Expense Reports That Write Themselves: How to Sell the Case for Automation

Expense reporting feels like a necessary evil, until you show the business how much money and morale it quietly burns. There are simple ways to turn that pain into a proposal your leaders will sign off on.

Manual expense management is still slowing down too many finance teams. Between the paper receipts, spreadsheet errors, and the endless back-and-forth approvals, it's not just costing time, but it's costing money, visibility, and employee satisfaction.

But when it comes to building a business case for automation, finance leaders often hit a wall. The benefits are clear, yet decision-makers need more than gut instinct, they need data, proof, and ROI potential.

Why Manual Expense Reporting Hurts Growth 

• Fragmented data makes finance stitch together spreadsheets before they can see the big picture.  
• Paper and PDFs slow reimbursements, frustrate staff and hide non-compliant spend. 
• Low visibility delays cash-flow decisions and masks fraud until after month end. 
• High labour costs drain productivity across employees, managers and AP. 

“Automating the expense reporting process isn’t a top priority for most companies—because leaders don’t realise how much it impacts everything else.”  

The Real Cost of 'Good Enough' Expense Processes

You may think your current process is working fine, but dig a little deeper and you’ll uncover hidden costs that go far beyond late submissions and reconciliation headaches. For example:

• 68% of finance leaders say expense fraud and human error are still big issues.
• Manual systems take up to 20 minutes per claim to process per employee.
• Lack of integration across systems leads to data silos, making real-time reporting nearly impossible.

These aren’t just operational annoyances, they’re barriers to scalability, compliance, and strategic decision-making.

How to Build a Business Case for Expense Management Automation

A practical guide that walks you through every step of building a compelling, data-driven case for expense management automation, tailored to finance leaders across all business sizes whether it is small, medium or large.

Download now

Automation Isn’t Just a Trend, It’s a Strategic Move

Expense automation isn’t just about making life easier but also about:

• Driving productivity across finance and operations teams
• Improving compliance through better policy enforcement and audit trails
• Gaining financial visibility with real-time data insights

And with modern tools, implementation is faster and more cost-effective than you might think, especially when you can demonstrate the ROI upfront.

Talk Their Language: Top Value Messages 

How to Overcome Classic Objections 

• “We don’t have the budget.”: Show total hours lost to manual entry multiplied by salary cost. 
• “Our current system works.”: Highlight duplicate spend, delayed close and hidden fraud risk. 
• “IT is swamped.”: Emphasise cloud deployment, no hardware, rapid API integrations.  

Proof Points Worth Highlighting 

• $18 saved per expense report on average after automating.  
• Cloud + mobile means updates, security and new features are delivered automatically. 
• AI receipt capture and card data matching cut manual entry to near zero. 
• Policy enforcement in real time flags out-of-bounds spend before approvals. 

Building the Business Case That Gets a 'Yes'

So how do you get buy-in from the wider business? What metrics really matter to your CFO, CIO, or board? The key lies in aligning your pitch with value, risk reduction, and strategic enablement—and knowing how to present the numbers that back it up.

We’ve put together a practical guide that walks you through every step of building a compelling, data-driven case for expense management automation, tailored to finance leaders across all business sizes whether it is small, medium or large.

Download Building a Business Case for Expense Management Automation guide packed with real-world stats, talking points, and decision-maker insights to help you make the switch with confidence.