Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner increased controls, automated workflows, and reclaimed costs

Challenge

Prior to automating expense and invoice management, employees at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) used Excel spreadsheets with stapled paper receipts to record their expenses, then manually routed them for signature and approval. The AP team manually entered the spreadsheet data into their financial management system; however, expense data was often inaccurate or incomplete.

BCLP wanted a solution that could automate manual workflows, increase accuracy and efficiency, reduce human errors, and recover valued added tax (VAT). After evaluating Emburse and Concur, BCLP selected Emburse because of its expertise in the legal industry and its ability to easily integrate with the firm’s other technologies, including Elite, Blade, Opes, and Reed & MacKay Travel. In addition, BCLP felt Emburse offered the most intuitive user experience.

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“With Emburse, capturing VAT alone has generated significant savings. Reclaimable tax on expenses is up in excess of 12% after the first year.”

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Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Emburse solution

The firm implemented Emburse’s enterprise expense, invoice, and pre-approval solutions at the same time through a phased rollout across global regions, and addressed change management with pilot groups, classroom style training sessions, and in-app reference guides.

Since implementing Emburse, BCLP gained more visibility into costs, increased controls around spending behaviors and approvals, and improved compliance. System-built rules enforced higher levels of data hygiene and the application of appropriate allocation codes, which reduced write-offs. BCLP’s reporting is much more granular now, and the firm can easily extract historical data in Emburse to inform internal policies and address evolving business requirements.

By automating processes, BCLP was able to achieve cost savings by requiring fewer contract staff within the AP department. Additional savings came from VAT reclaim, with reclaimable tax on expenses up in excess of 12% after the first year.

What the firm enjoys most about partnering with Emburse is the continuous product innovation and support. According to the BCLP team, “Emburse is always rolling out new features to improve the software, which as a result, helps the firm improve its processes. This makes our investment in Emburse well worthwhile.”

Result

Download the full story detailing how BCLP:

• Drove efficiency and control through automation
• Enforced higher levels of data hygiene for more accurate reporting
• Gained VAT reclaim in excess of 12%
• Reduced write-offs