Travel and Expense Management for New Business Travelers

Whether traveling for business or pleasure, planning a trip can be stressful. For first-time business travelers, keeping costs under control, staying compliant with company policies, and still delivering great work can feel like juggling flaming torches while riding a unicycle.

But fear not. Follow these travel and expense management basics to help keep things balanced, so you can stop stressing and start focusing on making your business trips more enjoyable and productive.

What is travel and expense management?

Travel and expense management is how businesses track, oversee, report, and control expenses associated with employee travel. To optimize business travel, it’s important to know the key factors involved in travel and expense management, these include:

• Travel Booking: Booking flights, hotels, rental cars, and other relevant services. Companies often streamline this process by asking employees to use travel management software or by collaborating with travel agencies.
• Expense Reporting: Detailing the expenses incurred during travel, like receipts for transportation, lodging, meals, and other incidental costs. These reports must include the purpose of the trip, dates of travel, taxes, and any other relevant details.
• Policy Compliance: Companies establish travel and expense policies that define allowable expenses, spending limits, and preferred vendors. Travel and expense management systems like Navan enforce these policies by flagging non-compliant expenses that require review from relevant stakeholders.
• Approval Workflows: Expense reports go through an approval process, where managers review and approve (or reject) expenses based on company policy. Many companies rely on travel and expense management systems that can automate this process based on existing policies.
• Reimbursement: If out-of-pocket payments are required, the company typically reimburses the employee after expenses are reviewed. This can involve direct payments to employees or adjustments in payroll.

What is Considered a Business Travel Expense?

Business travel expenses are all costs associated with a business trip. Although these can vary depending on industry and trip necessities, here are the most common business expenses.

• Transportation: Planes, trains, cars, and public transportation. Arranging transportation in advance helps reduce costs and compliance risks.
• Accommodation: Generally the most expensive part of the trip. Oftentimes companies have partnerships with preferred hotels to minimize costs, or they work with a travel management company that negotiates corporate hotel discounts.
• Meals and Incidental Expenses: These cover food and other minor expenses incurred during the trip. Companies may provide a daily per diem allowance or require receipts for repayment.
• Miscellaneous Expenses: Parking fees, Internet access, and other necessary costs are important to clarify for reimbursement under the company's travel policy.

Best Practices for Managing Business Travel Expenses

For business travelers, effectively managing travel expenses is key to maintaining a company's financial health and ensuring a smooth trip. Here are some best practices to consider:

Know the Policies

Knowing the company’s travel policy helps make sure business travelers only incur expenses that will be reimbursed, avoiding personal costs that the company won't cover. Familiarity with the travel policies also helps make the approval and reimbursement processes run smoother and faster.

Leverage Technology

Many companies have adopted modern travel and expense management software to streamline the process of expense monitoring, travel booking, and report generation. Using modern technology, business travelers can forget about the paper trail, and rely on features like automated expense categorization and receipt scanning for enhanced efficiency and transparency.

Partake in Cost-Conscious Behavior

Reducing costs whenever possible strengthens trust between business travelers and their internal stakeholders. In addition, many companies encourage business travelers to opt for more budget-friendly travel options by setting up reward programs for those who stay under budget.

Benefits of Effective Travel and Expense Management

As a business traveler, optimizing your travel and expense management can make your trips smoother and more efficient. Here’s how:

• Cost Control: By following travel policies and tracking expenses, business travelers help companies prevent overspending and reduce travel costs.
• Compliance: Understanding and adhering to your company’s travel policies and regulatory requirements keeps you aligned with corporate standards and prevents potential issues.
• Efficiency: Streamlined booking, expense submission, and reimbursement processes save you time and reduce the chances of errors, making the business travel experience less cumbersome.
• Visibility: Clear visibility into your travel spending helps you manage your budget better and identify any areas where adjustments might be needed on future trips.
• Employee Satisfaction: A simplified process and prompt reimbursements not only make your job easier but also increase overall satisfaction with the travel management system.

Diving into travel and expense management using old-school methods means devoting time and resources to booking travel, reading up on policies, and troubleshooting the occasional human error — while keeping a long paper trail of receipts detailing each transaction. Don’t make this mistake.

Ready to simplify travel and expense management with an all-in-one solution? Discover how Navan is leveraging technology to take people where they need to be. Request a demo now.