Royal Gazelle is continuously professionalizing its Finance department. Recently, the claims process was automated. The bicycle manufacturer adopted ICreative's declaration app and now treats declarations as purchase invoices. Edwin ten Brinck, Manager Accounting and Keyuser SAP FI/CO and Manager Finance, explains.
What did the claims process look like before?
'Previously, colleagues delivered the expense claims on paper with the physical receipts attached behind them. Once the supervisor had signed for approval, the expense claims were booked manually in our ERP system, SAP. Monthly, the declared amounts were then passed on to HR so that it could pay them out at the same time as the salary.'
How does it work in the new situation?
'We now treat declarations like a purchase invoice. When submitting in the claim app, the claimant indicates which category it falls into. Linked to the category is a general ledger account and a cost center. As a result, the entries come in pre-coded in Basware, our invoice processing system. Checking the entry for coding and VAT is therefore the only thing left to do.
Checking the VAT percentage is by far the most important, because the settlement is subject to conditions and rules. We do still regularly correct the VAT percentage. After all, colleagues do not always have the procedure at hand, for example when they are on the road.
After the booking is approved, expense reports follow the same workflow as invoices in Basware and the system automatically forwards the claim to the approver. After approval, the claim is free for payment.'
What are the benefits?
'There is now more ease of use for both submitters and processors. In the old situation, claims had to be in by the tenth of the month to be paid in the same month. Anything after the tenth was not paid out until a month later. Very inconvenient, especially for larger amounts. Now colleagues can submit expenses incurred at any time and get paid weekly. This is also nice for Finance because most expenses are booked in the correct month. In addition, we got rid of a largely manual and error-prone process. And we now have a tool where we can store the receipts.'
Were there specific needs or requirements that the app needed to meet?
'The system had to be user-friendly and reliable. Administration must be able to track status throughout the entire process - from claim creation to payment. When submitting, claimants are required to add receipt or attachment and the system must be able to handle multiple currencies.'
How did the introduction go?
'At first there was only a desktop version of the claims portal. Colleagues actually experienced manually submitting receipts as a dull thing. It wasn't hip. So everyone was all too eager to work with the declarations portal; I didn't have to do much for that. Still, there was a strong need for an app. Now that there is one, everyone is totally happy to work with it. For travel expenses, it would only be useful if we could also store one or more addresses in it.'
How many and what type of claims are actually involved?
'On average, a colleague submits nine claims on an annual basis. That means the Finance department processes about 1,500 claims per year. Since the Covid-19 outbreak, the number of expense claims did increase somewhat. This is because Gazelle has discontinued net travel reimbursement due to working from home. Commuting expenses are now also submitted via the app. We otherwise do not work with advances and very limited credit card claims.
What else is on the agenda?
'In terms of professionalization in the Finance department, there is currently a strong focus on e-invoicing. We are working with ICreative on an onboarding campaign to connect suppliers to the Basware Network. That's an open global network to where any-to-any conversion of invoices and orders takes place. This means that suppliers send their invoices to Basware Network in the way they want, and then they are converted to an e-invoice that is ready for immediate automated processing.
We have now been on the road for six months, and last week the number of e-invoices exceeded the number of paper and machine readable PDF invoices for the first time. We already have 34 suppliers hooked up and we are already noticing a significant reduction in time spent on invoice processing.