An expense claim form is used to document business expenses which an employee paid on behalf of the organization and the organization has to reimburse the employee. There are certain events where employees are required to pay the expenses from their own pocket and they can later claim these expenses from the organization. To do so, they will need to attach proof of these expenses along with an expense claim form and submit them to the relevant department for approval. These expenses can be categorized into office supplies, accommodation, travel or stationery. An example of these expenses is when an employee takes a customer out for dinner for marketing purposes, and pays for the food from his/her pocket. Then that employee must be reimbursed for the expenses he/she paid on behalf of the organization.
What is the Importance of Expense Claim Form?
In every business, it is possible that there will come a time when the employees of the company have to pay on behalf of the company. Sometimes, they aren’t able to instantly ask from the company and have to pay from their pocket. Such cases are mostly possible when any employee is traveling for business meetings, conferences or on work at some distant location. An expense claim form will help the employees with ensuring that they will get repaid by the company and won’t have to deal with this as their personal expense. This form helps a company to keep their accounting records and can avoid any chances of fraud. Furthermore, it also helps a company with paying the amount the employee deserves, which is neither less than that or more than that.
How to Fill in an Expense Claim Form?
The following are the few important things that you need to include in an expense claim form:
Personal Information of the Employee:
An expense claim form should include the full name and employee identification number if it’s available, the department they belong to and any other information you think that is important to mention in the form. This will help the recipient to know whom they are supposed to reimburse.
Details of the Purchase:
You are also given a place on an expense claim form to write the date of the purchase and what was bought and what is the total amount. If you paid for more than one item, then you are supposed to mention all of them one by one.
Signature:
You should sign the form and write the date you are submitting the form on. Your signature will be taken as a guarantee that all the information that you have filled in above is accurate and is actually the expenses of the company that you paid for.
Attach the Original Receipt as Proof:
You should also attach the receipt of the item that you have listed in the form. It will serve as proof that you did pay for the expenses that are written in the form. If you do not have any receipt as proof, you might not get the full reimbursement.
Submission of the Form:
The last step is to submit your expense claim form to either the manager of your company or whoever deals with such forms in your company. This should be done as soon as possible because many companies have a policy in which they accept an expense claim form within 30 days from the expense was made.
Expense Claim Form and Its Advantages
An expense claim form comes with countless advantages and all businesses and organizations can take these advantages. Some of the main advantages are as given below;
1- An expense claim form provides a prompt and easy way to reimburse the amount. It is a quick and reliable resource for any employee to get his/her amount back into his/her account.
2- These forms are part of the financial documentation system of an organization and can be used for the preparation of various financial analyses. Thus, it enables the management to use this tool by keeping their financial health in front of them.
3- As per the audit and compliance department’s recommendations are concerned, they always prefer to use a proper way to handle such small cash transactions. Therefore, reimbursed expenses should always be accompanied by a proper and valid form, dully authorized by concerned employee and a supervisor.
4- An expense claim form is the best tool to motivate employees and to boost their morale and passion for hard work. Through this form, an organization can express its commitment to the highest level of professionalism. This will lead to many benefits, like increased goodwill, lower employee turnover rate and more employee satisfaction.
Templates for Expense Claim Form
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