Harvest
Expenses
Sign up

T&E Spend

Harvest streamlines T&E expense tracking with detailed reporting, allowing businesses to manage costs and ensure compliance effectively.

Start for free
  • Attach receipts to projects & tasks
  • Turn tracked expenses into client invoices
  • Free 30-day trial, no credit card needed

or drag & drop • Images and PDFs, max 10 MB

Understanding T&E Spend

Travel and Entertainment (T&E) spend is a significant operational expense for many organizations, accounting for 8% to 10% of total operating costs. This category includes business travel, meals, client entertainment, and even gifts. As businesses navigate the post-pandemic landscape, T&E expenses have surged, with entertainment and meal costs rising by 23% compared to 2019. Effective management of these expenses is crucial for controlling costs, ensuring compliance, and enhancing employee satisfaction.

To manage T&E spend effectively, clear policies and robust tracking systems are essential. Companies must define expense categories and limitations, establish reimbursement procedures, and set approval workflows. Harvest supports this by allowing administrators to categorize expenses such as Meals, Transport, and Mileage, ensuring that all transactions are aligned with company policies and regulatory requirements.

Challenges in Managing T&E Expenses

Managing T&E expenses is fraught with challenges, including compliance issues and the risk of overspending. Non-compliance can lead to severe penalties, as evidenced by a pharmaceutical company that faced a $490 million penalty due to fraudulent T&E claims. Additionally, manual reporting processes are not only error-prone but also costly, with organizations spending up to $58 per report and incurring extra costs for corrections.

Harvest offers a solution by providing detailed reporting processes that ensure compliance and help reduce fraud. With Harvest, users can generate detailed expense reports filtered by client, project, or date, which can be exported to CSV or Excel for further analysis. This capability empowers businesses to maintain transparency and accountability in their T&E spending.

Leveraging Technology for T&E Management

The shift towards automation in managing T&E expenses is becoming increasingly critical. Automated solutions can lower the cost per report to under $10 and reduce reimbursement processing times by up to 32%. Despite Harvest's reliance on manual entry and manager approvals rather than full automation, it still offers an efficient, project-based expense tracking system that is ideal for small-to-medium businesses.

By using Harvest, organizations can ensure that their T&E expenses are meticulously tracked and categorized. This manual yet streamlined approach helps businesses maintain control over their spending without the need for complex automation systems. Additionally, the detailed expense reports generated by Harvest can uncover spending patterns that aid in making informed financial decisions.

Best Practices for T&E Spend Management

Implementing best practices for managing T&E spend can lead to substantial savings and improved compliance. Companies should focus on establishing comprehensive policies, promoting the use of corporate cards, and conducting regular spend analysis. For instance, setting clear spending limits for each expense category can prevent overspending and ensure adherence to budgets.

Harvest facilitates these best practices by enabling businesses to define specific categories for T&E expenses, such as Meals and Mileage, which align with corporate policies. Furthermore, the ability to generate detailed reports allows businesses to review and analyze spending data regularly, helping them identify opportunities for cost savings and policy improvements.

T&E Spend Management with Harvest

See how Harvest tracks and categorizes T&E expenses, helping businesses manage costs and ensure compliance.

Harvest dashboard showing T&E spend categories and reports.

T&E Spend FAQs

  • T&E spending includes costs associated with business travel, meals, client entertainment, and gifts. These expenses typically account for 8% to 10% of a company's total operating expenses.

  • Effective management involves setting clear policies, using technology for tracking, and regularly reviewing expenses. Harvest helps by offering detailed expense tracking and reporting features.

  • Best practices include defining expense categories, setting spending limits, and establishing approval workflows. It's important to communicate these policies clearly and provide regular training.

  • Prevent overspending by implementing pre-approval processes, setting clear spending limits, and using detailed reports to monitor and analyze expenses. Harvest provides reporting tools that can help in tracking and controlling spend.

  • Automated expense management systems can significantly streamline processes. While Harvest is not fully automated, it provides efficient manual tracking and detailed reporting capabilities.

  • Harvest allows for project-based expense tracking and detailed reporting. It helps businesses categorize expenses and generate reports filtered by client, project, or date.

  • Categorizing T&E expenses helps in maintaining compliance, controlling costs, and ensuring that all spending aligns with company policies. Harvest enables administrators to define specific categories for such expenses.