How mobile expense management can enable your spend

Trying to manage expenses quickly becomes complicated, especially if your employees have several cards and submit receipts at different times.

However, mobile expense management solutions reduce complexity and admin while giving you deeper insights into cash flow to help you make more informed decisions.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how mobile expense management offers significant cost savings while cutting down on busy work and freeing up your team to focus on the big picture. 

What is mobile expense management? 

Mobile expense management is any system that lets you track, approve and report expenses using a mobile device. These technologies use an open banking approach which integrates seamlessly with your existing financial systems to provide a unified platform to help you manage spend.

With mobile expense management software, you can set up cards for different types of expenses and manage them through an intuitive app on any mobile device. Employees can then spend with these corporate cards anywhere, and both the finance team and employee can track all spending in real-time and on the go.

This means all expenses are accounted for and reported accurately, receipts can be automatically uploaded and all spending can be monitored and analysed efficiently. If employees do require reimbursement for a paper receipt, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology can read these and translate them into the correct digital format. 

Leveraging this technology lets you reduce the administrative burden on accounts payable teams, speed up approvals and enhance the overall financial control of the business.

6 Benefits of mobile expense management 

Harnessing automation to manage expenses frees up your finance teams from repetitive and administrative tasks. In this section, we take a closer look at how mobile expense management supports overstretched teams.

1. Consolidated cash flow management

Mobile expense management consolidates all expenses in one place. This unified view lets you gain a comprehensive understanding of cash flow. 

For instance, when managing expenses for multiple departments, you can streamline the process by recording all transactions in a single system. These can still be broken down into separate cost centres at will, but offer an easy way to monitor and manage overall spending.

This consolidated approach lets you gain clear and accurate insights into your company’s true financial health. It enables better decision-making in cash flow management while custom controls allow you to rapidly recognise overspending in real time.

2. Simplified financial operations

Mobile expense management massively streamlines the tracking, approval and reporting process. Automating these workflows means processing times are cut down significantly, and your month ends cease to be a chore.

For example, employees can automatically submit expense reports through an intuitive mobile app. These are then routed for approval and processed quickly with technology like auto-filling of payment details. This reduces the time spent on manual data entry and minimises the impact of human error.

3. Real-time insights and analytics

Mobile expense management solutions provide you with real-time data and analytics. This way, you can make better financial plans and decisions by reacting proactively based on trends, instead of reactively based on problems. 

You can also improve the accuracy of your forecasting and budgeting by ensuring up-to-date financial information is always accessible. Real-time insights based on this data let you monitor spending patterns and make informed decisions to optimise resource allocation.

4. Improved compliance and security

Advanced software protects your financial data with a host of robust security features. These include technologies like encryption, multi-factor authentication and frequent built-in audits.  These systems safeguard your sensitive financial information and ensure consistent adherence to both financial regulations and your own company's policies. 

You can also improve compliance by setting up customisable automated workflows. These integrate with your existing expense process according to your current systems and policies — and allow you to flag fraudulent activities automatically.  

5. Integration with financial systems

Mobile expense management allows you to better sync data across your existing bookkeeping platforms. Integrations mean that all financial information is up-to-date and consistent across your full stack of tools.

Leading financial software like Juni connects with existing accounting platforms and ERP systems to enable seamless data flow between every department in the business. This improves efficiency and increases the scope for collaboration on cost management.

This level of integration also greatly simplifies your reconciliation process, meaning that you can close financial periods and end month-ends more easily. 

6. Cost savings and ROI

By limiting your manual processes and their associated errors, mobile expense management leads to significant cost savings.

You’ll see a return on investment through reduced admin time and cost, along with increased efficiency throughout your processes. For example, automated expense management eliminates the need for manual, paper-based processes which reduces your printing and storage costs.

Similarly, you’ll find that streamlined approval workflows lead to on-time payments, and real-time insights can help you identify cost savings before you’ve overspent.

These benefits combine to create a cost-effective financial management system that supports business growth and enhances your profitability.

How Juni makes mobile expense management easy

Juni makes managing spend simple by offering an all-in-one solution designed to streamline financial operations. Here’s how Juni transforms spend control:

Seamless team spending. Juni makes it easy to create cards for any kind of business expense quickly, from ad spend to cab rides home. These can then be added to your mobile wallet on both iOS and Android like any other credit card for secure payments anywhere, with the ability to alter controls or freeze cards instantly. You can set custom limits and permissions, and all receipts are automatically captured in the Juni app and sent wherever you specify.

Unparalleled cash flow insights. Juni gives you real-time visibility into spending patterns and cash flow management. This works in conjunction with detailed analytics and customisable reports so you can properly monitor expenses, identify issues and adjust budgets on the fly. In short: you’ll get more informed cost control decisions than ever before. 

Synced financial data. Benefit from two-way integrations with popular accounting platforms. By ensuring all financial data is accurate and synchronised, Juni eliminates discrepancies and records every transaction correctly, every time. With over 2500 API plugins, you can automate journal entries and close books 5x faster — all with 100% accuracy.

Reduced admin and errors. There’s no need to waste precious time manually coordinating tasks like expense tracking, approvals and reporting. Juni uses automation (such as automatic receipt matching) to cut admin and stamp out human error from your workflows. Then you can submit expenses through the mobile app to decision-makers via your current accounting software.

‍Flexible financing.  Ease the strain on your cash flow with flexible financing through Juni Capital as and when you need to. Get Juni cards with high spend limits and up to 60 days interest free repayment terms on credit card purchases.

‍Spend anywhere. Juni supports your team in managing expenses via multiple currency business accounts. This makes it ideal if your business operates internationally and simplifies the currency conversion process. Excellent exchange rates mean you can say goodbye to the complexities of managing expenses across different regions. 

As Albert Vllasa, CEO of Protein says, “As a CEO, I need to have an overview of our costs to see where we’re overspending and how we can reduce them. With Juni, I can easily do that in just a few clicks.” 

Frequently asked questions about mobile expense management

What's the best mobile expense management software? 

There are multiple mobile expense management software options on the market and each provides a combination of features to suit particular business needs. Juni is a leading solution already used by teams across Europe which harnesses automation to help your team save time.

What's the top mobile-based expense management card? 

The best mobile-based expense management card will depend entirely on the specific needs of your business. However, corporate cards from providers like Juni are widely recognised because of the user-friendly mobile app interface and dedicated corporate financial management features.