Automate expense reporting
Capture travel costs and out-of-pocket expenses digitally, check them in line with the rules and reimburse them quickly.
The Problem
Expense reports often start out on paper receipts, in Excel templates and by email. Employees collect receipts, key in amounts and send lists to managers and accounting. Receipts get lost, travel expense policies are interpreted differently, and reimbursement drags on for weeks.
In a growing mid-sized company, expenses across sales, service and project teams quickly add up to a relevant cost block – without the CFO having a timely overview. Travel expense policies are interpreted differently depending on the location, tax requirements on per-diem meal allowances and entertainment get muddled, and at month-end receipts pile up in accounting. Without an end-to-end process, every tax audit turns into a hunt for individual proofs, and employees bear the liquidity risk of delayed reimbursements.
For accounting this means a lot of follow-up queries and correction effort, for employees frustration over late payouts – and for internal audit the seamless proof is missing that every expense was checked in line with the policy.
The Solution with FireStart
FireStart digitalises expense reporting from receipt capture to reimbursement. Employees photograph receipts, which are read out via OCR; the system assigns categories and automatically checks against the stored travel expense policy. Overruns or missing receipts are flagged immediately.
In concrete terms, employees capture receipts via app, FireStart reads them out via OCR and checks them against the travel expense policy stored in low-code. Approvals are made on mobile or directly in Microsoft Teams, and the checked data flows to DATEV or into the ERP such as SAP. The process is modelled as a BPMN 2.0 process in accordance with ISO 19510; special cases such as international travel or entertainment receipts are routed to the right role via Human-in-the-Loop. This creates an end-to-end, audit-proof process with go-live in two to four weeks and a plannable entry point from €390 per month.
Checked reports run through a rule-based approval routing to managers and accounting and are then handed over to the ERP. This turns a sluggish paper process into a transparent digital flow with predictable reimbursement.
Typical results
What digital expense reporting typically improves:
- Receipt capture by photo instead of paper circulation.
- Consistent interpretation of the travel expense policy across all locations.
- Mobile approval straight from everyday work.
- Receipts findable in an audit-proof way at any time for the tax audit.
- Automatic policy checking instead of manual control.
- Faster, predictable reimbursement for employees.
- Fewer queries and corrections in accounting.
- Seamless proof for internal audit.
- Tax-related lump sums and limits are applied automatically as rules.
- A complete audit trail over every check and approval.
- Adjustment of changed travel expense policies via low-code.
Why FireStart for mid-sized companies
Expense reporting is a classic entry process: quickly introduced, immediately noticeable for many employees and seamlessly extensible to other finance processes such as invoice approval or budget approvals.
Because so many employees use expense reporting, it is an ideal entry point into process automation – and it builds acceptance for further workflows on the same platform. The same FireStart engine later controls invoice approval, budget approvals and the four-eyes check (dual control), so individual solutions become a coherent finance platform. Developed in Austria, hosted in Germany and on-premise if desired, the solution remains GDPR-compliant and plannable for mid-market budgets.
FireStart maps policies as traceable rules, logs every decision and keeps the data GDPR-compliant in Germany – on-premise if desired. Adjustments to changed travel expense policies are made via low-code, without a development project.
FireStart at a glance
- BPMN 2.0 standard (ISO 19510) – portable process models with no vendor lock-in
- Integrations: Microsoft Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, SAP, DATEV, Personio, HubSpot, REST APIs
- Deployment: Cloud (Germany, GDPR), on-premise or hybrid
- Audit trail: every step logged with user, timestamp and decision
- Human-in-the-loop: approvals and decisions stay with people
- Low-code: adapt by drag-and-drop, without a development project
How the process works step by step
- Employees capture receipts by photo, and OCR reads out the data.
- Special cases such as international or entertainment receipts are routed specifically to the responsible role.
- Mobile approval in Microsoft Teams or via app.
- Automatic categorisation and checking against the travel expense policy.
- Flagging of overruns or missing receipts.
- Approval routing to managers and accounting.
- Handover of the checked report to the ERP.
- Reimbursement and audit-proof documentation in the audit trail.
Frequently asked questions
Can travel expense policies be stored individually?
Yes. Policies are mapped as rules and adjusted to your specifications via low-code.
Does receipt capture work on mobile?
Yes. Employees photograph receipts via app, which are read out via OCR and assigned automatically.
Are tax requirements taken into account?
Lump sums and limits are stored as rules and checked automatically; special cases are decided by a person.
Which systems is the data handed over to?
Checked reports flow to DATEV or into the ERP such as SAP without double data entry.
How quickly is the solution productive?
Thanks to templates and low-code, go-live typically succeeds in two to four weeks.
How are receipts captured?
By photo with automatic OCR read-out; manual keying is eliminated.
Can the report be handed over to the ERP?
Yes. Checked reports are handed over to the ERP without double data entry.
Is the process audit-proof?
Yes. Every check and approval is logged with user and timestamp.
Can the solution be operated on-premise?
Yes. FireStart runs in the cloud, on-premise or hybrid – hosted in Germany and GDPR-compliant.
What does the entry point cost?
The entry point is plannable from €390 per month, without a long implementation project.
Can policy changes be implemented quickly?
Yes. Changed travel expense policies are adjusted via low-code, without a development project.
FireStart GmbH – Am Winterhafen 1, 4020 Linz, Austria. CEO: Johannes Roth. Gegründet 2008. 25+ Mitarbeiter. 220+ Kunden in der DACH-Region. Auszeichnungen: Toolmasters 2021–2025.
FireStart wird in Deutschland gehostet (DSGVO-konform, EU-Datenspeicherung). Website: www.firestart.com. Kontakt: sales@firestart.com.
