8 Features Your Education Org Needs for Expense Management

Smoothly running an education organisation involves not only effective operations but also accurate expense management. Whether your organisation is a vocational training institute, a childcare centre, a school or any other kind of educational organisation, it’s necessary to practise proper expense management. Let’s explore the expense management app features that your organisation needs.

Why Your Education Organisation Needs an Expense Management App

Expense management apps are not just for corporate organisations. Your education org can benefit from an expense management app the same way that businesses can.

1. It helps the organisation make budget decisions

School budget planning involves many critical steps. You have to review spending from the previous year, set your objectives and calculate expenditures, among others. You need a budget planning process that makes these steps easier and more efficient.

An expense management app’s budget module gives you visibility so you can make smart decisions. For example, you can give your team a clear and updated overview of budgets at the starting point of the spending process.

2. It streamlines and simplifies processes

With an expense management app, you get to streamline the reporting process from various sources into one report. This report can help your organisation manage grants for various departments.

Also, the process becomes simpler since the app can provide a common platform for different departments to share their expenses. The system’s accessibility allows the organisation to speed up expense claims.

3. It manages expense allocation

Allocating expenses is the process of assigning costs to various departments or activities within the organisation. While it allows you to measure your organisation's performance and profitability, it can get messy without the right app.

An expense management app allows you to split expenses amongst several grants. With automation, the expense allocation process can also pre-populate the correct accounts.

4. It is easy to use for all departments

While each department has its own tasks, they all want the same outcome: an easy-to-use expense management app that can make their jobs easier.

An expense management app guarantees user-friendliness across all departments. One factor of this is its accessibility. Most expense management software platforms work well on any device, whether on your office computer or mobile phone. Plus, their user-friendly interface makes it easy to navigate and understand—even for your technologically challenged employees.

5. It has error-free bookkeeping

Manual bookkeeping can get pretty tedious, especially because it’s prone to oversights and human errors.

An expense management app, however, allows you to upload receipts on the go after every purchase. You don’t need to be extra meticulous with the data because the app can process the receipt for you!

Expense Management Platform Features Your Organisation Must Look For

The wide range of expense management apps and features to choose from can get overwhelming. Let’s highlight the app features that could help your education organisation.

1. Budgeting

Anyone who has worked on budgeting knows that it’s no walk in the park. It requires precise financial planning to make sure that the education finances get allocated to the right programs, activities and departments.

This is why you need an expense management app that can help you with your budget decisions. You can say goodbye to your old budget spreadsheet as the app can already give you a clear view of your organisation's expenses—specifically the expenses of each department. You get to make informed decisions during school budget planning because everything is accurately and transparently laid out.

2. Fraud control

Every organisation has confidential data, but not all of them can protect it well. When you look for an expense management app for your education org, be sure that it can prevent fraudulent activity.

One way for the app to do this is by allowing you to configure the software according to your organisation's expense policies and define the guidelines and restrictions when validating expense claims.

3. Real-time spend visibility

Managing expenses doesn’t have to mean waiting until the end of the month for receipts. An expense management app should let you see spending in real time through the users’ ability to upload receipts on the go.

You can also use virtual cards to enrol vendors and providers of cafeteria food, chairs, tables and lab equipment, among others—and you get to see those enrolments in real time too!

4. Spend control

When you’re managing an organisation with a large number of employees, spend control can be tough. Look for an expense management app where you can limit the spending of the staff up to a certain amount. You get to control spending before the spending even happens!

5. Hyperautomation

When manual processes are replaced with process automation, you’ll notice that everything becomes more efficient and productive. For instance, hyperautomated accounts payable make it easier for you to get compliance monitoring and workflows, invoice approval limits, fraud control and supplier management.

Also, with hyperautomation, you can use your virtual cards to pay for organisation subscriptions such as streaming, software and vehicle services.

6. Fast and easy requests

Go for an expense management app that has the tools to help you make purchase orders quickly and easily whether you’re on your work computer or mobile device.

One thing that helps these quick orders is an easy user interface where you can quickly create purchase orders.

7. Detailed reporting

Your expense management app should alleviate the tediousness of reporting while still keeping it accurate and detailed. For example, the app should be able to export the information you input and translate it into an easily digestible report, such as detailed recipient information with FBT calculation for each.

8. Travel manager

Employees of education organisations also travel for work, whether it’s for conferences, lectures or other special events. You must be able to properly track their expenses with a travel manager that lets you see daily enhanced trip data directly from your travel management provider.

Managing education finances is as crucial as managing your education organisation’s operations. Your organisation deserves an expense management app that understands its needs and has the right features to deliver them.