SAP Concur's New Budget Management Solution Provides Real-Time Control Over Expenses

Organisations that want to increase their income and profits cannot do so without effective cost management. Recent research from Oxford Economics confirms this point. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage all costs, because spending is often reported to different departments and for multiple different categories. For example, employee expenditure is currently the second largest expense in organisations. (1)

These costs include multiple expense categories, such as travel expenses, staff outings, office supplies for home workstations, mobile subscriptions and coaching. If employees submit incomplete or late expense reports, it will be extremely difficult to monitor the budget. This lack of overview leads to bad business decisions, such as the freezing of certain budgets.

Budget provides an overall picture of expenditures

At SAP Concur we want to make it as easy as possible for organisations to manage their costs. That is why we have introduced the Budget solution in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg—to enable organisations to provide budget information in real time, so that they can take immediate action. Budget combines the data of multiple SAP Concur solutions, such as Expense, Invoice, Purchase Request and Travel Request. It creates an overall picture of all planned and incurred expenses, which makes it easier for budget owners – for example project managers and managers of departments such as Finance and Sales – to make the right decisions. Organisations can put an end to separate monthly spreadsheets where they continuously lag behind the facts to achieve a better financial position and higher net income.

Creating ownership among employees

In addition, the Budget solution makes it possible to finally direct budget control away from the central administration by placing responsibility where it belongs; with the people who spend the money. Employees can be made responsible for their own budgets, giving them insight into the expenditures and the possible risks associated with them. This ensures ownership, commitment and fosters a proactive attitude among employees. Also important: it prevents people from pointing fingers at each other since costs must be justified. The budget lines become more direct and clearer as a result.

Some advantages of Budget:

• Data is presented comprehensibly and clearly. The clear performance dashboards are available via a mobile display and a browser. In addition, the visualisations make it clear – at a glance – how things stand with the budget both immediately during the publication and when approving an invoice.
• Budget is tailored to the needs of individual employees. Employees can set their own budget limits or automatic alerts for when the budget limits are reached. It is also possible to create personalised subcategories, so that you can see exactly where the money will be spent.
• Budget strengthens corporate control. Organisations can adapt the budget approval workflows to their own rules, as well as set user privileges and audit rules. As a result, they can establish a single clear line throughout the organisation, making it easier to operate within that line.
• Budget connects multiple layers of the organisation. It is possible to integrate the solution via a public API with financial systems, allowing you to dive deeper into the details.
• Budget also takes planned or requested expenses into account. When applying for a business trip or ordering a laptop, the impact on the available budget is immediately clear, so that the budget holder can respond appropriately.

Budget versus traditional budget management solutions

CFOs want to be able to perform analyses faster, monitor performance and substantiate business decisions with reliable data. This is evident from recent research by Gartner. (2) Traditional budget management solutions fail in that respect, because they are purely focused on planning and do not help budget owners make informed decisions based on real-time data. Moreover, these solutions often do not have the flexibility, scalability and user-friendliness that is needed today. With Budget, line managers gain access to insights previously only available to the management, which means organisations gain speed while responsibility lies with the right people.

The new solution is now available in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. As with the launch of Concur Invoice earlier this year, we can offer customers in our region the extra control and visibility over their expenses with Budget. Want to know more? Visit the Budget Management page.

1. Juniper Research

2. Gartner-FEI Study