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Top 9 Procure-to-Pay Software for Enterprises

Mohammed Ridwan

November 23, 2023

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You want a procure-to-pay (P2P) software that automates your procurement process and addresses issues like lack of visibility, double payments, and delayed approvals. However, since such a tool has multiple users at different hierarchies and a complex workflow, you often end up with a more complex process if you don’t choose the right software. 

With ad-hoc processes, many issues pop-up: employees wait weeks for approvals, procurement teams have no real-time visibility over purchase requests and don’t know how to prioritize, finance teams get minimal control over expenses, and the entire process is chaotic. Hence, choosing the right procure-to-pay solution requires a focus on ease of use and flexibility. 

In this post, we will share the best procure-to-pay software for businesses in the UAE. We will discuss how P2P software helps with procurement management and which tools are worth considering. 

What is Procure-to-Pay Software?

Procure-to-pay software is a tool to automate the complete procurement process, which combines accounts payable (AP) software and procurement software.

Instead of having your procurement processes and data scattered across emails, Jira, different task management tools, and custom ERPs, you bring it onto a single platform. 

Procure to Pay software

By moving from your legacy tools to an automated P2P software, you can:

  • automate approval workflows, making the purchase request (PR) process easier and faster. Flexible approval workflows enable all stakeholders to approve requests with a trigger-based flow. 
  • integrate with ERPs to maintain a preferred vendor list and manage order items. While most P2P software supports record-keeping only, some allow the conversion of PRs to purchase orders (PO) automatically after approval.
  • match the goods received note (GRN) to enable two-way or three-way matching and ensure proper inventory and timely vendor payments. 
  • process payments with multiple payment options to avoid delays and foster vendor relationships. It also helps avoid double payments, underpayment, or overpayment. 
  • reconcile data faster via integrations with accounting software, enabling more visibility and control. Accounting teams get the right documents, and finance teams get visibility over expenses.

Since legacy ERPs aren’t enough to manage your entire procurement process, adding P2P software makes purchasing and payments easier. 

Top 9 Procure-to-Pay Software

Here is a procure-to-pay software list for companies in the UAE: 

1. Pluto

Procure-to-Pay software by Pluto

Pluto is an all-in-one procure-to-pay solution to transform your procurement and AP processes. It sits on top of your ERP as a layer to manage the multiple stages of the procurement process. From automating PRs to setting multi-layer approval workflows and managing vendors, it is the ultimate solution to transform a chaotic procurement process into a faster and more efficient one. 

Key Features:

  • Features fully customizable workflows for raising PR and POs, requiring no technical expertise
  • Offers a flexible approval engine capable of managing intricate hierarchies
  • Enables multi-layer invoice approvals with policies to align with your company's structure
  • Ability to upload invoices easily via WhatsApp images, eliminating the need to search for invoice details. Also facilitates invoice capture via emails directly to speed up the receipt capture process
  • A centralized dashboard to gather bills in one place and track the status to avoid double payments
  • Vendor-specific corporate cards to control budgets and detect irrelevant expenses
  • Supports local and international wire transfers to make payments 
  • OCR technology minimizes manual data entry by creating and populating bills from invoices
  • Supports ERP integration to synchronize your vendors, POs, and bills and integrates with accounting software, such as Oracle, NetSuite, Zoho, Quickbooks, Wafeq, Xero, etc.
  • Integrates with payment gateways and accounting software for seamless payments and reconciliation (a feature not available in other solutions)
  • Raises alerts for upcoming payments and enables scheduling payments in advance and automate invoices 
  • Provides a complete audit trail of the process to ensure visibility at each step
  • Shows real-time analytics to facilitate deep insights for supporting budget control

Pricing: 

Request the sales team for a custom quote

Pros:

  • More financial control with vendor-specific corporate cards 
  • Better Forex rates than most local banks 
  • Multiple integration options including Netsuite, Dynamics and more

Cons:

  • Slightly longer on-boarding due to unlimited corporate purchasing card offering 
  • Directly integrates with all other major ERPs except Tally

2. Order.co

Procure to pay solution by Order

Order.co is a procure-to-pay platform that provides you access to over 15,000+ vendors in addition to your preferred vendors. It acts as an online marketplace like Amazon or eBay to help you procure items for your business. You add items to the cart, and it enables a rule-based approval system for POs with complete control and visibility. 

Key Features:

  • Provides a custom, pre-approved Order.co catalog, including your current vendors and a vast network of 15,000+ vendors
  • Supports purchases from multiple vendors regardless of their ordering methods (API, website, email)
  • Sources the best prices for your needs to automatically generate POs and set up recurring orders to save time and reduce manual errors
  • Offers real-time budgeting and reporting insights by the user, location, cost center, or vendor
  • Simplifies payment processing by consolidating all orders from multiple vendors into one monthly invoice

Pricing:

Dependent upon locations and usage; contact hello@order.co for pricing information

Pros:

  • Customizable product lists for ordering 
  • Easy-to-create customizable workflows
  • Ability to categorize purchases and run reports

Cons:

  • Set up is confusing and requires customer support help
  • Can not order from multiple vendors at the same time

3. Yooz

Procure to pay platform by Yooz

Yooz optimizes the procurement process by focusing on invoice management.  It is suitable for mid-size companies of all sectors wanting to automate procurement with a cloud-based procure-to-pay solution. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies to enhance security and control in their account payable automation software.

Key Features:

  • Enables online, real-time management of supplier relationships, improving communication and collaboration
  • Provides mobile access for invoice approval and communication
  • Maintains regulation-compliant traceability, ensuring adherence to relevant laws and standards
  • Automates real-time general ledger (GL) coding and PO matching
  • Captures all types of documents through various channels, such as email, drag and drop, mobile, scan, and secure file transfer protocol (SFTP)
  • Integrates with accounting software and ERPs
  • Allows users to approve and pay invoices in batches, offering multiple payment options, such as virtual credit card, ACH, e-check, and paper check
  • Offers a range of services, including consulting, configuration, training, and user support

Pricing: 

Free trial for up to 15 days followed by a "pay-as-you-use" model. Also offers “gold edition” subscription pricing (based on the volume of documents) for an unlimited number of users and 4 hours of complimentary service

Pros:

  • Integrates with Sage Intacct
  • Ability to tag people in the comments and email them directly from the invoice
  • Numerous criteria available for setting up the approval workflows

Cons: 

  • Doesn’t offer payment services in the UAE, so you need to carry out payments on a different platform
  • Doesn't have integrations with major vendors as a form of punchout
  • Time-consuming to download and export files
  • Hard for vendors to send the invoices through Yooz

4. Kissflow

Procure to pay solution by Kissflow

Kissflow simplifies and enhances procurement processes while ensuring transparency and compliance. It helps users automate the entire process without requiring technical expertise or coding experience. It comes with 50+ ready-to-use applications, enabling unlimited automation applications.  

Key Features:

  • Offers fluid forms to enable easy capturing, approval, and tracking of PRs
  • Allows users to register and maintain vendors with access to multilingual catalogs
  • Integration with accounting systems, ERPs, and finance systems like Quickbooks, SAP, and Microsoft Dynamics 
  • Accelerates the invoice approval process with timely alerts and automated checks. Connect invoices to contracts, POs, and service entry sheets in a single dashboard
  • Customizable reports to visualize data using charts, filters, and heatmaps
  • Ability to define and manage budget restrictions with dynamic rules throughout the entire procure-to-pay lifecycle
  • Customized approval workflows to ensure transparency with rule-based approval processes
  • Smart alerts that provide real-time updates on the status of POs and invoices to keep stakeholders informed 

Pricing: 

Starts at $2499/month (billed annually). Pricing varies based on transaction volume and number of users

Pros: 

  • Intuitive interface with a relatively short learning curve

Cons:

  • Does not support payment flows in the UAE
  • Cost of its license is high (particularly for SMBs)
  • Can not handle intricate processes that require a high degree of customization or involve multiple conditional branches
  • Customization options are limited, including specific integrations, advanced business rules, or more sophisticated automation capabilities

5. Coupa

Procure-to-pay software by coupa

Coupa is a cloud-based automation platform to manage procurement processes. It facilitates supply chain optimization by providing visibility and control. It brings consumer shopping ease to the procurement process. With a focus on user adoption, it provides an intuitive shopping experience for employees, making it easier to adhere to pre-approved spending guidelines.

Key Features:

  • Simplifies procurement by allowing organizations to track pre-approved spending and get real-time visibility into POs and order lifecycle
  • Maximizes pre-approved spend to offer complete visibility over the purchase-to-pay processes
  • Promotes user adoption at all levels with an easy-to-use interface, creating value for both employees and vendors
  • Provides a centralized platform within Coupa Procure, allowing easy comparison of items across multiple vendors
  • Offers real-time budget management with budget meters, allowing organizations to assess budget sufficiency before committing to spending
  • Employs AI and machine learning to detect errors and fraud across business spend
  • Enables quick notifications of disruptions and allows vendors to confirm availability, minimizing unplanned downtime
  • Provides real-time visibility into inventory availability, helping organizations reduce redundant and wasteful spending

Pricing: 

Request the sales team for a custom quote

Pros:

  • Several categories and filters in the analytics section to streamline data
  • Chat option enables approver and claimant to discuss issues with receipts
  • Enables setting up of customized approval chains and including additional new approvers  

Cons:

  • Lots of unnecessary notifications, making it difficult to select the ones that need action or comment
  • Low receipt searchability, making retrieval time-consuming
  • Inconsistent syncing of remit-to address from NetSuite
  • Complex to implement and not intuitive, forcing admins to spend more time resolving employees' queries
  • Slow customer service 

6. Esker

Procure to pay platform by Esker

Esker is a cloud-based automation procurement software. It helps you optimize procurement processes and collaborate strategically with your vendors. With the ability to integrate across various company departments, it simplifies user adoption while facilitating visibility and control.

Key Features:

  • Facilitates approval mechanism and GRN matching for each PR and invoice 
  • Offers real-time analytics, enabling you to maintain tighter budget controls
  • Gives access to products from preferred vendors, aligning purchases with company procurement policies
  • Provides a self-service portal, facilitating supplier onboarding, catalog management, and invoice status access
  • Customizable dashboards to manage daily tasks, monitor productivity, and identify issues and opportunities as they arise
  • Enables you to customize the interface with your company's corporate identity, enhancing the supplier's ability to identify and engage with your organization seamlessly

Pricing: 

Contact sales for pricing

Pros:

  • Contains filtered views to allow for focused priorities 
  • Auto-sends payment reminders

Cons:

  • Gets expensive with each customization implemented
  • Doesn’t allow unused/old customer accounts to be deleted
  • Integration with accounting software isn't seamless 
  • Approval workflow requires a manual trigger to start

7. PayEm

Procure to pay software by PayEm

PayEm offers a procure-to-pay solution, covering everything in one place to replace your traditional procurement process. With a core focus on processing PR, it simplifies the creation of POs with custom forms and approval workflows. It facilitates collaboration between procurement and finance teams to enhance visibility and control. 

Key Features:

  • Offers custom request forms equipped with conditional logic to ensure a user-friendly experience
  • Provides fully customizable automated approval workflows based on factors like amounts, subsidiaries, and stakeholders
  • Integrates with communication platforms like Slack and email, allowing request tracking and approvals
  • Consolidates all the requests and approvals, simplifying discussions, document sharing, and creating an audit log
  • Enables real-time updates and clear overviews of request statuses, minimizing the need for follow-up inquiries
  • Offers OCR technology for invoice processing
  • Syncs with your ERP and enables exporting reconciled transactions and uploading them to your ERP 
  • Automates vendor management with payment scheduling, funds transferring, and limits setting for each vendor

Pricing: 

Request a custom quote

Pros:

  • Multiple virtual credit cards for different vendors
  • Supports global transactions 

Cons:

  • Some vendors don't accept PayEm cards
  • High transaction clearing time 
  • Limits the user to either a virtual or physical card at one time 

8. Pipefy

Pipefy Procure to pay platform

Pipefy is an automation procure-to-pay tool to manage end-to-end procurement processes, from PR to paying vendors, to create a frictionless experience. It aims to break silos between teams to simplify purchase and AP. 

Key Features:

  • Allows you to create and customize workflows, from purchase requisition to supplier management
  • Provides secure portals where records and documents can be organized, ensuring that all information is easily accessible, especially during audits
  • Ensures compliance with custom forms that include required fields to accelerate POs
  • Enables access to real-time insights to help you forecast ideal quantities and vendors for requisitions
  • Evaluates your processes, delivering reliable data to enable strategic and data-driven decisions
  • Integrates with your existing ERPs and accounting systems, such as NetSuite, Oracle E-business Suite, QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, etc.  
  • Enables deadline alerts, approval flows, and information exchange to prevent late fees and cashing in on early payment discounts
  • Offers a customizable dashboard to streamline vendor registration, updates, onboarding, and contract management

Pricing:

Offers three packages starting with a free option for smaller teams, and a subsequent model that costs $20 per month per user and $34 per month per user. Also, offers an enterprise plan with custom pricing

Pros: 

  • Offers templates for organizing processes

Cons:

  • Complex sign-up process
  • Workflows aren’t flexible with difficulty with respect to adding new users and making changes 
  • Difficult to import data and search in the database for information

9. Procurify

Procure to pay software solution by Procurify

Procurify speeds up the procurement process, enhances internal communication, and reduces financial risks. It is an easy-to-implement tool that saves time for finance and operations teams. From catalog management to custom user controls, it helps to track the procurement process in real time. 

Key Features:

  • Tailors POs to match your internal processes and vendor expectations
  • Creates, tracks, and maintains an audit trail of all procurement transactions for transparency and compliance
  • Enhances financial controls by enabling PO-based purchasing
  • Ensures that requested items are approved against budgets before procurement
  • Syncs PO with your accounting system or ERP, whether via API, CSV, flat file, or direct integration
  • Integrates with trusted vendors through punchout catalogs to streamline the ordering process
  • Enables blanket PO, which involve making multiple purchases against a single PO, even when details of future purchases may be unknown
  • Provides PO workflows to save on shipping costs, unlock vendor discounts, and reduce paperwork 

Pricing: 

Starts at $2000/month with a custom pricing tier

Pros:

  • Easy-to-make amendments in the original PO
  • Enables ordering from multiple websites for resources, including Amazon
  • Makes it easy to upload documents to support expense and order reports

Cons:

  • Doesn’t offer payment services in UAE, so you will need to carry out payments on a different platform
  • Doesn’t cater to the UAE market, and does not support UAE-specific workflows such as VAT management
  • Cannot edit orders once they are approved
  • Cannot see the order history for a catalog item without running a report
  • Physical inventory has to be tracked outside Procurify

Which Procure-to-Pay Software Should You Pick?

Don’t choose a platform that offers the maximum functionality. Instead, choose the one that is user-friendly and flexible. 

Procurement is already a complex process that requires visibility by different stakeholders. Choosing a tool that offers visibility and accommodates complex business needs will help you transform your chaotic procure-to-pay process

If you want to get started, book a demo, and our team will help you identify the bottlenecks and make the entire process simpler and manageable.

Disclaimer: The comparisons and rankings of procure to pay software competitors in this article are based primarily on reviews found online. While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, these reviews are subjective and reflect the opinions of the users who posted them. The information presented is intended for general informational purposes and should not be considered as a definitive guide for choosing a software provider. We encourage readers to conduct their own research and consider their specific needs before making a decision.

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At Pluto Card, our mission is to assist businesses of all scales make well-informed choices. To uphold our standards, we follow editorial guidelines to guarantee that our content consistently aligns with our high-quality benchmarks.

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5
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Guides
October 30, 2023

Mohammed Ridwan

A Guide to Improve Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Internal control over financial reporting (ICFR) refers to the legal obligation of a company to provide accurate financial statements. It requires you to adopt policies and processes that show the true picture of the company's finances. This involves:

  • Avoiding errors, fraud, or omissions 
  • Meeting deadlines 
  • Reviewing statements regularly.

An example of ICFR is inventory control, which involves maintaining accurate records of the company's goods. This requires adopting practices such as:

  • Maintaining documents, such as receipts, shipments, and adjustments
  • Segregating duties to different individuals or teams for handling, recording, and verifying inventory
  • Matching physical inventory counts with recorded inventory levels
  • Valuing inventory in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) principles, such as FIFO, LIFO, or the weighted average method.

These practices minimize the risk of inventory discrepancies and enhance the accuracy of financial statements.

What is the Purpose of ICFR?

ICFR is mandatory as per the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002.

FCPA requires public companies to establish and maintain accounting controls. This reasonably ensures that financial statements comply with GAAP.

SOX takes this a step ahead and mandates public companies to assess the effectiveness of ICFR efforts and share the results with the public. Additionally, it demands large companies to get independent auditors for the evaluation.

Why is Internal Control Over Financial Reporting Important?

ICFR’s purpose is not restricted to being a statutory obligation. Here are five reasons why ICFR should be on your priority list:   

Accurate Financial Statements

ICFR ensures accurate financial statements that reflect the company's financial position and performance. Such reports enable investors, creditors, and internal management to make informed decisions.

Error Reduction

ICFR emphasizes the use of automation, standardized procedures, and clear documentation. This reduces the risk of errors due to human oversight, saving time and resources.

Preventing Fraud and Misconduct

ICFR employs strategies such as segregation of duties, multiple approvals, and regular audits. This reduces the chances of oversight and ensures employees do not engage in fraudulent activities.

Reliability

Stakeholders (including investors and creditors) rely on financial reports to assess a company's performance. Effective ICFR policies build confidence in the company's financial reports. 

Avoiding Costly Errors

ICFR detects errors and discrepancies before they can escalate into expensive matters. This saves significant expenses and protects its long-term viability. For example, identifying accounting errors eliminates the need for financial restatements.

What are the Components of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting? 

There are five main components of internal control over financial reporting. These are defined by the Committee on Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) of the Treadway Commission. 

These five components are also known as the COSO framework.

Control Environment 

The control environment includes the organization's standards, processes, structures, and values. It comprises:

  • Ethical values of the organization
  • Organizational structure and authority workflow
  • Processes to build a competent team
  • Focus on performance measurement, incentives and rewards.

These elements create an environment that fosters internal control in the organization.

Risk Assessment 

Risk assessment is an agile process for identifying and assessing risks. It involves:

  • Identification of potential risks that impact the ICFR efforts. This includes both internal and external risks.
  • Evaluation of the potential impact of identified risks. Some risks have a higher likelihood and a greater impact than others.

For instance, an internal risk could be employees intentionally inflating their expense reports to receive higher reimbursements. The potential impact will be financial misstatements if the risk goes undetected. 

Control Activities 

Control activities refer to the plan of action to address the risks identified during risk assessment. This requires establishing specific policies and procedures, such as:

  • Segregation of duties to prevent fraud and collusion
  • Controls in information security, application development, and system maintenance
  • Implementation of entity-level controls, such as reviewing differences between planned budget and expenditure
  • Employing preventive control, such as limited access to IT systems and automated approvals
  • Using detective control to identify misstatements via reconciliations and management review controls

One such example would be accounts payable automation to eliminate manual data entry. For instance, an OCR-based automation tool will improve receipt retrieval if there are recurring manual errors.

Account payable automation to eliminate manual data entry

Information and Communication 

Information and communication ensure that key stakeholders know their roles and responsibilities. It involves:

  • Defining expectations from each stakeholder in the financial reporting process
  • Educating employees on ICFR policies, procedures, and compliance requirements
  • Providing channels for reporting concerns and issues related to ICFR.

An example would be communicating reimbursement policies to manage company spending. These rules set clear limits and expectations for employees. 

Hence, if the policy says entry-level employees can't claim travel expenses, they should not submit such expenses for reimbursement.

Monitoring Activities

Monitoring activities involve regular review of financial controls and processes to identify and rectify issues. It includes the following steps:

  • Review expense reports, receipts, and other data to verify the accuracy.
  • Test sample data to ensure that controls are operating as intended.
  • Detect unusual patterns or anomalies in the data.
  • Verify that employees are following established policies and procedures.

One such example would be reviewing travel expense reports as a part of expense management. It involves verifying receipts and approval compliance. Any detected exceptions trigger investigations and corrective actions.

A Better Way to Manage Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Setting effective policies for ICFR requires financial data visibility and proper reconciliation processes. Hence, achieving this demands more than policies and procedures. 

You need software to support operational efficiency transformation. Here is how Pluto offers a helping hand to get better control over your ICFR efforts: 

Seamless Financial Reporting 

Real time financial reporting with Pluto

Pluto generates detailed financial reports, providing more accurate and effective financial reporting. You can automate the process of data entry with OCR-based receipt capture. This reduces the manual errors and ensures accuracy. 

A multi-layer approval workflow ensures that financial transactions are reviewed and authorized on time. This helps you comply with company policies, enhancing control and accuracy.

The seamless integration with accounting software provides real-time data sync. This keeps the data up-to-date, enabling faster report generation.  

Simplify Financial Audit 

Simplify financial audit with Pluto

Pluto centralizes financial data, enhancing auditing capabilities.

Document management becomes simple with the easy uploading and retrieving of financial records. You can bulk download all audit logs and supporting files in a single click. This eliminates the time-consuming task of searching for and gathering individual paperwork. 

Pluto's automated systems keep expense records for all financial transactions. As a result, auditors can trace every step of the transaction, ensuring transparency and accuracy.

With end-to-end encryption, Pluto meets bank-grade security standards to safeguard sensitive financial information. This ensures the safety and easy accessibility of financial data. 

Accounts Payable Automations 

Automate your accounts payable

Pluto automates the accounts payable (AP) process to simplify procurement and payments. From purchase request (PR) to goods received notes (GRN) matching, you can streamline the entire AP process. 

Multi-layer approval workflows accelerate purchase requests and approvals. The purchase order (PO) process becomes faster with custom workflows and ERP integration. 

Pluto automates the entire invoice management process. OCR technology makes it easy to capture and auto-fill invoice details, ensuring accuracy and speed.

Pluto's cash flow management features provide alerts for upcoming payments. This enables you to schedule payments and avoid penalties. 

Budget Control 

Advanced budget control with Pluto

Pluto enables budget control by facilitating spending limits and approval workflows. 

Not only can you decide the limit for corporate cards, but also reject an expense if it goes against company policies. In contrast, you can also approve the spending limit for legitimate expenses.  

This ensures that employees adhere to predefined budgets. Moreover, this gives your finance teams immediate visibility into spending against budgeted amounts. 

ERP Integration  

Integrate your ERP with Pluto

Pluto's ERP integration streamlines vendor management and fosters an efficient control environment.

It imports vendor lists from your ERP and exports them back. This reduces data discrepancies and duplicates, leading to data consistency.  

Pluto's dashboard further makes tracking invoices and payments straightforward. This simplifies the payment and reconciliation process, preventing any errors. 

Expense Management  

Expense management with Pluto

Pluto automates and simplifies expense management processes. 

Each expense prompts a WhatsApp notification for employees to upload receipts. Administrators and managers also receive notifications to approve expenses. Approved expenses get reimbursed immediately to employees' bank accounts.

This seamless approval workflow ensures proper control and accurate financial reporting. 

Go Beyond Statutory Obligations

ICFR is not just a legal compliance. It is a practice to ensure financial visibility and control. While implementing policies and procedures is the main focus, finding the right tools to support your journey will make the process easier.

Pluto automates your financial processes to reduce manual errors and accelerate reconciliation. You close books 10X faster with more confidence. 

Book a demo today, and see how Pluto gives you better control and visibility from day one!

5
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Spend Management
October 13, 2022

Leen Shami

How to Take Control of your Employee’s Fuel Reimbursements

Many companies require in-person meetings, site visits, or attending events. Whatever the business-related travel may be, fuel reimbursement comes into the picture.

What is Fuel Reimbursement?

In a nutshell, fuel reimbursement is when an employer reimburses you for the cost of fuel used for business purposes.

While other countries may consider this a travel expense or a mileage reimbursement, the UAE considers this a 'fuel reimbursement.'

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Why Did Reimbursing Travel Expenses Grow?

In a post-pandemic world, where many companies are going back to the norm of office work, it is common for travel reimbursement costs to increase.

The mileage reimbursement rate has risen with regular office hours, more in-person meetings, and less remote work. But that's not the only reason.

Due to the surge in fuel costs globally, it's no surprise that consumers are becoming more aware of their travel expenses.

The UAE alone has seen a significant spike of 74% in fuel prices and petrol prices over the last 7 months, indicating that reimbursing travel expenses grew.

Subsequently, UAE companies have seen a 38% increase in fuel reimbursements and travel reimbursement requests from their employees. Inflation alongside a post-pandemic world, fuel reimbursement expenses have become the most requested reimbursement category in the UAE.

A study by Bayzat has shown that fuel is among the most requested reimbursements category for UAE employees, with an increase of 18% in the average amount per reimbursement since January.

This indicates that companies and employees have spent more time managing and filing fuel reimbursement expenses. 

Unsurprisingly, the cost of average travel reimbursements has increased with the significant spike in fuel prices and petrol prices these past few months.

With Pluto's corporate cards, companies can wave goodbye to everyday fuel reimbursement expenses' pain points by issuing their employees fuel cards to keep track of their fuel expenses and travel reimbursement costs.

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Why Use Pluto Fuel Cards For Fuel Reimbursement?

There are many advantages to using Pluto fuel cards for business travel expenses:

Create unlimited fuel cards

Create and distribute as many virtual or physical fuel cards as needed for your employees, so you won't have to worry about travel expenses, mileage reimbursement requests, or having to reimburse employees.

Create fuel cards
Create Fuel Cards on Pluto's Platform

Set limits on fuel cards

Create fuel cards for employees with daily, weekly, or monthly spending limits to keep track of employees' fuel expenses.

Set Custom Limits on Fuel Cards

Track fuel expenses in real-time

Expense tracking in real-time
Real-time Transactional Data

It's essential to keep track of what is being spent and where. With Pluto, you can:

  • Get notified as soon as a fuel expense is made so you know who spends what, where, and when.
  • Keep track of average travel reimbursements' costs, travel expenses, and employee expenditure data to avoid going over budget on fuel expenses.

No more end-of-month expense reports on fuel!

Digitized receipt reconciliation

Whether your employees are using personal vehicles or company vehicles, they can simply make a transaction with their personal card, snap a picture of the receipt and upload it to the Pluto dashboard for fuel reimbursement.

Alternatively, UAE companies can issue their employees virtual or physical cards, and the receipt can be attached to the business expense by dragging and dropping it onto the Pluto dashboard.

No more searching through piles of paper receipts! 

Fill up your tank anywhere

Once you issue your UAE employees a virtual or physical fuel card, they can use it at any gas station in the UAE for business travel expenses.

While requested reimbursements for fuel expenses grew over five-fold over the past couple of years, there is a solution to make CFOs' and finance teams' lives easier; Pluto Card.

With Pluto, finance teams have an all-in-one integrated platform for fuel reimbursements, budget & spend control for business travel expenses, and fuel receipt reconciliation.

Fuel Reimbursement vs. Mileage Reimbursement

When looking for information about fuel reimbursement, another term that you may stumble on frequently is mileage reimbursement. While they are similar and sometimes interchangeable, they are not the same.

What is Mileage Reimbursement?

Mileage reimbursement refers to the practice of reimbursing employees for business-related travel expenses.

While it accounts for fuel, it also considers lease, vehicle depreciation, and other car-related expenses. This type of reimbursement is usually given per mile driven.

In some countries, mileage reimbursement refers to accounting rules and categories that help standardize expenses.

What is Fuel Reimbursement?

Fuel reimbursement, on the other hand, only covers the cost of fuel used for business travel. It doesn't take into consideration any other car-related expenses. This type of reimbursement is usually given based on receipts.

The difference between fuel reimbursement and mileage reimbursement is that mileage reimbursement takes into account all car-related expenses, while fuel reimbursement only covers the fuel cost.

How Does Fuel Reimbursement Work?

If you use your car for business purposes, you can be reimbursed for the fuel costs incurred. The reimbursement is usually calculated based on the number of kilometers traveled or miles driven.

However, to qualify for fuel reimbursement, you will need to keep accurate records of your travel expenses. This includes maintaining a logbook of your travels and keeping receipts for all fuel purchases.

To ensure that employees are reimbursed correctly, they need a receipt and an accurate logbook. Fuel and travel expenses can be included as costs, but you must show all travel logs if necessary.

What Counts as Business-Related Fuel Reimbursements?

Here are some examples of obvious and less obvious fuel expenses that you can get reimbursed for when you are an employee:

  • Traveling for a client meeting;
  • Driving to pick up anything on behalf of the company;
  • Driving to the airport to pick up a client or a colleague;
  • Going to another city for a business-related event;

Anything done to advance the business, big or small, is business related.

Is Commuting to Work a Business-Related Expense?

While some big corporations may reimburse you for commuting to and from work, typically, commuting is not considered a business expense.

What to Track For Fuel Reimbursement?

Keeping a gas log is one of the best ways to ensure employees are correctly reimbursed while companies have a clear overview of their travel expenses.

Last but not least, when you put fuel reimbursements into your profit and loss statement to apply them as costs (which you should), you must have a detailed log of travels - in case the tax authority wants a record.

Here is the main employee expenditure data that you should store in your fuel reimbursement logbook:

  • Date of each journey
  • Start time and end time of driving.
  • Purpose of the trip.
  • Kilometers driven.

If a company provides employees with company cars, this is all. But, if you're filing for fuel reimbursement while traveling with your personal vehicle, you will have to provide the following:

  • Brand of the car and the year it was made.
  • Average fuel consumption as per the car documentation.
  • Engine size or engine capacity.
  • Copy of car technical documentation.

Does an Employer Have to Pay For Fuel?

Most companies reimburse fuel expenses for employees who need to travel for business, but there might be some limitations. For example, a company may ask you to use its corporate Careem account for business travel.

Typically, if you incur the cost of fuel, your company will reimburse you as it is a cost tightly associated with the business.

Is Fuel Reimbursement Tax Deductible?

A massive shift for UAE companies will be the introduction of corporate taxes in 2023. With a corporate tax rate of 9%, UAE companies must keep track of all their spending. Fuel reimbursements fall under that category, as they can help reduce the amount of taxable income that a company has.

If you have a fuel reimbursement policy in place, it will help ensure that all of your employees are mindful of their spending on fuel and that they only claim back what they have spent.

Pluto allows UAE companies to issue unlimited fuel cards while centralizing the expense in one dashboard, so you can see in real-time how much is being spent and the number of tax-deductible costs your employees are making.

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All
Procurement
November 2, 2023

Mohammed Ridwan

Top 6 Procurement Software Solutions for Modern Businesses

The traditional procurement process is time-consuming, prone to errors, complex, and challenging to implement efficiently. From raising a purchase request to making vendor payments, multiple stakeholders are involved. In addition, securing approvals through various channels of an organization leads to chaos. Hence, 77% of companies are shifting to procure-to-pay solutions, also known as procurement software.

What is Procurement Software? 

Procurement software are tools that automate the procurement process

Instead of relying on multiple platforms and different channels to procure goods and services, the process is automated and brought together on a centralized platform. 

A powerful procurement solution helps you in:

  • streamlining the request and approval process for purchases
  • generating, tracking, and managing purchase orders
  • creating, negotiating, and tracking supplier contracts
  • managing and maintaining supplier relationships 
  • automating invoice validation, approval, and payment workflows
  • integrating with other systems for seamless data flow and coordination.
See a Demo

What Are the Benefits of Procurement Software? 

By automating your procurement process with a procurement management software, you can improve it in the following ways: 

  • Once you enter data, it is auto-populated throughout the procurement cycle. This minimizes the risk of errors due to manual data entry in purchase orders, invoices, and other documents.
  • You get real-time visibility into the procurement process. You can also track the status of purchase requests, orders, deliveries, and payments. 
  • With built-in reporting and analytics tools, you can generate detailed reports on spending, supplier performance, and other key metrics. This data-driven insight enables better inventory planning and strategic decision-making.
  • You can standardize workflows for purchase requisitions and approvals. Route the requests to the appropriate individuals for approval and reduce any delays. Notifications and reminders are automated, ensuring timely responses.
  • Invoice processing and payment workflows are automated. This ensures that invoices are paid on time. This helps in taking advantage of early payment discounts and strengthens vendor relationships. 

Top 6 Procurement Software 

To help you select the procurement management software best suited for the needs of your organization, we have listed the top 6 procurement solutions:

1. Pluto 

Procurement management software by Pluto

Pluto is an all-in-one procurement software designed to transform your accounts payable (AP) processes. It reduces your finance team's workload and makes procurement easy. From automating purchase requests to setting multi-layer approval workflows and managing vendors, it is the ultimate procurement solution to transform a chaotic procurement process into a faster and more efficient one. 

Key Features:

  • Features fully customizable and automated workflows for raising purchase requests and purchase orders, requiring no technical expertise
  • Offers flexible approval engine capable of managing intricate hierarchies
  • Enables multi-layer invoice approvals with policies to align with your company's structure
  • Ability to upload invoices easily via WhatsApp images, eliminating the need to search for invoice details. Also, facilitates invoice capture via emails directly to speed up the receipt capture process.
  • A centralized dashboard to gather bills in one place and track the status to avoid double payments
  • Vendor-specific corporate cards to control budgets and detect irrelevant expenses
  • Supports local and international wire transfers to make payments 
  • OCR technology minimizes manual data entry by creating and populating bills from invoices
  • Supports ERP integration to synchronize your vendors, POs, and bills and integrates with accounting software, such as Oracle, NetSuite, Zoho, Quickbooks, Wafeq, Xero, etc.
  • Raises alerts for upcoming payments and enables scheduling payments in advance and automate invoices 
  • Provides a complete audit trail of the process to ensure visibility at each step
  • Shows real-time analytics to facilitate deep insights for supporting budget control

Pricing:

Request the sales team for a custom quote

Pros:

  • More financial control with vendor-specific corporate cards 
  • Better Forex rates than most local banks 
  • Multiple integration options

Cons:

  • Slightly longer on-boarding due to corporate card offering 
  • Integrates with all other major ERPs except Tally

2. Yooz 

Procurement software by Yooz

Yooz optimizes the AP process, specifically focusing on invoice management. It is a cloud based software that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies to enhance security and control in AP automation. It is suitable for mid-size companies of all sectors wanting to automate procurement with a cloud-based procurement solution. 

Key Features:

  • Enables online, real-time management of supplier relationships, improving communication and collaboration
  • Provides mobile access for invoice approval and communication
  • Maintains regulation-compliant traceability, ensuring adherence to relevant laws and standards
  • Automates real-time GL coding and purchase order matching
  • Captures all types of documents through various channels, such as email, drag-and-drop, mobile, scan, and sFTP, supporting multiple formats, including PDF, Factur-X, UBL, CII, and EDIFACT
  • Integrates with accounting software and  and ERPs
  • Allows users to approve and pay invoices in batches, offering multiple payment options, such as Virtual Credit Card, ACH, eCheck, and Paper Check
  • Offers a range of services, including consulting, configuration, training, and user support

Pricing:

Free trial for up to 15 days followed by a "pay-as-you-use" model.

Pros:

  • Integration with Sage Intacct
  • Ability to tag people in the comments and email them directly from the invoice
  • Numerous criteria available for setting up the approval workflows

Cons: 

  • Doesn’t offer payment services in UAE, so you need to carry out payments on a different platform
  • Doesn't have integrations with major suppliers as a form of punchout
  • Time-consuming to download and export files
  • Hard for vendors to send the invoices through Yooz

3. Procurify

Procurify's Procurement software solution

Procurify speeds up the procurement process, enhances internal communication, and reduces financial risks. It is an easy-to-implement tool that saves time for finance and operations teams. From catalog management to custom user controls, it helps to track the procurement process in real-time. 

Key Features:

  • Tailors purchase orders to match your internal processes and vendor expectations
  • Creates, tracks, and maintains an audit trail of all procurement transactions for transparency and compliance.
  • Enhances financial controls by enabling purchase order-based purchasing
  • Ensures that requested items are approved against budgets before procurement.
  • Sync purchase orders with your accounting system or ERP, whether via API, CSV, flat file, or direct integration
  • Integrates with trusted suppliers through PunchOut catalogs to streamline the ordering process.
  • Enables blanket purchase orders, which involve making multiple purchases against a single purchase order, even when details of future purchases may be unknown.
  • Purchase order workflows to save on shipping costs, unlock vendor discounts, and reduce paperwork 

Pricing:

Starts at $2000/month with a custom pricing tier

Pros:

  • Easy to make amendments in the original purchase order
  • Enables ordering from multiple websites for resources, including Amazon
  • Makes it easy to upload documents to support expense and order reports

Cons:

  • Doesn’t offer payment services in UAE, so you will need to carry out payments on a different platform
  • Isn’t catered to the UAE market, and does not support UAE specific workflows such as VAT management
  • Cannot edit orders once they are approved
  • Cannot see the order history for a catalog item without running a report
  • Physical inventory has to be tracked outside Procurify

4. Precoro

Procurement platform by Precoro

Precoro is a cloud-based solution designed to streamline operations, automate tasks, and centralize purchasing procedures. It enables tracking discounts, monitoring corporate expenses, and enhancing cash flow transparency. It also provides analytics and reports for strategic procurement planning.

Key Features:

  • Simplifies the approval by allowing users to approve from any device via email or Slack notifications. 
  • Supports customizable approval workflows with multi-step and role assignment
  • Facilitates creating, approving, and tracking purchase orders and transfer orders from Amazon Business via Punch-in
  • Connects with various ERPs and business tools like NetSuite, QuickBooks, and Xero, or its API
  • Ensures data security through Single Sign-On (SSO) and 2-factor authentication
  • Offers an intuitive interface and guidance from a dedicated customer success manager whenever needed
  • Gives a risk-free 14-day free trial with access to all features

Pricing:

Starts at $35 per user per month billed annually for teams with under 20 members and offers custom pricing for enterprises

Pros:

  1. Provides flexibility for enterprise needs
  2. Works well for budgeting procurement
  3. Allows tracking invoices in a centralized environment

Cons: 

  1. Requires training to customize complex workflows
  2. Invoice processing is slow
  3. Isn’t suitable for manufacturing industries
  4. Difficult to collaborate on invoice drafting

5. Kissflow

Procurement solution by Kissflow

Kissflow simplifies and enhances procurement processes while ensuring transparency and compliance. It helps to automate the entire process without requiring technical expertise or coding experience. It comes with 50+ ready-to-use applications, enabling unlimited automation applications.  

Key Features:

  • Offers fluid forms to enable easy capturing, approval, and tracking of purchase requests
  • Allows to register and maintain vendors effortlessly with access to multilingual catalogs
  • Integration with accounting systems, ERP, and finance systems like Quickbooks, SAP, and Microsoft Dynamics 
  • Accelerates the invoice approval process with timely alerts and automated checks. Connect invoices to contracts, purchase orders, and service entry sheets in a single dashboard
  • Customizable reports to visualize data using charts, filters, and heatmaps
  • Ability to define and manage budget restrictions with dynamic rules throughout the entire procure-to-pay lifecycle
  • Customized approval workflows to ensure transparency with rule-based approval processes
  • Smart alerts that provide real-time updates on the status of purchase orders and invoices to keep stakeholders informed 

Pricing:

Starts at $2499/month (billed annually). Pricing varies based on transaction volume and number of users.

Pros: 

  • Intuitive interface with a relatively short learning curve
  • Allows automated workflows to be created with limited technical expertise

Cons:

  • Not built specifically for procurement teams
  • Does not support payment flows in UAE
  • Cost of its license is high (particularly for SMBs)
  • Can not handle intricate processes that require a high degree of customization or involve multiple conditional branches
  • Customization options are limited, including specific integrations, advanced business rules, or more sophisticated automation capabilities

6. Vendr

Procurement management software by Vendr

Vendr is a practical solution for streamlining SaaS procurement. It simplifies the entire process, from intake requests to contract management. It provides essential SaaS insights, negotiates expert advice, and integrates with core business tools for procurement and vendor management. 

Key Features:

  • Buyer guides to provide negotiation insights and gain the upper hand in software purchases
  • Negotiation advisory to provide personalized guidance on negotiating like a pro and enter negotiations with confidence
  • Simplified intake forms to ensure company-wide compliance and visibility
  • Integration with different accounting and finance tools, such as Oracle, NetSuite, Intuit, Quickbooks. 
  • Integrates with platforms like Rippling Workday to include correct stakeholders. Additional integration with SSO providers such as onelogin.
  • Comprehensive renewal dashboard to receive early alerts and streamline the renewal preparation process to maximize savings.
  • Vendr Slack integration for quick answers and timely notifications to collaborate in real time with your team, minimizing approval cycle times

Pricing:

There are 2 packages—the basic one starts at $15,000/year and the pro package starts at $20,000/year.

Pros:

  • Offers assisted buying with a team who negotiates on your behalf
  • Comprehensive database of vendors in one place
  • Helps standardize procurement workflow 
  • Provides insights about fair market value 

Cons:

  • Restricted to SaaS procurement only 
  • Multilingual services are limited 
  • Navigating multiple workflows is not as fluid as desired
  • Doesn't support multiple currencies 

Find the Right Procurement Software 

When choosing procurement software, focus on user-friendliness, scalability, and integration capabilities. Make sure the software aligns with your specific needs.

Finding the right software for accounts payable automation will be crucial for your business. For instance, if you frequently deal with multiple suppliers and have a complex approval process, ensure the software can accommodate these intricacies. Similarly, if you're in the healthcare industry, look for procurement software that complies with industry regulations like UAE Healthcare Law and the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) regulations. This ensures the privacy and security of patient data and adheres to local data protection standards. Moreover, check if the vendor offers active support and training. In case of a technical issue, having an unresponsive support team can disrupt the process and create bottlenecks.

Don't rush the decision. Thoroughly evaluate multiple options. Investing in an appropriate solution will save you money and headaches in the long run.

Want a tool that is safe, fast, and transforms your chaotic procurement process into an automated solution? Book a demo today and see how Pluto can simplify procurement for your team.

Disclaimer: The comparisons and rankings of procurement software competitors in this article are based primarily on reviews found online. While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, these reviews are subjective and reflect the opinions of the users who posted them. The information presented is intended for general informational purposes and should not be considered as a definitive guide for choosing a software provider. We encourage readers to conduct their own research and consider their specific needs before making a decision.