Many organizations need find themselves in the position of managing compliance for a few different stakeholders: the company itself, approvers and managers, and employees. Each stakeholder brings a different need to the situation. The company wants to fight fraud and save money, the approvers want to get through their approval queue more quickly, and employees want to be submit their timesheets and expense reports easily and be reimbursed/paid quickly.
The challenge comes in meeting the needs of all three while also ensuring that regulations by local or federal government and requirements of individual contracts are being met. That means that managing compliance can be a major headache because of its complexity. Perhaps your organization is among the many that just do not have the time or the means to manage compliance with their stakeholders, government rules, and contract requirements, so they may get into some trouble if they are audited.
That’s where automated compliance software comes into play. Here is how your organization can better manage compliance using time and expense software with automated compliance:
Automated time and expense compliance
Time and attendance policies
HR is usually charged with managing those additional complex rules regarding employee time and attendance. From Overtime Pay to the FMLA and everything in between—like PTO, accrual rules, sick leave, and even individual client obligations—an automated leave management system can take care of these complex regulations.
FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) compliance
The FLSA also has its own requirements for how employee time is reported, providing yet another level of compliance regulations to manage. Employee time needs to be accurately reported and it needs to follow the rules of the FLSA. On top of this, the FLSA carries additional requirements for government workers and minors. Time tracking software is one tool that your organization can use to track and verify accurate record keeping.
Related Article: 26 Sample Employee Handbook Policies for Improved Compliance
DCAA, FAR, and DOL Compliance
If your a federal or USAID contractor, you must comply with the regulations for proper financial management and you need to show where the funds have been spent relating back to project activities. Contractors must be Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), Federal Travel Regulations, DOL (Department of Labor) compliant for audit.
Global rules & regulations
If your organization operates all over the world, making adjustments for other countries can be a challenge in addition to the work of managing company rules compliance. A global time and expense solution can accommodate employees working in other countries by validating their submissions against those additional rules.
Handbook compliance
Your organization’s handbook was designed purposefully based on your company’s priorities and processes. Automated software allows you to input your company rules and let the system validate against those rules when an employee submits a timesheet or an expense report. This means that submissions that do not meet company policy for major rule breaking will be automatically denied. This automation prevents it from having to be manually rejected by an approver; thus, only submissions of a high quality will go to the approval queue so that managers can spend more time on those submissions that follow the rules.
Policy revision
The idea that your policies probably need yearly revision might be a new one for your organization. If it’s been a few years since you’re reconsidered your policies, it’s time to start thinking forward. Changes in the law and in your company might be making some of your policies outdated or even superfluous.
Automated compliance and auditing software can show your which policies are most often failed and which employees most often fail when they submit timesheets or expense reports. This is insightful data to give you an indication of which policies to update or which employees need more training.
With so many facets to manage, compliance can be the headache that some companies avoid until it’s too late. Don’t be like one of these organizations with their head in the sand. Learn more about how DATABASICS Time & Expense™ can provide you with the compliance software tools to help your organization succeed and grow.
For more information on the DATABASICS Time & Expense solutions, contact us, or call (800) 599-0434.
DATABASICS provides cloud-based, next generation Expense Reporting, P-Card Management, Timesheet & Leave Management, and Invoice Processing automation. Specializing in meeting the most rigorous requirements, DATABASICS offers the highest level of service to its customers around the world.
DATABASICS is relied upon by leading organizations representing all the major sectors of the global economy: financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, research, retail, engineering, non-profits/NGOs, technology, federal contractors, and other sectors.
DATABASICS is headquartered in Reston, VA.