transactions and policies.

Out of Control T&E Expenses: Taming Your T&E Beast

In my recent blog Seven Flags Your T&E Expenses are Out of Control, I identified 7 red flags that may indicate T&E expense management is not getting its due at your company. In this blog, I will offer specific advice regarding how to address these T&E problem areas.

Here are the tips that CFOs can use to take back control of their company’s T&E expenses: 1. Review your company’s T&E policies; if you do not have them, you need to create them

Ensure policies are consistent with your company’s current and future travel needs, incentivize the use of technology available to automate T&E expense report requests to reimbursement, and are designed to mitigate the burden involved in being reimbursed on your travelers and those who manage them Ensure policies include input from key travel groups Ensure policies do not inhibit the timeliness of expense report submission and/or reimbursement

2. Improve the travel policy IQ of your employees Review the policy with all travelers on an annual basis Make sure they understand the actions under their control which can impact the timely reimbursement of expense reports Explain how effective T&E management benefits the company, i.e., the company has no incentive to make the process difficult for them; there are costs to inefficient T&E processes and unpredictability of T&E related expenses Ask travelers what you can do to make things easier for them (and do it) 3. Automate key components of T&E expense management

Auto-fill (parsing) technology: Extracts receipt and expense data from receipts, eliminating manual entry Auto-created expense reports: Built by technology to create expense report matching receipt images to expense data Direct feeds: Automated feeds sync data with accounting, HR, and corporate credit cards to eliminate manual data entry between systems Automated approval workflows: Managers are instantly notified of electronic reports pending approval, decreasing expense report lifecycle and reimbursement times Read more HERE!.

Expense Management Know it more

The lifeblood of the modern business enterprise is a series of daily financial and administrative processes that enable organizations to monitor and control expenses, track payments and invoices, and organize and manage workflow. The smooth functioning of these processes has always been essential to the efficient and profitable operation of the business. But in this era of increased regulatory scrutiny, these processes must also be able to supply documentation critical to compliance. Most organizations have hundreds or even thousands of personal expenses every month, be it petty cash, expense returns or credit cards. The cost of completing, authorizing, reconciling, re-checking, adjusting taxes and re-keying the data into an accounting solution is both tedious and inefficient. Automating your expense management process with an online payroll service can reduce reporting and processing time and overall costs by as much as 70%* or more! Expense Management uses the power of the Internet to prepare, approve, process and even reimburse. Management can look at expenses by person, department, project, client or any other level of analysis. Reports can show year to date and month comparisons with multiple levels of analysis.

Making your Expense Tracking Software Digital

A good expense tracking software should not need any note-taking. And in present times, one should say goodbye to spreadsheets, formulas and cells and leave beyond those receipts in the recycle bin. There are many easy to use expense tracking tools available in the market.

Such tools make it easy for employees to capture their expenses so that they can minimize time spent on recording and accounting. Cash expenses like taxi fares can also be easily added to an expense report, receipt images can be captured and uploaded with a camera as also credit card charges, which can be imported and plugged into the appropriate expense report.

An online expense tracking software provides e-receipts that can capture electronic transaction data directly and then easily and quickly upload it into an expense report. One can also easily take a photo of the receipt with any smartphone and then upload the image to such software system in real-time.

It makes automatic transactions and is easy for others in the company to see exactly where the money is being spent. This allows businesses to reimburse employees, monitor project costs, bill clients, and optimize spending. An expense report allows your company to automatically track business expenses as per type, department, project or client for real-time visibility into company spending. In addition, all spending data is stored for any further in-depth analysis.

No need to worry about your records or receipts being lost or destroyed as they are securely stored online instantly. You can be confident that all your records are safe and available when you need them in case of an audit, if your computer crashes or you lose your phone.

You can also easily download and customize business reports. This can help you achieve your business and personal financial goals faster. You can edit records, add new information, create budgets and generate reports. Expense tracking technology helps you make smarter spending decisions at a time of economic uncertainty when other business organizations are feeling the stress of not being efficient.

An expense tracking software helps in automatically recording and tracking daily running costs, then collating them whenever required. Having this information at the fingertips helps managers make more informed financial decisions. And when used in combination with expense reporting software and time tracking software, it can offer valuable information into how much time and money is being spent on specific projects.