For businesses who regularly need to reimburse employees, keeping track of who’s spending what, where and when can seem like a mountain to climb.
Having discussed this exact issue with a client of ours whose drivers pay for the fuel going into the company vehicles, whilst out on the road, we wanted to identify a solution that would lessen the administrative burden for them.
What is Pleo?
Pleo takes the stress out of reimbursing employee expenses and helps you, as the business owner, manage spending.
There are two main functions that you can chose between: cards or out of pocket.
Cards
Pleo offers ‘smart’ company cards, alongside an expense management system for your business.
Employees are given their own card, which is preloaded with, and limited to, an amount determined by you. They are then able to use the card, as they would any other, for any business expenses.
With the Pleo app installed, when the employee uses their Pleo card to pay for something – whether by using the physical card or via Google Pay, for example – they will be prompted to provide any important details relating to the transaction and to snap a photo of their receipt. These details will be made available to the employer.
Whilst useful for limiting spend, transactions are not approved on a case by case basis and so, where you opt to use the card function, you should be confident that the expenses incurred will always be legitimate business expenses.
Out of pocket
The ‘out of pocket’ function works a little differently and can be useful for limiting spend whilst also keeping an eye on what expenditure is being incurred, since each transaction must be approved, before the employee is given access to any money.
Here’s how it works:
- The employee pays for the expense out of their own pocket
- They take a photo of the receipt, and add the expense into the Pleo app
- Expenses submitted go to a designated ‘reviewer’ within the business, who can check and approve expenses as regularly as they wish
- Once an expense is approved, the employee can input their card details via the app and get reimbursed for the expense straight away
Pleo also links to Xero, QuickBooks, and Sage and, therefore, all VAT is reclaimed, and expenses correctly assigned to nominal codes.
Pleo is free to use if you have less than five employees, but beyond this there are fees associated with the service. As preferred partners, we may be able to secure a discount, so be sure to speak to one of our cloud accounting advisers before subscribing.
How can George Hay help?
Our cloud accounting experts in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire are here to help you explore what works for your business, and to ensure you’re getting the most out of your chosen software.
If you’d like to find out more about how you can streamline employee reimbursement, and manage business spend, contact us today.
