Whether you’re a mid-market or enterprise organisation, an expense management system is the easiest and fastest way to track and manage every employee-initiated expense, travel cost, and invoice payment. After all, expense management processes should be effortless. If you’re running on NetSuite and also use a third-party expense management system, you have the option to integrate the two to further streamline operations, reduce errors, and enhance financial visibility.
In the following sections, we will explore various NetSuite integration options for expense management systems like SAP Concur, Expensify, and Pleo. We’ll dive into how these integrations work, their benefits, and how an expense management integration can improve your company’s processes.
Does NetSuite have native expense management capabilities?
Yes, NetSuite offers built-in expense management functionality within its SuiteProjects module, designed for professional services, project accounting, and project management. This feature is also available in NetSuite OneWorld, supporting global, multi-entity, and multi-currency organisations. NetSuite’s native expense management allows employees to submit expense reports, route them for approval, and integrate the data seamlessly into the accounting system for reimbursement and financial reporting.
Key features include:
- Expense submission | Employees enter expense reports or purchase requests directly into NetSuite, including details like expense items, amounts, purposes, and dates.
- Approval workflows | Submitted reports are routed to the appropriate supervisors for approval, following the predefined hierarchy unless customised otherwise.
- Automated accounting | Once approved, expense reports are automatically forwarded to the accounting department for payment processing and recorded in the financial system.
- Customisable fields | The system allows customisation of fields to capture all necessary information, including deductions for any advances received.
- Mobile accessibility | NetSuite provides a mobile app, enabling employees to submit expense reports and receipts on the go.
- Document management | A built-in document management system helps organise and access files, simplifying the tracking of receipts and invoices.
Third-party expense management software
While NetSuite’s native expense management is robust, some organisations will prefer to continue using their existing third-party expense management systems. This could be down to several reasons:
- Third-party systems like SAP Concur and Expensify may offer deeper features such as AI-powered receipt scanning, integrated travel booking, dynamic policy enforcement, and advanced analytics that may surpass NetSuite’s native capabilities.
- Specialised expense management platforms may provide a more intuitive and user-friendly interface, mobile apps with offline capabilities, and streamlined workflows that enhance employee adoption and satisfaction.
- Third-party solutions can offer greater flexibility to tailor the expense management process to specific business needs, including complex approval hierarchies and multi-level expense categorisation.
- Organisations may have already invested time and resources in implementing a third-party system that is deeply integrated into their operations. Switching to a new system could disrupt established processes and require additional training.
Integrating third party expense management systems with NetSuite
To fully leverage these advanced features without abandoning your current systems, integrating your third-party expense management software with NetSuite is the optimal solution. Integration ensures that expense data flows automatically from the expense management platform into NetSuite’s financial modules, eliminating manual data entry and reducing errors. In fact, integrating your expense management system with NetSuite brings a multitude of benefits:
- Eliminates manual data entry, saving time and minimising mistakes.
- Speeds up expense processing and simplifies expense submission for employees.
- Ensures consistent approvals and accounting within a single system.
- Real-time syncing keeps financial reports up to date for accurate budgeting, and effective spend and resource allocation.
- Automatically ensures expenses comply with company policies and regulations.
- Reduces administrative workload, allowing focus on strategic tasks.
- Detailed insights aid in monitoring budgets and identifying savings.
- Combines expense and financial data for thorough reporting.
- Improves collaboration and coordination between finance and HR.
NetSuite Concur integration
SAP Concur is a leading expense, travel, and invoice management solution that automates and streamlines expense reporting and approval workflows.
Integrating SAP Concur with NetSuite typically involves using middleware or integration platforms that support both systems, such as Celigo Integrator.io. Here’s how the integration functions:
- Approved expense reports in SAP Concur are automatically imported into NetSuite as vendor bills or journal entries.
- Changes in employee data, expense categories, and exchange rates can be synchronised between the systems.
- Expense types in Concur can be mapped to corresponding accounts in NetSuite to ensure accurate financial reporting.
NetSuite Expensify integration
Expensify simplifies expense reporting with features like receipt scanning, expense categorisation, and reimbursement processing.
Expensify offers a native integration with NetSuite:
- Authenticate your NetSuite account within Expensify using token-based authentication.
- Approved expenses in Expensify are exported to NetSuite as expense reports, vendor bills, or journal entries.
- Configure preferences for expense categories, departments, classes, and locations to match NetSuite’s setup.
NetSuite Pleo integration
Pleo offers smart company cards and expense management solutions, simplifying how businesses handle employee expenses.
Pleo provides a native integration with NetSuite:
- Authorise the connection by entering NetSuite credentials in Pleo’s integration settings.
- Transactions made with Pleo cards are automatically imported into NetSuite.
- Attach digital receipts to transactions in NetSuite for record-keeping.
Is your expense management system not listed?
If your preferred expense management system isn’t mentioned, integration with NetSuite is still possible. NetSuite’s SuiteCloud Platform allows for custom integrations using:
- SuiteScript enables custom scripting for automation and data manipulation.
- RESTlets and Web Services APIs facilitate communication between NetSuite and external systems.
- Integration platforms like Celigo can bridge the gap between NetSuite and other applications.
By leveraging these tools, you can connect virtually any expense management system to NetSuite, ensuring seamless data flow and unified reporting.
Ready to integrate your expense management system with NetSuite?
Annexa is here to assist you in navigating your expense management integration options. Our deep expertise in NetSuite integrations ensures a smooth implementation tailored to your organisation’s unique needs.
Contact us today to discover how we can help streamline your expense management and drive operational excellence.
Even more integration resources
- Everything you need to know about integrations for NetSuite
- How to select the right NetSuite integration partner
- A quick guide to NetSuite payment integrations
- A fast guide to the most popular NetSuite integrations for CRM
- The why and how of integrating NetSuite with 3PL and WMS systems
- A guide to integrating NetSuite with eCommerce platforms