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Non-profits play a key role in delivering essential services and support to our communities and couldn’t do what they do without teams of dedicated staff and volunteers. Many of these will frequently claim expenses for things such as travel and mileage, and the associated administration can be cumbersome for both the charity and the employee or volunteer.
In this article, we discuss 5 reasons why an expenses management tool can be of value to a charity, helping you save both time and money and retain staff and volunteers.
1. Keep Better Control of Expense Claims
The charity sector not only employs hundreds of thousands of part-time or full-time staff, but they also rely heavily on the work of volunteers to support their causes. However, the process of expense management for volunteers who claim travel expenses to help for free in the local charity shop or who are “out on the road” on fundraising events can be a bit of a nightmare – particularly when hybrid or remote working. A simple expense management solution that works from a mobile phone or tablet can provide the answer. The ease of scanning a receipt, with a phone or tablet camera, and uploading them to an app or website has a clear advantage over manually collecting and submitting paper-receipts.
2. Real-time Processing for Quicker Reimbursement
Receipts are stored in an easy-to-use cloud-based system, which not only means they get to your finance team more quickly, it also allows for a more efficient way to search, filter and process them. The ease at which they can be uploaded means your finance team will not have to spend time chasing unclaimed expenses or lost receipts. It also allows you to reimburse staff as well as volunteers more quickly, creating a happier workforce and supporting volunteer retention.
3. Save Time on Your Application to the VAT Compensation Scheme
If your charity is registered for VAT, you can claim back VAT on relevant purchases. Getting your employees & volunteers to use an expense tracking app on their smartphones ensures that they can keep track of each purchase as they make it, and that the expense is automatically uploaded to the cloud and ready for your annual application to Revenue’s VAT Compensation Scheme.
4. Real-time Reporting for Better Decision Making
Keep an eye on spending. Instead of waiting for finance data to be gathered, processed and analysed, real-time reporting in a cloud-based expense management solution allows charities to stay on top of spend and budgets, and create strategies and approaches based on financial information that is delivered instantly. With real-time reporting, any anomalies within the data can be noticed at once, allowing for quick investigation and the solving of problems before they escalate.
5. Go Paperless & Fulfil your Environmental Responsibilities
And finally, going paperless will not only have a positive impact on the environment, but also help improve the brand of your charity. Research conducted by HR specialists Adecco shows that 93% of UK & Ireland workers say they would choose employers committed to sustainability and social responsibility.
Learn More
If you would like to learn more about ExpenseIn, the new offering from AccountsIQ available to Enclude clients, or the other ways our CRM and Cloud Accounting solutions can help you improve processes, save time and get on the path to Digital Transformation then either
