Munster Rugby kicks paper-based expenses into touch with Webexpenses

The inefficiencies caused by paper-based expenses is one challenge that Munster Rugby has tackled head-on.

The Irish club, with a long and proud history of sporting success, turned to Webexpenses when it wanted to streamline the management of expense costs.

By switching away from the traditional approach - relying on paper-receipts and costs entered into Excel spreadsheets - they estimate they are saving around two days administrative time each month.

Finding the best way to handle employee expenses is particularly important for Munster Rugby as the province covers a large region, requiring travel and subsistence costs to be regularly reimbursed.

Webexpenses combines a powerful cloud-based system with an integrated smartphone app to virtually eliminate paperwork from the entire process, allowing manual tasks to be replaced by a fast, automated operations.

Keith Murphy, Coach and Player Development Manager, said:

"The traditional method of expensing at the end of each month was quite tedious. It was time spent in the office, having to put all your information into an Excel spreadsheet.

From a strategic perspective, the organisation decided that this was taking up a lot of time and we needed an overhaul.

The main benefits Webexpenses has brought to Munster Rugby is flexibility, mobility and most importantly the reduced time allocation.”

The finance team estimates that the switch to Webexpenses has helped them to reduce the administrative time it takes to handle the 200-250 claims they receive each month by around two days.

Brian O’Donoghue, Assistant Financial Accountant, said:

“It’s basically saved us two full days of work a month. Instead of having a big pile of papers on the desk and signing them manually, they can just go through in a couple of minutes now.

If anyone rings up and asks about expense not being paid or whatever, I can just go in and see immediately where their claim is at - whether it’s waiting to be approved, whether it has been rejected - I have an answer for them straight away.”

The smartphone app allows any paper receipts that are collected to be instantly converted into a digital form and also provides precise data to show the exact distance of any business-related road journeys.

Despite initial trepidation about switching from a traditional paper-based approach to a more streamlined digital way of working, any fears quickly faded away as people started to use Webexpenses.

Anthony Morrissey, Business Development Manager, said:

“When I first started using the system, my initial reaction was - is this going take me ages to learn how to do? And then, after one month of doing it - I would never go back to using paper.”

Founded in 1879, Munster Rugby is one of the most successful and best supported rugby clubs in the world with their grounds in Thomond Park, Limerick, having a stadium capacity of 25,600 and also in Irish Independent Park, Cork with a capacity of 8,008.

Webexpenses provides a smarter way to manage and monitor employee expenses, watch the video case study today from Munster Rugby.