FocalPoint Expenses

The timely and accurate recording of expense information, either associated with timesheets or not, is an integral part of most businesses. The key to successfully solving this issue is to make sure that the data is entered directly and accurately by the individual who incurred the expense wherever possible and processed seamlessly through the system for prompt reimbursement.

Expenses and Credit Card forms can be entered in either home or foreign currency values with associated exchange rates to cover international use.

Expense Types

By defining expense types within the software, the organisation can classify and control what format of expenses are allowed by any individual. The ability to specify and control elements such as VAT liability, project information, rates and quantities means that every type of real-world expense can be catered for. In addition, specialist expense types such as car mileage records with variable reimbursement rates can also be configured.

Authorisation

Within the Expenses module, authorisations can be set up in a number of ways. For smaller organisation, where authorisation is not required, this can be bypassed. Using the alert functionality, approvers can be informed in real time when authorisations are required, via email or SMS. A one button click from the email will take the approver straight to the specific expense voucher for a quick and effective decision to be made.

Analysis

Ultimately, the expense information is required to reimburse the individual but also to update the financial ledgers accurately. The flexibility to define the posting rules for these transactions, by employee, department and expense type, means that every expense incurred by the business is analysed correctly and posted automatically.

Credit Cards

For organisations that issue company credit cards, the reconciliation and analysis of each statement can be processed through FocalPoint. Electronic import of credit card statements is supported with each download creating a new credit card voucher for each credit card. The credit card voucher is allocated to the appropriate owner and they simply have to classify each entry in terms of expense type and project information if applicable.

Accounting for Carbon Emissions

FocalPoint builds on the carbon emissions calculation functionality already built into the nominal ledger by automatically calculating the CO2 emissions associated with each expenses entry. By extending this functionality into the expenses module and into the wider business it is even easier for an organisation to track their emissions across a wide range of activities and encourage behaviour modification that will result in emission reduction.

Benefits

• One time input – straight through process
• Built in workflow and authorisation rules
• Integrated alerts
• Extensive financial analysis options
• Complete credit card support
• Real time update to project costing, finance and payroll
• Automatic calculation for carbon emissions data