Product Overview of Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense is a comprehensive online expense reporting application designed to streamline and automate the process of recording, managing, and approving business expenses. Here’s a detailed look at what the product does and its key features.
What Zoho Expense Does
Zoho Expense enables users to record and report all their business expenses efficiently. It allows employees to upload receipts, create expense entries, and submit expense reports for approval. The application is tailored to help organizations manage their expenses in a centralized and organized manner, facilitating better financial management and decision-making.
Key Features and Functionality
Receipt Management
- Users can add receipts in multiple ways, including taking a photo using the mobile app, drag-and-drop from the desktop, forwarding email confirmations, or importing from cloud applications. The advanced autoscan feature can read receipts in 14 languages and automatically create expense records, reducing manual data entry and errors.
Expense Management
- The dashboard provides a high-level view of expense status, allowing users to itemize expenses for tax exemptions and split shared expenses by amount, day, or custom category. Admins can control what fields employees see, set per diem rates based on location, and track expenses in real-time to identify areas for cost reduction.
Mileage Tracking
- Zoho Expense includes a mileage tracking feature that automatically logs and calculates mileage expenses, ensuring accurate tracking and reimbursements for business trips.
Card Management
- The application allows the management of corporate cards, enabling admins to assign cards to users and monitor all transactions. It also auto-matches card transactions with corresponding expenses, streamlining the reconciliation process.
Expense Control and Approvals
- The system features a robust approval process with three default user roles: Submitter, Approver, and Admin. Submitters can upload receipts and submit expense reports, Approvers can approve reports, and Admins have full access to configure preferences, assign roles, and manage all aspects of the application. Custom user roles can also be created by admins.
Travel and Trip Management
- Zoho Expense includes a Trips module where admins can view and manage all business trips, including trip duration, status, and approvers. This helps in tracking frequent travel destinations and managing trip-related expenses efficiently.
Advances and Budgets
- The application allows admins to manage advance payments and compare budgets with actual spending. The Budgets section enables setting budgets and generating insightful reports to make informed financial decisions.
Automation Tools
- Zoho Expense includes task automation tools that minimize manual workloads by automating repetitive tasks such as expense report approval and reimbursement. This increases efficiency and reduces the time spent on administrative tasks.
Security and Analytics
- The application is powered by enterprise-grade security measures, including encryption, access controls, and regular backups, to safeguard sensitive financial data. The Analytics section provides customized reports to give a clear picture of the organization’s business expenditures, helping in performance analysis and financial planning.
User Interface and Access
- Upon receiving an invitation from an admin, users can set up their accounts and access the Zoho Expense dashboard, which provides an overview of the organization’s summaries, spend summaries, and other key metrics.
In summary, Zoho Expense is a powerful tool for managing business expenses, offering a range of features that enhance efficiency, accuracy, and security in expense reporting and management. Its automation capabilities, robust approval process, and comprehensive analytics make it an invaluable asset for any organization seeking to streamline its expense management processes.