Travel Businesses Bookkeeping Services
Some businesses like Arboriculture, or the study, management, and cultivation of perennial woody plants, is a travel-intensive industry. That’s not surprising, given that an arborist must visit the trees to care for them. But that’s not the only job that requires a lot of travel. Almost every industry relies on business travel. International expansion, globalisation, and business mobility have made travel critical for everyone, from flight attendants and chefs working on cruise ships to truck drivers and even bloggers. As a result, businesses are confronted with several expense-management challenges. Here are some of these issues and how hiring a bookkeeper can help make accounting, finances, and bookkeeping less stressful.
Challenges of Travel and expense management
Poor data visibility
When you don’t know how your travelling employees spend your money, it’s impossible to manage your finances. Needless to say, when the time comes to update the books, businesses are confronted with errors, duplicate reports, missed receipts, and even potential fraud.
Failing to process expense reports
According to a 2019 travel and expense management report, nearly half of businesses fail to track travel costs successfully, making it impossible for the finance team to process their expense report.
Relying on manual processing
Claims applications, authentication, and approval processes consume your HR team’s valuable time. HR spends hours sorting through claims applications, determining which are allowable and which are not. Another time-consuming task is obtaining management approval. Companies must bear the costs of processing reimbursements for travel expenses and the resources required to report these costs. Not to mention the enormous margin for error and oversight when manually processing massive amounts of data.
Slow claims submissions and delayed reimbursement
Employees are frequently too preoccupied with their day-to-day office duties to submit their claims on time. As a result, there is a delay in reimbursements. It can be very frustrating and inconvenient for those who must plan their monthly expenses and have to wait weeks for reimbursements of their travel expenses.
Vague travel expense policies
A business’s travel policy is confusing when employees are only provided with instructions to keep “the company’s interest in mind” or “expenses to a bare minimum.” But that’s precisely how it is in many companies. Employees make poor decisions when they spend money on a business trip only to be told later that the expenses cannot be claimed.
Hiring a bookkeeper for travel-intensive industries
Managing day-to-day accounts in a travel-intensive business can be a difficult task that is best left to the professionals. A bookkeeper has the knowledge and experience needed to ensure that your company’s finances are recorded, the books are kept up to date, and the company financial statements are reconciled regularly. When it comes to managing business travel expenses, here’s what a bookkeeper can do:
- Record and tag every expense incurred according to trip type, department, and expense.
- Project travel spend trends
- Claim any travel expense that is tax-deductible
- Help the company set up proper travel expense procedures
- Collect travel receipts as per the company’s policy requirement
- Submit expense claims on time.
Hiring a remote bookkeeper
While bookkeeping is sometimes an in-house position, most companies today employ bookkeepers on a freelance basis. Do you have a startup or small business and are already juggling many tasks to get your business off the ground? Outsourcing a bookkeeper’s role may be more advantageous than hiring a full-time employee.
- Lower your overhead costs
- Get a virtual bookkeeper available to you every day of the week
- Have more time to focus on other business responsibilities
- Get a fresh perspective on how to manage your travel expenses satisfactorily
- Hire someone only based on needs – the size and complexity of your business – so you save valuable resources.
Final thoughts
Business travel expenses are rising across industries, and you must account for every expense. Rather than handling everything yourself, outsource your bookkeeping needs to a reputable company like Penny’s Bookkeeping Services. Penny’s offers affordable bookkeeping services by a certified bookkeeper. Penny’s can handle everything from payroll to tax returns and all your business travel expenses. Call or email us today so we can assist you in getting your finances in order.