Simplifying Expense Tracking During a Disaster

In the face of a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, many smaller tasks (particularly ones that mean less to the active response) don't receive the attention they should.

Expense tracking is one of these operations. Despite this fact, many professionals will tell you that expense tracking (especially as it applies to certain facets of a response operation) is equally important as other tasks outlined within the response phase.

Expense tracking is key during the recovery phase. This data not only helps a response team create corrective actions and implement them for future responses, but may also help it secure reimbursement from FEMA (if eligible.) It can also be used to support insurance claims.

Why does this ongoing task receive less attention than it should during a response? It’s time consuming and difficult to do when someone generates an expense. This, naturally, leads to expenses and receipts getting lost and can result in a loss for the organization. 

The right solutions, however, can streamline this task to ensure your organization can document all expenses related to a disaster.

A Veoci solution for expense tracking utilizes a Form, which asks employees (i.e., users) to answer basic questions regarding the expense. This gathers details that may be critical in securing insurance claims or reimbursements.

The Form also includes a field for uploading photos. This enables personnel to attach images of receipts and other expense documentation directly into the report. After filling out the other fields within the report, they can submit the expense and move onto their next task. 

This solution makes it easier for employees to track expenses, and gives management a way to consistently collect this data. Administrators can also upload existing expense data by uploading a spreadsheet to Veoci.

Introducing a digital solution for expense tracking — one that streamlines the entire process for both the personnel in the field and managers — will positively impact the recovery phase for any organization. A solution like this is a mechanism for tracking, organizing, and capturing expenses on a rolling basis.