Catch Expense Errors
Before They Become Problems
Thorough expense auditing that protects your records while treating your team members with the respect they deserve.
Back to HomeWhat This Service Delivers
Expense errors happen for understandable reasons. Someone misreads a policy, forgets to attach a receipt, or makes an honest mistake about what's covered. When these errors get processed into your accounting system, they create problems that take time and effort to fix later.
This service catches those issues before they reach your books. We review submitted expenses with attention to both policy compliance and accuracy, looking for things like missing documentation, incorrect categorization, or charges that don't align with your guidelines. When we find something, we communicate it clearly and help resolve it quickly.
The outcome is cleaner records, fewer corrections needed during reconciliation, and a team that gradually learns what good expense documentation looks like through constructive feedback.
The Challenge You're Facing
Errors Caught Too Late
By the time accounting discovers that an expense shouldn't have been approved or was documented incorrectly, it's already in your books. Fixing these issues requires additional work to reverse transactions, request proper documentation, and make adjusting entries.
Policy Drift
Without consistent review, people develop their own interpretations of expense policies. What starts as one person's misunderstanding gradually becomes accepted practice, making it harder to maintain proper controls and creating confusion when someone finally notices the deviation.
Audit Trail Gaps
Missing receipts, vague descriptions, or incomplete approval documentation create gaps in your audit trail. These gaps become problems during financial reviews or tax preparation, requiring scrambling to reconstruct what happened months earlier.
Our Approach to Auditing
We review each expense submission against your policies and look for common issues like missing documentation, incorrect categorization, duplicate charges, or expenses that fall outside policy guidelines. This happens before the expense gets processed into your accounting system, giving us a chance to address problems when they're still easy to fix.
Our review process is thorough but respectful. When we identify an issue, we communicate it as a question or observation rather than an accusation. Most errors are honest mistakes, and our job is to help resolve them without creating unnecessary stress for the person who submitted the expense.
We also track patterns across all submissions. If we notice that multiple people are struggling with the same aspect of your expense policy, that's useful information for improving either the policy itself or how it's communicated to your team.
Policy Compliance Review
Verifying that submitted expenses align with your established guidelines and approval requirements
Documentation Verification
Ensuring proper receipts, descriptions, and supporting materials are attached and complete
Accuracy Checking
Looking for calculation errors, duplicate submissions, and incorrect categorization
Pattern Analysis
Identifying recurring issues that suggest opportunities for process improvements
Working Together
We integrate into your existing expense approval workflow, reviewing submissions after initial approval but before they're processed into your accounting system. This gives us a chance to catch issues without slowing down the reimbursement process significantly.
When we find something that needs attention, we communicate it directly to the person who submitted the expense and their approver. The tone is always constructive, focused on resolving the issue and helping them understand what to do differently next time. We also provide you with regular reports on what we're finding and what it means for your expense management overall.
Over time, as people become more familiar with what's expected, the number of issues we catch typically decreases. That improvement is a good indicator that the auditing process is working as intended and helping strengthen your team's expense documentation practices.
Review
Examining each submission for policy compliance and documentation completeness
Resolution
Communicating issues respectfully and helping resolve them quickly
Reporting
Providing insights on patterns and recommendations for process improvements
Investment & What's Included
Comprehensive expense auditing with respectful communication and actionable insights
What You Receive
Review of all submitted expense reports against your established policies
Verification of documentation completeness and accuracy before processing
Direct communication with submitters about issues in a constructive manner
Detection of duplicate submissions, calculation errors, and categorization mistakes
Monthly summary reports on audit findings and compliance trends
Pattern analysis to identify recurring issues and improvement opportunities
Recommendations for policy clarifications based on observed confusion points
Support for resolving complex or unusual expense situations that require judgment
The Value Beyond Price
Catching errors before they reach your accounting system saves the time and effort required to fix them later through reversals and adjustments. It also means your financial records are more accurate from the start, making reconciliation easier and reducing stress during audits or reviews.
The respectful approach to communicating issues helps maintain good relationships with your team while still ensuring proper oversight of company spending. People appreciate being treated as partners in maintaining good records rather than as suspects who need to be policed.
How Results Show Up
In the first few weeks, we typically find a variety of issues as we learn your policies and your team learns what level of documentation is expected. This initial period involves more back-and-forth communication as we resolve questions and help people understand the standards.
After about a month, you'll notice that the same types of errors stop appearing as frequently. People learn from the feedback they receive and adjust their submission practices accordingly. The number of expenses that need correction drops, and the ones that do need attention are usually edge cases rather than basic documentation issues.
Within a few months, your month-end close becomes smoother because fewer adjustments are needed for expense corrections. Your audit trail is stronger because documentation is complete and properly attached. The overall quality of your expense data improves, making it more useful for budgeting and analysis.
What You'll Experience
- • Fewer errors making it into your accounting system
- • More complete documentation and audit trails
- • Better policy compliance across the organization
- • Clearer understanding of expense patterns and trends
- • Smoother month-end close process
Realistic Timeline
- Week 1-2: Setup and initial review process establishment
- Month 1: Higher volume of findings as standards are established
- Month 2-3: Noticeable reduction in repeat errors and issues
- Month 4+: Stable operation with consistent quality improvement
Our Commitment to You
We take seriously the responsibility of reviewing your team's expense submissions. These are real people trying to do their jobs properly, and our role is to help them succeed at that rather than to find fault.
When we identify issues, we communicate them as observations that need addressing, not as accusations of wrongdoing. The vast majority of expense errors are honest mistakes or misunderstandings, and our approach reflects that understanding. We aim to be helpful rather than punitive.
We also commit to learning your business and your policies thoroughly so we can provide informed judgment on unusual situations. Not everything fits neatly into policy guidelines, and part of our value is helping you navigate those edge cases thoughtfully.
What We Stand Behind
- Respectful communication that assumes good intentions from all parties
- Thorough review that catches issues without creating unnecessary delays
- Constructive feedback that helps people improve their documentation practices
- Actionable insights about patterns that can inform policy improvements
Getting Started
First Step: Initial Discussion
We'll have a conversation about your current expense review process and what types of issues you're seeing most frequently. This helps us understand whether our auditing approach would address your specific challenges and concerns.
What Happens Next
If it seems like a good fit, we'll review your expense policies and workflows to understand what we'll be auditing against. We'll also discuss integration points with your approval process so we can review submissions at the right stage.
The first few weeks involve learning your policies deeply and establishing communication protocols with your team. We'll start with a lighter touch initially and gradually ramp up to full review coverage as everyone becomes comfortable with the process.
What We Need From You
Access to your expense submission system, your current policies, and contact information for approvers and key stakeholders. We'll also need clarity on who should receive our monthly reports and what types of issues warrant immediate escalation versus routine reporting.
Ready to explore whether this service makes sense for your organization?
Schedule a DiscussionLet's Discuss Your Expense Auditing Needs
If you're dealing with too many expense errors or struggling to maintain consistent policy compliance, a dedicated auditing service might help strengthen your processes.
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