Managing Membership Organisations: Expense Features You Need

Running membership organisations is no walk in the park. You have to manage your activities, staff, members and expenses. Give yourself the gift of convenience and control by implementing an expense management system that could help with membership organisation management.

Why Your Membership Organisation Needs an Expense Management Platform

Whether your organisation is a gym or sports club, a country club or a membership spa, you’re going to need an expense management platform when managing an organisation’s finances. Here are five reasons why your membership organisation needs an expense management platform.

1. You get to budget better

Membership org management is not just about the money you make; it’s also about your plans for the money you already have. With an expense management platform, you get more visibility of your organisation’s budget so you can make smarter decisions.

Not only do you get over-budget alerts, but you also get to assign budgets across different entities. Expense management platforms also have flexible approval workflows that update according to your needs.

2. You get visibility over expenses and income

An organisation with so much going on might get you asking how to keep track of expenses. There’s money coming in, expenses going out and budgets being planned that it can get overwhelming at times. Luckily, an expense management platform allows you to track all these—in one central place. 

Say goodbye to spreadsheets where you manually input all the money inflow and outflow.

3. You can use it on any device

Don’t you just hate having to sit in front of a computer each time you need to access a spreadsheet? I mean, sure, you can access spreadsheets on your mobile, but they’re not well optimised for that.

Expense management platforms are designed to work on both a computer and a mobile device, so you will always have a view of your expense status in real time and on the go!

4. Membership management becomes easier

Is there a member who hasn’t settled their bill for the month? Or perhaps an employee who accidentally raised an incorrect reimbursement? These can all be easily seen when you manage your organisation’s finances in an expense management platform.

After all, having manual records of these is prone to human error.

5. Reporting becomes more convenient

Manual expense reporting is now a thing of the past. With an expense management platform, employees can upload receipts and have the software read the receipts for them. You then get to access expense reports and easily approve/deny requests.

And when we say “reporting,” we don’t just mean expense reports. When it’s time to present financial standings to employees or stakeholders, imagine having to export data and generate charts from your spreadsheets. It’s error-prone, tedious and most of all, time-consuming! A central platform can give you a quick view of how your organisation is spending money, completely eliminating all the hassle of manual reports.

Expense Management Platform Features Your Membership Organisation Must Look For

Knowing how to manage an organisation includes knowing what it needs. Here are the features you must look for when choosing an expense management solution.

1. Budget module

A visible budget module equates to smarter and more informed budget decisions. Look for a budget module that gives your team a clear and up-to-date view of budgets at the very beginning of the spending process. It should also allow you to track budgets in real time.

2. Approval workflows

We don’t want any more tedious approval processes. Go for an expense management solution that allows for an effective approval workflow where employees can easily capture receipts and you can simply approve or reject requests, even on the go.

3. Accessibility

Gone are the days when employees and employers were within the four walls of the office the whole day. With the various progressions of work environments these days, we are now expected to be on the go, work remotely and even work across the globe. That’s why you must look for an expense management solution that you can access anytime, anywhere and on any device.

4. User-friendly dashboard

Expense management platforms are meant to prevent delays and simplify processes, and when you use a solution that’s hard to figure out, it defeats the purpose of the whole thing.

This is why you have to make sure that the expense management solution you use has a user-friendly dashboard. Read customer testimonials and reviews to understand if the platform’s existing clients are having an easy time with it.

5. Reporting and analytics

Employees of membership organisations may need to make some business purchases to improve how the organisation functions. This includes buying new equipment and coordinating with vendors. When this happens, they should be able to effectively and efficiently make expense reports without any problems.

The platform must also allow you to easily classify expenses and reports so you can conveniently analyse employee spending behaviour. The platform’s analytics should be able to see employee spending patterns, flag policy violations and visualise expense data as well.

Managing an organisation comes with its own challenges. There’s a plethora of members, dynamic hiring needs and various organisation events, to name a few. Don’t let expense management become another thing you have to worry about. With the right solution and the right features, you’ll be able to do org management the way it’s intended to be: easy, quick and hassle-free.