With numerous expense monitoring and auditing software options available, selecting the right one for your organization’s specific needs can be a daunting task.
This blog serves as a guide to help you choose the best expense management software, enabling you to effectively and efficiently monitor and audit 100% of your expense data.
As a provider of an AI-powered expense monitoring and auditing solution, we have outlined six key criteria you can use to evaluate and compare expense management solutions.
Review the criteria below to make an informed decision on selecting an expense monitoring and auditing solution that meets your current needs and ensures regulatory compliance.
Criteria #1: Current Process Assessment
The first step starts from within, where compliance and finance officers must assess their current processes and systems, identify gaps, and begin looking for solutions that address those gaps with specific features and capabilities.
The first step starts from within where compliance and finance officers must assess their current finance processes and systems in place, determine gaps, and then start looking out for solutions that address those gaps with certain features and capabilities.
Below are some of the critical questions to consider in this phase:
– Assess Current Processes:
- How does the organization currently handle expense monitoring and auditing?
- The level of expense monitoring and auditing digitalization or automation?
- What are the current gaps and improvements required to monitor and audit 100% expense data?
- How long does it take to conduct a full audit of expense data?
– Identify Gaps:
- Identify current system lacking, process gaps, and potential challenges.
An example of this can be identifying the validity of invoices being submitted, manual expense auditing or detecting whiteouts, duplicate expenses, spending patterns, and more.
– Stakeholder Feedback:
- What do the upper management such as the chief compliance officer, chief finance officer, head of compliance monitoring, compliance operations, and others think about the current processes?
- Is the internal team facing any challenges, inefficiencies, or hurdles?
Document this information to get insights into areas for improvement and the features necessary for enhancing the performance of your internal departments.
Criteria #2: Adaptability & Integrations
Life sciences companies generate vast amounts of expense data annually, and this volume is projected to increase steadily in the coming years.
This is why adaptability and scalability are essential when selecting an expense management solution.
A study reveals that:
- Specialty medicines are projected to account for over 40% of global spending by 2028.
- It costs an average of $2.3 billion to bring a new drug from discovery to market.
- The top 20 global life sciences companies spent $139 billion on R&D in 2022.
Thus, the second criterion to consider when selecting an expense monitoring and auditing solution is adaptability and integration capabilities.
Adaptability ensures the solution scales with your organization, meeting growing demands, while integration allows connectivity across existing T&E systems like Concur Intelligent Audit or Concur Expense Audit, enhancing overall efficiency.
Consider the following while evaluating the adaptability and integration capabilities of an expense monitoring and auditing solution like Appzen expense audit:
- Integration: Does the solution offer integration options, such as pre-built connectors or integration with existing T&E systems?
Robust integration can facilitate smoother data flow between T&E systems.
- Compatibility: Will the solution integrate with your current CRM, ERP, and finance systems, such as QuickBooks or SAP Concur?
This ensures that your teams can work within familiar platforms, minimizing disruptions.
- Ecosystem of Extensions: Does the expense monitoring and auditing software provider maintain a large ecosystem of solution and service extensions?
A provider with a strong network of third-party technology, service partners and offerings can offer additional capabilities and support.
Our expense monitoring and auditing solution integrates seamlessly with SAP Concur and other T&E systems, ensuring that data flows smoothly across platforms while offering capabilities designed to reduce the risk of non-compliance.
Criteria #3: Technology Advancements
The rapidly evolving technological landscape has introduced emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, and more.
Integrating these technologies with an expense monitoring and auditing solution enables comprehensive and intelligent auditing of expense data, allowing life sciences companies to detect potential violations and anomalies, and mitigate risks.
This also empowers compliance officers to ensure regulatory compliance effectively and efficiently, enhancing overall accuracy and risk management.
Consider the following factors when determining how advanced an expense management solution is:
- Track Record: Is the solution provider at the forefront of technological innovation in compliance?
Review their history and development timeline to assess their commitment to continuous improvement.
- Frequency of Updates: How often are product updates released?
You can verify this by checking the providers news page. Regular updates demonstrate a commitment to advancements and responsiveness to user feedback.
Criteria #4: Security Level
With increasing concerns about data breaches and privacy, security standards and protocols are of high importance for life sciences companies.
Involve your IT team in reviewing the security protocols offered by the expense management solution provider. Ideally, you and the IT team can look for:
- Does the solution support Single Sign-On (SSO) for easy and secure access?
- Ensure the platform uses robust encryption to protect sensitive information.
- See if the provider undergoes regular security audits and holds industry accreditations such as ISO 27001 or SOC 2.
- Does the solution help in adhering to global privacy standards, including GDPR, CCPA, and more?
qordata complies with ISO 27001 and SOC Type 2 standards, enabling us to ensure robust security for your organization’s compliance or expense data.
Criteria #5: Round the Clock Support
The level of support provided by the solution provider can significantly impact your organization’s experience. To determine their support capabilities, look for the following:
- 24/7 Support: Look for expense management solutions that provide around-the-clock support via phone, chat, and email.
If your company’s operations are global, the support should be available in multiple languages to accommodate diverse teams.
- Knowledge Base: See their knowledge base which should involve guides, forums, and on-demand webinars that can empower your internal team to resolve issues independently.
- On-Demand Support: Consider whether the provider offers on-call support for your employees which can be invaluable for addressing urgent questions or concerns.
Criteria #6: Industry Recognition
With numerous providers entering the expense monitoring and auditing market, industry recognition of the solution provider is an essential criterion to consider.
To assess this, you need to evaluate:
- Years in the Market: How long has the provider been in business, specifically in providing automated or AI-powered expense management solutions?
Longevity can be an indicator of reliability and expertise.
- Clientele: How many clients does the solution have, and in which countries? A broad user base can reflect the solution’s effectiveness across various demographics.
- Ratings and Reviews: Is the expense management solution highly rated by users? Look for reviews or case studies that provide insights into real user experiences, implementations, and outcomes.
- Industry Recognition: See any industry accolades or awards. Recent awards can signify a commitment to excellence and success as an expense management solution provider.
Discover how a leading pharmaceutical company transformed its compliance processes by leveraging qordata’s AI-driven Expense Monitoring and Auditing solution.
Why Do You Need an Expense Monitoring and Auditing Solution?
An Expense Monitoring and Auditing Solution is crucial for organizations aiming to enhance compliance and reduce fraud risks.
As regulations become more complex and the volume of expense reports grows, manual auditing is no longer sufficient. Automating these processes saves time and significantly lowers the risk of human error.
Comprehensive expense analytics provide visibility that empowers organizations to make informed decisions.
The proactive approach not only protects against financial losses due to fraud but also fosters accountability among employees, streamlining operations and improving financial and compliance processes.
Below are some reasons why life sciences companies today need an expense monitoring and auditing solution:
- Conduct AI-driven audits of 100% of your expense reports within minutes.
- Connect with existing T&E systems, such as Concur, for efficient report extraction.
- Leverage OCR and Computer Vision to convert receipts into machine-readable text.
- Use automation to match expense reports with sign-in sheets and receipts for accuracy.
- Machine learning identifies anomalies and inconsistencies, allowing your organization to focus on high-risk transactions.
- Ensure adherence to regulations, minimizing non-compliance risks.
- Integrate industry best practices in expense monitoring and auditing with configurable rules.
- Detect and flag risk patterns for further monitoring.
- Provide in-depth analytics to support decision-making.
- Consolidate high-risk expenses for efficient compliance management.
Conclusion
Choosing the right expense management software requires careful consideration of these six essential criteria.
By focusing on features, integration capabilities, innovation, security, support, and reputation, you can select a solution that not only meets your current needs but also adapts to future challenges.
Incorporating these six criteria into your evaluation process will help you make an informed decision that drives your organization toward greater efficiency and cost savings.
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