June 2009
1 post
We've moved!
We’re now posting at www.webexpenses.com/blog . See you there!
April 2009
1 post
The MP expenses scandal: Why it matters
The scandal of the UK MPs and their excessive expense claims has reached a new crescendo, with fresh details including the news that a senior minister claimed for porn films and a bath plug and that MPs are able to not only profit from the sale of their government funded properties but that they are also able to claim back the detested ‘stamp duty’ property sales tax that they have...
March 2009
5 posts
We're recuiting...
Targets are being met and we’re forecasting our third consecutive year of 50% revenue growth. As a result, we’re looking to fill three positions, all home-based, in the UK:
1. Sales Executive
This is a hands-on sales role in which we’d expect you to click with a small team and have an immediate impact by closing regular deals. It is a distinct advantage if you are able to bring...
New feature - receipt attachments now live in beta
Our new receipt attachments feature is now live as a beta.
It’s great functionality and I love the approach that the product team have taken in letting users attach files of more or less any format to support an expense claim.
I’ve attached the following to my own claims:
- Scanned images, produced on my home office printer.
- Digital photos taken with my mobile phone.
-...
New hosting set-up
During the weekend, the team upgraded the hosting set-up. Initial testing suggests significant reductions in the speed of running large reports (20%+ faster) and reductions in average page load time (50% faster in some cases).
The EU makes it official
Good news from the EU: The European Commission has proposed changing the European VAT Directive so that electronic and paper invoices can be treated equally. The EC also plans to allow invoices to be stored electronically, even if the original invoice is in paper format.
The official release is here: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/132
January 2009
2 posts
Transparency = Moderation = Cost Savings
The debacle on MPs expenses continues as the Prime Minister intervenes at the eleventh hour with an embarrassing U-turn and an announcement that plans to amend the Freedom of Information laws to exempt MPs expenses would be abandoned.
It’s been widely speculated in the media that the reason why MPs are so desperate to conceal their past expenses is that said expenses must be immensely...
MPs and their expenses - it's becoming personal
The saga of our MPs and their expenses rolls on. Here’s a quick summary of today’s developments:
- MPs are sneakily preparing to pass a new law that will allow them to defy a High Court order that would have forced them to disclose their expenses under the Freedom of Information Act.
- The new measures will allow MPs to continue to make claims far in excess of what the taxman...
November 2008
2 posts
Change in VAT rate to 15% - impact on WebExpenses...
What has happened?
As an early Christmas present to the citizens of these fair isles, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in the Pre-Budget Report that the Government will be lowering the standard VAT rate for the United Kingdom by 2.5% from 17.5% to 15%. This takes effect from 1st December 2008. The reduction is a temporary measure until 31st December 2009 when the rate will revert to...
September 2008
4 posts
Tweaking features
We’re constantly adding new features or changing existing features to meet the specific requirements of our customers. Making these sort of tweaks is something that we’re particularly good at. However, we’re not so great at keeping the broader customer base up on what we’re doing in this regard. So with that in mind, here are a couple of examples, illustrated by the screen...
WebExpenses on IE8 and Google Chrome
You’ve no doubt heard the buzz over the past few days: Each of Microsoft and Google have released beta versions of new browsers.
Here’s a quick summary of our initial testing and impressions:
Microsoft IE8 - There should be no problems using WebExpenses on IE8. There are a few rendering issues, in particular in the reports, which will soon be addressed. In the meantime, they can be...
July 2008
1 post
Expenses - an emotive issue!
We’re stunned by the latest developments in the MPs’ expenses scandal, as is anyone else who has been following the ongoing soap opera.
Here’s a quick summary for the uninitiated:
UK Members of Parliament on both sides of the house have been named and shamed for their opaque expenses process and excessive expenses allowances.
The story has run and run and the newspaper...
May 2008
1 post
Tightening the belt on travel and entertainment
When the going gets tough, the tough tighten up on travel and entertainment spending. This is what we’re hearing from customers and the theme has filtered down to the mainstream media, as reflected by this article in the Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/05/05/cccity105.xml And it makes sense. Cost savings in T&E are significantly less painful to...
March 2008
2 posts
MPs' expenses and expenses policy best practice
In case you’ve missed it, the papers have been full of descriptions of the wonderfully elaborate expenses scam undertaken by our esteemed representatives in government. Our MPs are not required to submit receipts, would appear to be provided with unlimited taxi fares for spouses and are able to spend up to £23,000 per year on items from the infamous ‘John Lewis’ list, that allows...
Partner offer - free product
To celebrate our winning the Sage Developer of the Year Award we’ve made a unique offer to Sage Business Partners and Accountants: FREE use of our award-winning web-based expenses software for up to 20 users. We’ve extended the offer out of the Sage universe to other qualified partners: If you’re an accountant, supplier of accounting, ERP or payroll solutions, or if you’re...
February 2008
1 post
November 2007
3 posts
Customise WebExpenses with Instant Eyedropper
If you’re set up as an Administrator, it’s easy to change the look and feel of WebExpenses for your users. You can add your corporate logo and change field labels. It’s also easy to change the colours by amending the hex colours. There’s a great little free tool that we recommend that lets you use your corporate colours from your corporate website. It’s called...
Sage Developer of the Year 2007
Sage users are a key audience for us. For example, we’ve gone the extra mile to develop interfaces that allow users of Sage 50, Sage Line 100, Sage MMS/200 or Sage 500/1000 to post expenses data to their accounting software at the click of a button. Accordingly, we’re delighted that our efforts over a number of years have now been recognised - Sage have announced that we are their...
September 2007
1 post
New feature - "Duty of Care"
A number of our customers have a “duty of care” to ensure that staff periodically confirm that they are in compliance with policy or legal requirements. We can accommodate these requirements by allowing customised messages to be added to the ‘Submit Claim’ screen. Here an example: By submitting this expense claim, I certify that unless otherwise stated in the Notes box...
July 2007
4 posts
Multi-entity: quick and easy
One of our multi-entity customers, an internet pioneer with offices across the globe, came to us today with a request to add an additional entity ’and we need it yesterday’. The request came in at 3 pm. The job was done by 5 pm. Well done to the team for delivering so quickly - it’s great to know that ‘out-of-the-box’ can be achieved. For those not...
May 2007
8 posts
New feature - multiple approver levels
A new feature, fresh from testing: Multiple approver levels can now be set for each user. We’ll use this feature as the platform to address the specific needs of customers, such as routing expense claims based on the value of the claim, the approval limit of the approver and the client/project codes in the claim.
Feature tweaks - adapting features to customer...
We often add features or tweak existing features to meet the specific needs of customers. In most cases, the new features and tweaks are then made available to our other customers. Outlined below are a few examples of customer-driven tweaks from the past few months:
Feature tweak - mileage recording
Because different customers have different requirements when it comes to mileage recording, we don’t expect our users to conform to a single method of mileage recording. We’ve created a number of different ways that mileage can be recorded. As an example, a customer recently asked us to create functionality that would allow them to assign a user to a car registration, the car registration to an...
February 2007
12 posts
New feature - proxy users
If your PA regularly inputs your expenses, or if you are an Approver or Accounts Person due to go on holiday, you can now assign a Proxy user to fill your role in your absence. To set up this facility, your Administrator selects the User that wishes to assign a Proxy and clicks on ‘Nominate Proxy’ at the bottom of the screen. Screenshots below show the screens that the Proxy sees.
New product - they're bright, they're blue
Bright blue C5-sized pre-addressed expenses envelopes help individual claimants keep track of their receipts, help the accounts team recognise those receipts as they arrive and make filing a breeze. You can order these at http://www.webexpenses.com/envelopes.php.
Feature tweak - edit credit card items before...
A new finesse - and a very useful one if you’re importing your credit card data. You’re now able edit credit card data before importing it to a claim. You don’t need to do anything to set this up - simply watch for this new feature the next time you pull down your card data. Screenshot below.
New feature - splitting items and adding attendees
We’ve added functionality that lets you split expense items between multiple clients, projects or categories. We’ve also refined the Attendees feature, so that adding attendees can be compulsory, optional or nonexistant, dependent on the category. Your Administrator can set up the Attendee functionality, while if you’d like the Splitting feature set up for your company,...
New feature - custom reports
Did you know that the custom reports option lets you create your own reports, which can be exported to Excel or CSV at the click of a button? Screenshot below.
And don't forget...
We’re always here if you have support issues and to listen to your ideas (however wild or wacky). Contact us through the support pages at http://www.webexpenses.com/support.htm.