Chrome River CURRENTS

Expense accounts used to mean lunching at trendy bistros and dining with martinis and wine. Not anymore. Corporate workers have shifted from expensing restaurants that are high and mighty to those that are fast and cheap. The overall average cost of an expensed meal these days is around $18, with the top five expensed restaurants listed below.

There's an evolution (or maybe a revolution) of sorts taking place as CIOs look to enhance the value of their already critical organizational role. In many ways, CIOs are poised to become internal “venture capitalists.” This actually makes complete sense when the functions of a typical CIO are considered.

In a recent comprehensive study conducted by the Independent Expert Group on Expenses, one out of every five charities answering survey questions posed by IEG stated that they "did not have an expense policy established.“ Response comments provided by IEG indicated that the Group considered "expense management part of basic internal controls and good governance" and further stated that "charities need to be encouraged to rectify this matter.”

Cutting costs — and keeping them in check — is an ongoing and essential job. But, as anyone tasked with managing a budget can attest, it only goes so far. At some point, you simply need to bring in more money.

Need socks, groceries and pet food? Sure, that’s fine. Feel the need to buy some new golf clubs or maybe a teepee? Hey, that’s your concern. Want to gamble on the lottery — or a cosmetic surgery procedure? It’s no big deal until you try to slip them past your employer as expense claims.

Analytics platforms are essential tools in today’s organizations. Business leaders rely on them to facilitate fast, effective decision-making, while operations managers use such tools to deliver smooth execution of day-to-day processes. But it’s a mistake to think of analytics software as some kind of magic bullet.

When your organization is growing quickly, you need to fuel that expansion with cash. You could try to borrow the money, but a better option might be to focus on speeding up your cash conversion cycle, according to a recent article on the CNNMoney website. 

According to a recent blog post from EPM Channel, these are two characteristics of savvy mobile device users: If you get annoyed when people pass out paper reports instead of displaying electronic versions on their tablet or laptop, that’s one clear indicator. If you prefer using a tablet for business tasks instead of being tethered to your PC, that’s another sign.

Many organizations are discovering that cloud computing offers a number of strategic opportunities to cut costs and boost revenue. Business Finance magazine explores the ways leading organizations are using the cloud to become more competitive, from improving decision-making to transforming collaboration and business processes.

In one’s personal life, the need to dig out the checkbook is increasingly rare; using a credit or debit card or an electronic check is often more efficient and reliable. Paper checks are steadily losing ground to other payment methods in business, too, including Automated Clearing House debits, wire transfers and company purchasing cards. The average organization now only uses paper checks for half of its transactions with other businesses, according to a recent article on CFO.com.