Handling expense entry is the easy part of the process
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Sure, our focus has always been on Students - but we provide so much more value behind the scenes. In short, the key benefits happen "under the hood" and this is down to the close technical integrations we have built with our accounting system partners.
".. expense entry is just the first step. The key benefit exists in our link with leading finance systems. Live integrations save your team both time - and money .."
Ian Randle, MD of Konnekt365
1: Expense Entry - and so your process begins...
Although expense entry and approval is a fundamental part of our Student expenditure platform, we have to say - this is the easy part of our process..! As we see in many SUs, finance teams have created a spreadsheet, a google form - or even used the Student Management system to record manual entries. - this however, is just the start...
2: Approvals - President, treasurer and have we got any funds left?
Once an expense is submitted by a student, we integrate with your Student Management System (MSL, SUMS, Union Cloud) to establish who can approve the expenditure (retrieving the group setup). We then use this information to route the approval via our mobile/web apps - providing a fast, any device process.📱
For app approvers, they can review receipts/evidence attached and, more importantly, review the funds available within the group (or sub-group). This "live" view of the fund position is critical and a key differentiator. Approvers preview the income/expenditure report to make informed decisions.
Our Income/Expenditure report is a fundamental pillar of our solution. Pulling accounting information in real-time (no extracts, manual import/extract processes), we include every element - including showing any expenses in draft, PO's outstanding, PINs awaiting approval etc. - the "full" picture.
View a sample Income & Expenditure report pdf
3: Finance Integrations - automating the accounting function
Once approved, a transaction is automatically created in finance. Our finance link is consistent across all our integration partners and provides the following touch-points.
Student account: upon approved expense, automatically create a supplier/resource.
Bank details: students update bank details in apps; we update finance in real-time.
Expense/invoice entry: created in full detail; including attachments/approval info.
POs and PINs: our apps can also optionally create supplier orders and invoices.
Suppliers: for PO and PIN entry, suppliers looked up direct from your finance ledger.
Paying students: paid usual way (BACS etc). When paid, we send "push" notifications.
Income & Expenditure reports: in all apps, any device, any time, real-time (PDF or XL)
4: Admin module - mapping expenditure to your finance system
An often underestimated area of integration, our link offers vast flexibility in posting to the finance. We provide comprehensive configuration in our app where you define how the student expenditure (for a group, sub-group, fund or type) is mapped to the resulting transaction. This lets you map costs to a GL, cost-centre, department, fund etc.
Summary: "expense entry" is indeed the easy part...!
As we mentioned at the start, the student expense entry is indeed just the start of the process. The truth is that we often see that a vast amount of costly admin time is spent managing expenditure through to reimbursing the student. Using our solution, we believe the process becomes more efficient, resulting in less admin, less handling cost - and more importantly, happier students 👍
For students and finance teams - large or small.
Available on iOS, Android, tablet and web - Any device. Any time access.
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