WHSmith outsources expenses system to reduce admin costs

WHSmith Group has outsourced its expense claims management process to specialist Globalexpense in a bid to control costs and downsize its payroll department.

The company only has about 1,400 employees who file expenses in every month, but their claims take more time to process than the department spends on processing payroll submissions.

According to WHSmith group compensation manager Yvette Lamidey, claimants prolonged the process by incorrectly filling in claim forms or entering the wrong rates for mileage.

'We chose Globalexpense because we wanted a full solution that could put all our expense rules into the system,' she said. 'It gives us a validation for receipt processing and has good management tools.'

Under the deal, GlobalExpense takes the entire business process out-of-house. GlobalExpense will handle and reconcile all of WHSmith's paper receipts, and provide it with 24/7 electronic expense submission, while integrating the claims into the company accounting system.

The system only allows claims to be processed if data is inputted in the correct ways, and is configured to alert managers to large claims or those that are outside the group's expense policy.

These features have allowed expenses processing times to be cut significantly.

'What employees value most is being able to put expenses in on a Monday and having the money in their account by the following Thursday,' said Lamidey.

Previously, the department was running supplementary payrolls to cover expenses on a fortnightly basis.

'For some time, the 30-strong payroll department has employed staff who are occupied with processing expenses. These roles are now not needed. Using the system means we have already lost two posts in the department,' said Lamidey. 'Once the IT has bedded down, we'll be looking for further efficiencies.'