The Complete Guide to Business Travel Reporting
The Complete Guide to Business Travel Reporting
Why is effective reporting on business travel so important today?
Improved budget management
Spotting potential cost savings opportunities
Travel policy compliance
Keeping track of expenses
Common challenges of effective business travel reporting
Unmanaged business travel
- Fragmented data: if employees are booking on different platforms, data becomes fragmented and difficult to track. This can be a nightmare for finance teams trying to stay on top of each and every receipt. Effective reporting hinges on gathering scattered data for an accurate ‘bigger picture,’ the foundation for effective accounting.
- Unmanaged business travel often relies on manual processes: this increases the risk of human error and consumes precious employee time, which could be better spent on other tasks. Mistakes can be costly, and many cannot be reversed.
- Missing data: lost receipts, incomplete information, and inconsistent reporting practices can complicate business travel expense reporting. Overcoming these data gaps is essential for comprehensive reporting.
- Employee duty of care: unmanaged travel systems can make it difficult to track an employee down, especially when there are last-minute modifications. This presents a problem for the company as they’re bound to their employee duty of care, meaning they have a responsibility to look after an employee at all times, particularly in case of emergency.
- Not getting the best deals, or having control on spend: booking through third-party platforms will mean the company doesn’t get access to corporate rates, nor rack up any travel points for using certain membership programs at scale. At the same time, leaving employees to book on their own means a company has less control over their spend and policy compliance until it’s too late.
Managed business travel
- Data overload: managed business travel often involves collecting a vast amount of data, which means that companies can struggle to determine which KPIs are most important to their business. Without focus and direction, data reporting isn’t much help.
- Knowledge sharing: implementing a new tool or system for business travel reporting is effective only if employees adopt and understand it. Effective training and knowledge sharing are the pillars of a successful transition.
Best practices for effective business travel reporting
Set clear, concise policies and promote awareness
“I’d recommend starting with a clear and concise travel expense policy that could include different “zones” with expense limits. An easy to follow process of uploading expenses and paying them out in a timely manner, if it’s a bigger company maybe investing in an expense management tool like Expensify to get accurate reporting and automatic reimbursement.Other than that, be sure when building a policy that it’s in line with company culture and creating the desired behaviors!”
Sebastian Ibarra, People Operations Manager at Kodify Media Group
Leverage technology to automate the process
“We’ve recently started using Pleo with TravelPerk and it has made reporting/reimbursing travel costs so much easier! We used to have to e-mail our receipts to the accounting department (very old-school, time-consuming and prone to delay), but now it’s all done in the app. You just snap a photo of our receipt, upload it to the app, your manager approves and you can be reimbursed straight away.This makes our reporting process a dream, and saves hours of time.”
Anja Sejfic, HR Business Partner at Rinkel
Train your employees and gather feedback
“I've read the book No Rules Rule, and I try to go with this principle I learned there: it's more important to build a great culture and trust, having an environment in which people know what to do and don't do than endless policies.Some employees will sometimes take a chance and try to overspend on a trip or do something they shouldn't do. If you try to always go against this, you'll end up building longer and longer policies that no one reads anyway, constantly adding to all the things people can't do.So, it's simpler to write a short, clear policy with a very efficient process, and then train on culture and build trust for the company. I'm a Chief People Officer, I have four country HR heads reporting to me, and that's the advice I give them when they building their policies.”Cécile POMPEÏ, Chief People Officer at Sistema Biobolsa
Cécile POMPEÏ, Chief People Officer at Sistema Biobolsa
Run regular audits and update your policies where necessary
Start today to stay on top of your company’s business travel
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