The Procurement Glossary » Expense Management

Expense Management

Procure-to-Pay

Definition

The process of controlling and reimbursing employee-incurred costs such as travel, meals and small purchases.

Explanation

Expense management overlaps procurement at the tail: both deal with small, distributed spend. Integrating the two gives fuller visibility and applies policy consistently whether a cost came via PO, P-card or an expense claim.

Example

Travel and client-meal claims flow through the expense system, coded to projects for reporting.

Related terms

• Procurement Card (P-Card) — A company payment card issued to staff for low-value purchases, replacing requisitions and POs for small buys.
• Tail Spend — The large number of low-value transactions and suppliers that together make up a small share of total spend but a big share of effort.
• Spend Visibility — The degree to which an organisation can see and understand its total spend across categories, suppliers and business units.
• Policy Compliance — The extent to which actual buying behaviour follows the organisation's procurement policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Expense Management?

The process of controlling and reimbursing employee-incurred costs such as travel, meals and small purchases. Expense management overlaps procurement at the tail: both deal with small, distributed spend. Integrating the two gives fuller visibility and applies policy consistently whether a cost came via PO, P-card or an expense claim.

Can you give an example of Expense Management?

Travel and client-meal claims flow through the expense system, coded to projects for reporting.

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