The 4 Most Common Expense Claim Processing Problems—And How to Fix Them

As companies grow, their manual processes become less efficient because they weren’t designed to scale.

Expense claim management is no exception. From paper receipts and manual data entry to policy violations and approval bottlenecks, there are countless opportunities for things to go wrong.

Finance teams, already stretched thin, are left chasing information, managing exceptions, and navigating a complex web of stakeholders, approvals, and administrative tasks that consume valuable time and resources.

So, what are the most common expense claim challenges, and how can you fix them?

Manual Data Entry Slows the Expense Claim Process

Impact: Even when receipts are shared electronically, finance teams often need to manually enter the data into one or more systems. Hours are spent each week capturing and coding expenses, validating policy compliance, and seeking approvals. Mistakes, rework, and missed steps cause further delays.

Fix: Enable employees to capture receipts as soon as they incur an expense using their mobile devices. AI-powered expense management software can automatically extract, code, and import receipt data, reducing administrative effort and improving accuracy.

Approval Bottlenecks Delay Employee Reimbursement

Impact: Approvers get busy. Meetings, vacations, competing priorities, and cumbersome review processes can cause expense claims to sit in an inbox for days. Delayed approvals slow reimbursement, frustrate employees, and create additional administrative work.

Fix: Implement flexible, rule-based approval workflows that automatically route claims to the appropriate approvers and flag policy violations, duplicate claims, and other issues before review. Proxy approvals can prevent delays when approvers are out of the office.

Non-Compliant Claims Create Risk

Impact: Manual reviews make it difficult to consistently catch policy violations. When non-compliant claims slip through the cracks, processing costs and spending increase, and companies are exposed to audit challenges and compliance risks.

Fix: Use software that validates expense claim compliance and alerts users when anomalies and non-compliant spending are detected before expense claims are submitted for approval.

Limited Visibility Into Incurred Expenses Slows the Month-End Close and Decision-Making

Impact: When expense claims are managed through spreadsheets, email, or paper receipts, finance teams lack visibility into expenses that have been incurred but not yet reimbursed. This can slow the month-end close, reduce the accuracy of accrued expenses, and make it harder to gain a complete picture of company spending.

Fix: Select an automated expense claim management system that offers real-time visibility into expense activities, claim status, and spending. With the right information at their fingertips, finance teams can make informed decisions and close the books faster.

A Time-Tested, AI-Powered Solution

Lumiya Expenses transforms the expense claim process from receipt to payment. It lets you process claims faster, delivers real-time visibility into spending, and lets you get more done with the team you have.

Lumiya Expenses offers powerful AI and automation capabilities, including receipt processing, automated expense coding, expense policy validation, configurable approval routing, and anomaly detection.

Available exclusively from Vision33, Lumiya Expenses offers native integration with a wide range of ERP and financial systems, including SAP Business One and Sage Intacct.

See Lumiya Expenses in Action

Find out why Lumiya Expenses is the go-to solution for companies of all sizes by watching this recorded demo to see it in action.