Creating expense reports may not sound so important for small businesses. However, as companies grow, they need to be more mindful of where their money goes. With increasingly large and numerous expenses, sales teams need to have a working system to both input and file expense reports.

Expense reports are necessary when it comes to tax season, as many of them are deductible to the final amount companies owe. They also are good to have during budget planning. Starting from being able to identify which expense can be optimized or how much teams need to fulfill their role, it’s a necessary part of every organization’s operations.

While making expense reports can be overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be. Here’s how you can easily prepare an expense report:

Step 1: Create or Choose Template

A template is a file that contains the necessary fields that teams need to file for sales reports. From the vendor name to the amount, companies will have their specifications on what should be in the expense report.

If you don’t want to make a template from scratch, there are many templates available online for free or software that can make it for you.

Step 2: Add Itemized Expenses

Expenses need to be per expense item. After making sure that the right client is tagged, salespeople filing the report should make sure that they are in chronological order.

Step 3: Total Expenses

Expenses are totaled differently depending on the company. Usually, it is first added by category before the overall cost. When it comes to reimbursement, any overpayments done by the salesperson beyond the budget will not be paid for by the employer.

Step 4: Add Supporting Documents

To validate expenses, companies need proof of purchase from the vendors. These receipts often show the vendor’s tax identification numbers and location, which are both necessary when filing taxes.

Step 5: Send the report

Before sending your report, make sure that that total is correct, the supporting documents are attached, and your employee number or account number is displayed prominently. For emailed reports, make sure that you let managers signing off acknowledge your submission.

Step 6: Collect your reimbursement

While there is a process to send expenses, there is also a process to reimburse them. Make sure that you know your company’s policies. The reimbursement procedure often includes deadlines, payment details, and internal approvals.

CRM Data Entry Services

Despite having hundreds of tools at their disposal, many sales teams still struggle with filing expense reports. Most of the time, they have their time filled with a multitude of tasks. Salespeople not only find prospective clients, but they also manage relationships and close sales. Expense reporting is just one of the many stressful things they have to do in between all that.

With Hey DAN’s Voice to CRM technology, sales teams can file their expenses with just a call. Other than that, Hey DAN also handles data management, cleaning, and CRM integration. It’s the perfect tool for your sales teams on the go.

Companies regularly assign budgets to sales teams to help them do their job. However, the total amount of expenses will never be exact. For salespeople to be free to spend while they’re working, many companies opt to provide reimbursement for costs incurred on company time.

Each company will have its own expense reporting policies and procedures. Often, the allotted budget for reimbursement and allowances depend on the nature of the company’s industry and the role of the person.

However, many companies share similar policies when it comes to what kind of expenses are reimbursable. Here are a few of them:

The 4 Common Types of Sales Expenses

Food Expenses

For many employees, especially those in sales, meetings are inevitable. Often, these meetings extend well into lunch or dinner. Companies often have a budget for teams who need to eat while trying to hit an upcoming deadline.

When it comes to meeting clients during meals, companies also want to make sure that they are well-represented. Sales representatives have a budget to treat clients to meals when trying to nurture the relationship into a sale.

Transport Expenses

In particular, some roles require employees to rarely in the same place twice, especially those in sales. Salespeople need to be wherever their customers are, and that sometimes means being at a different city every day.

With this, companies shoulder transport expenses that can cover everything from car rentals, petrol, bus tickets, or even flights. Companies need to know that their employees will be where they’re supposed to be and have the budget to get there without issues.

Lodging Expenses

When there’s a transport expense, there’s also likely a lodging expense. Traveling team members mean that they may frequently have to stay in foreign places to participate in everything from trade marketing events to closing deals.

Lodging expenses include rental fees for apartments, staff housing, or even hotel rooms. A recurring cost for salespeople, lodging expenses are for those who travel to meet clients from different countries or those who cover a large territory and need to have rest stops in between meetings.

Gift & Entertainment Expenses

When trying to get close with clients, salespeople often have to spend resources to make sure they’re happy. To do so, companies dedicate a budget for occasional gifts and entertainment that are essential to nurturing the relationship.

Professional Data Entry for Expense Reporting

Salespeople have an almost endless task list that they must keep up. Many of their administrative tasks often get pushed away in favor of fulfilling their core functions. Unfortunately, this leads to things such as inaccurate filing, missed deadlines, and possibly even not getting back their reimbursement.

To help sales teams, companies should invest in automating their company’s expense reporting procedures. By hiring professional crm data entry service providers, your sales teams can be sure that their expenses are correctly filed and on-time with just a call. Your sales teams will never have to worry about their expense reports ever again.