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Here’s How BPA Software Can Help Your Company Manage All Types of Expenses
Managing expenses is a key aspect of maintaining a company’s financial health. There are several different types of expenses. A few examples include capital expenses for major projects, day-to-day operational expenses, and employee travel expenses.
These different types of expenses are traditionally handled by different departments and in different ways. For large companies in particular, it makes sense to divide up responsibilities for managing expenses. You’ll most likely have capital project management teams, procurement and accounts payable working together on operational expenses, and a travel and expense (T&E) department for employee reimbursements.
Business process automation (BPA) software makes it easier to manage these different types of expenses separately. You might not know, though, that automation software can also help you manage these expenses in similar ways and provide your company with a more holistic view of expenses across the board. By automating the separate departments with software from the same supplier, you can create an end-to-end financial solution.
CapEx Management Software
Capital expenses (CapEx) can include large single purchases, like company vehicles or computers, or they can include large-scale capital projects. In both cases, CapEx is different than operational expenses (OpEx) because these assets depreciate over several tax years. Managing CapEx—especially those related to capital projects—is an involved, long-term process.
Capital budgeting and project management software make capital expenses much easier to manage. NextProcess’s CapEx software includes budgeting tools with configurable levels of detail. You can customize the software to match your company’s needs. Capital expenses often require input from various departments, and consolidating all the data and communication related to a project into one software program helps keep everyone involved up to date. The software updates in real time, and employees can log in from any internet-enabled device.
Procurement and AP Software
The procurement department handles most operational expenses. OpEx purchases like computer paper, manufacturing materials, and shipping supplies all go through the procurement department. Then, the invoices for those supplies go to accounts payable for verification, approval, and payment. These departments are two halves of the procure-to-pay (P2P) process.
Implementing software automation in both procurement and accounts payable helps the two departments work together seamlessly to manage operational expenses. That’s one of the big advantages of choosing a software suite like NextProcess: all our software modules work together seamlessly. It’s easy to see the benefits of that integration with purchasing and AP. The software automatically matches POs with invoices to streamline the purchasing and payments process.
T&E Software
If a company’s employees travel or spend money on the company’s behalf, then the company needs a way to reimburse employees for their expenses. Travel and expense management software streamlines and speeds up the reimbursement process. It also gives the company more control and oversight over employee spending.
NextProcess’s T&E software is cloud-based, making it easy for employees to access on-the-go. They can upload receipts and expense reports from their phones or laptops. It’s easy for them to check on the status of expense reports, and for those in the reimbursement department to verify the expenses. The software streamlines all the administrative work involved. You can also customize the software to automatically enforce your company’s expense reimbursement policies.
Perks of Software Working Together
In individual departments, automation software can make a world of difference. BPA software streamlines financial processes. It saves your company time and money by reducing errors, simplifying record keeping, enforcing company policies, and speeding up workflow by automating core processes like data entry.
If you get different expense management software working together, the benefits are even more pronounced than what you’ll see in individual departments. Here at NextProcess, we designed all our software modules to work together seamlessly. You can implement as many of them in your company as you like.
The software interface is user-friendly, and the similarities between software modules make it easy for employees to learn to use different systems (just like it’s easier to use PowerPoint if you already know how to use Word). Plus, our Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model for BPA software makes it very easy for employees to use the software to collaborate. Everyone involved in a project can log in and see real-time updates.
Holistic Expense Data
All the NextProcess software modules integrate seamlessly with each other and with existing ERP systems. With the ERP system pulling data from all expense management platforms, you’ll get an accurate overview of costs. Then, the individual software modules deliver granular details on different types of expenses. Together, an ERP and NextProcess’s software modules provide complete spend visibility.
With improved visibility into expenses, your company has a more robust data set to work from when budgeting and projecting. You can track all types of expenses in real time and easily pull data on past transactions. Your company can more easily identify patterns in spend management, implement cost-saving measures, and generate accurate budgets.
The NextProcess Difference
NextProcess offers the only suite of software with modules to unify finances end-to-end. With our software, you can power and simplify capital project management, procurement & purchase orders, accounts payable, travel & expense, and payment disbursements.
This true end-to-end solution covers all the budgeting, project management, purchasing, reimbursements, and payments related to expense management. With cloud-based SaaS, software implementation is very simple for your company. NextProcess handles everything related to hosting, maintaining, and updating the software system. This also means the software scales to your company’s needs. You pay based on transactions processed, and if your company experiences either a slow month or sudden growth, the software accommodates that automatically.
To learn more about how NextProcess software can help your company manage all types of expenses, contact us today. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you have and set up a free demo so you can see the different software modules in action.
