Receipt gaps that stall expense audits before fieldwork starts
· Clara Hewitt
Expense audits rarely fail because nobody has a policy. They stall because sampled claims cannot produce a dated receipt, a matching card line, and an approval trail in one place. Reviewers then chase emails while the sample clock runs.
Before the next cycle, pick twenty recent claims across mileage, card spend, and subsistence. Time how long it takes to assemble receipt, statement match, and approver record for each. If any take longer than fifteen minutes, your workflow has a filing gap, not a people gap.
A simple folder template — claim ID, receipt image, card extract, approval screenshot, and a one-line policy reference — clears more fieldwork friction than another reminder email about “attaching receipts.”
If your team cannot complete that pack for a risk-weighted sample without hunting across inboxes, commission a sample testing pack before auditors arrive.