Sainsbury's has announced the signing of a five-year deal to retain existing outsourced, end-to-end expense management services.
The UK's second biggest supermarket chain has been working with employee expenses payment provider, GlobalExpense since late 2004.
And this new deal will enable it to retain the functional benefits and new features introduced since then to manage the expenses of its 13,000 staff, who now receive payments through a web-based system. These include directors, staff at Sainsbury's Store Support Centre and within the distribution network, as well as staff from over 800 stores.
Keith Simson, Sainsbury's contract manager, said: "There is no doubt that it is extremely beneficial for those colleagues who regularly submit expense claims, including travel, mileage and hotel accommodation."
He said that all staff can submit expense claims via the web-based system and be paid three days after authorisation direct in to an account of their choice.
The retailer had previously relied on using a manual paper-based system, which made the reimbursement of expenses a more time-consuming and slow process.
But following the initial implementation of the expenses system, it was able to introduce company credit cards, where transactions were integrated with GlobalExpense each week to allow quick and easy reconciliation.
Simson said: "The introduction of this functionality allowed the removal of the need to use cash for goods not for resale and expenses, vastly improving efficiency, cash management and significantly enhancing controls."
He also said the outsourced expenses system ensures VAT and PAYE liabilities are correctly dealt with: "We are able to easily configure the system to highlight any claims made outside of the company policy and provide valued management information to stakeholders."
All receipts are checked and scanned by GlobalExpense staff then made available online. The service also includes a helpdesk, and Simson said an account manager works to find opportunities to maximise potential cost savings.
"The data held in the system allows management to receive highly detailed information breakdowns of all expenses and the system is certainly making life easier for our managers who have to approve claims on a daily basis," added Simson.
