New Software Service Simplifies Reimbursable Expense Reports by Letting...

June 6, 2005 -- Most sales professionals, traveling consultants, and executives incur expenses on behalf of their client or employer, that they must pay for out of pocket. They are reimbursed for these charges; however, in order to get their money back they must complete and get an expense report approved. In some cases, the employee may be provided with a corporate credit card, which the company pays for; however, credit card statements only provide the amount and place of a transaction. For tracking and reporting purposes, employers still need detailed reports on every transaction.

For most businesses, what are known as reimbursable T&E (Travel & Entertainment) expenses make up their second largest controllable cost center, second only to payroll and benefits. Businesses have specific tax guidelines they must follow when reporting reimbursed expenses, because they are considered separate from an employee's paycheck, and not a form of compensation.

The process for creating and reporting expenses differs slightly from company to company; however, for most people who are required to submit expense reports, it's not a particularly pleasant process, and the reimbursement check can never seem to arrive soon enough. The process usually consists of saving all of one's business expense receipts, then sitting down once a month, going through those receipts, and assembling an expense report using a plain spreadsheet, template, or in some cases, specialized software provided by their employer. For most people who have 20 to 30 transactions or less the process takes about an hour; however, for some the process can take several hours.

After an expense report is submitted, the company must evaluate the report, and apply their own unique business rules to whether or not they will reimburse the individual's expense. That process can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours depending on the specific business rules and the complexity of the report. Depending on the size of the company, there can be several employees dedicated exclusively to the processing of reimbursable expenses.

By using their cell phone, PDA, or laptop, to enter expense report transactions, either as they occur, or at their convenience, individuals can dramatically reduce the time it takes to prepare and submit their expense reports. After expense transactions have been entered, and whenever they're ready, the individual can submit those transactions, automatically creating their expense report which they can then use any Internet browser to review and submit. They can then follow the expense report through the approval process.

Other expense report software solutions are web based only, or software based only. With web-based solutions you need to have an internet connection at all times in order to create, edit, list, or even submit your expenses. These web and WAP based solutions are slow, cumbersome, and often extremely unreliable because of inherent connectivity problems. On most devices, it is not at all uncommon to enter an expense then go to submit it only to find you have lost your connection, and have to reenter your expense all over again. Such solutions are impractical, and often don't get used at all. With software only solutions, there are often complicated desktop or server configurations to support and they usually provide little to no consistency or centralized reporting capability for multiple employees.

Expense Report Wizard combines the best of both worlds, web-based, and software-based, and was designed from the ground up for universal access. The service will help streamline expense reporting and processing for everyone, from independent sales reps to companies of several thousand. Your entire company does not have to use Expense Report Wizard in order to derive the benefits of the service. Even if your company has an existing system in place, most people find that using Expense Report Wizard to create their expense reports is still easier and more convenient than the larger more cumbersome, and often more restrictive, systems used by their employer.

Because Expense Report Wizard is a service, and not simply a software offering, users will always have access to the latest version, features, and functionality, at no additional charge. There are never any upgrade fees, and there's no software to buy year after year to get all the newest functionality. In addition, configuration and management costs are kept extremely low, as there are no server, specialized hardware, or software maintenance and support considerations. Expense Report Wizard is ready to use regardless of who you are, or what your infrastructure.

Expense Report Wizard Expense Recorder software which allows you to record your transactions off-line, is currently available for PocketPC, SmartPhone, Palm, Java-enabled Cell Phones, and BlackBerry devices. Windows and Linux versions of the Expense Recorder software are expected to be released in Q3, 2005.

The Expense Report Wizard service is currently in the final testing stages. We are still looking for Beta testers to help test the service and provide detailed feedback. Interested parties should visit http://www.expensereportwizard.com for more information, or to sign-up. Beta testers can use the system FREE until August 1, 2005, in exchange for their feedback.

Regular service, starting July 1st, 2005, will be $9.95 a month per user and backed by a full 30-day money back guarantee.

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| Company | Gateway International | gateway international holdings |

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