Test project: Expense report compliance

Business Ops · Alex Morgan · Finance Business Partner · Corporate / office

This is a fully answered example session, read only. Use it to see what a good answer to each question looks like.

Project & goal

Give this project a short name.
Expense report compliance for people managers
What change would you like this project to achieve? Make it measurable — a number and a date.
Correct expense-report submissions (right cost-centre code, receipts attached) rise from 45% to 85% within one quarter.
What do you see that tells you there is a problem?
Finance reviews show many managers approve expense reports without checking receipts or budget codes, causing rework and budget surprises.
Is there data we could use as a baseline — audits, surveys, incident reports, system data?
Finance's Q1 audit found only 45% of expense reports were submitted correctly the first time; average correction time is 3 days per report.
How will you know the goal has been achieved?
The rate of correctly-submitted expense reports reaches 85%, and Finance correction time drops by half.
What are the benefits of this project to the organisation?
1. Fewer hours spent by Finance correcting reports. 2. Faster month-end close. 3. Fewer budget surprises at quarter-end. 4. Lower audit risk. 5. Managers feel more confident approving expenses.
How business critical is this project?
Somewhat critical
Who exactly will change what they do?
People managers who approve their team's expense reports.
What has already been tried to bring about this change, and what happened?
A reminder email from Finance at each quarter-end, but compliance didn't improve.
What happens if nothing changes?
Continued rework for Finance, delayed month-end close, and growing audit risk from incorrect approvals.

Performance gap

What is the current level of performance? Describe what people actually do today.
Managers approve expense reports without opening the receipt attachment or checking the cost-centre code.
How is this measured today?
Finance tracks this monthly through its expense audit dashboard, which flags missing receipts or wrong codes.
What is the desired level of performance? What should they be able to do without asking anyone?
Every manager reviews receipts and codes before approving, and flags anything unclear to Finance first.
Why don't they do it today? Is it knowledge, skill, tools, time, or the environment?
Unclear which costs need pre-approval, pressure to approve quickly between meetings, and unawareness of the latest policy update.
What are the effects of the problem right now?
Finance spends hours correcting reports, overspend goes unnoticed until quarter-end, and audit risk rises.

Actions & tasks

Check receipts and budget codes before approving an expense report
What makes this hard to do right? Approvals pile up at month-end and managers are rushing between meetings.
What mistakes do people make? Approving without opening the receipt attachment at all.
What would help them do it? A checklist built into the approval screen showing exactly what to verify.
Flag unclear or missing cost-centre codes to Finance before approving
Explain a rejected expense to the employee clearly

Audience

Which job roles need this training?
People managers (team leads and above) across all departments.
Roughly how many people per year, and where are they?
About 250 managers, across the US, UK and Singapore offices.
What experience level are we designing for?
Intermediate
What do they already know or do well on this topic?
Most have 2+ years of people-management experience but no formal finance training; familiarity with the policy is patchy.
What are their computer skills and language needs?
Comfortable with everyday business software (email, expense system, chat).
Where and when will they realistically do the course, and how much time do they have?
Mostly at work, on their laptop, in 20-30 minute gaps between meetings.
How often should people repeat it?
Annually

Evaluation

What improvement do you expect — by what percentage, and by when?
Correct expense-report submissions from 45% to 85% within one quarter.
If one person has learned this and another hasn't, how would you tell just by watching them work?
The prepared manager's team reports get approved cleanly the first time; the other manager's reports keep bouncing back from Finance with correction requests.
A year from now, which metric would you look at to say the problem is solved?
Finance stops chasing managers for missing receipts, month-end close is faster, and the audit dashboard shows consistently correct approvals.

Logistics & materials

Is there a deadline or launch date?
End of next quarter
What budget is allocated for this course?
Approximately $8,000 for design and development
Which devices will learners use?
Desktop / laptop
What should the course include?
Interactive text and images, Real-life scenarios, Practice quizzes, Video
Which of these materials already exist? We'll use them as references, not as the course itself.
Policy documents and standards, Guidelines, Presentations
Where will the course be hosted, and are there technical constraints we should know about?
250 licences, 1 year each, renewed annually.
Who should we contact with follow-up questions? Name, role, email and phone.
Priya Shah, Head of Finance Operations — priya.shah@example.com / +1 555 0199

New session

Test project: Expense report compliance

Business Ops · Alex Morgan · Finance Business Partner · Corporate / office

This is a fully answered example session, read only. Use it to see what a good answer to each question looks like.

Project & goal

Give this project a short name.
Expense report compliance for people managers
What change would you like this project to achieve? Make it measurable — a number and a date.
Correct expense-report submissions (right cost-centre code, receipts attached) rise from 45% to 85% within one quarter.
What do you see that tells you there is a problem?
Finance reviews show many managers approve expense reports without checking receipts or budget codes, causing rework and budget surprises.
Is there data we could use as a baseline — audits, surveys, incident reports, system data?
Finance's Q1 audit found only 45% of expense reports were submitted correctly the first time; average correction time is 3 days per report.
How will you know the goal has been achieved?
The rate of correctly-submitted expense reports reaches 85%, and Finance correction time drops by half.
What are the benefits of this project to the organisation?
1. Fewer hours spent by Finance correcting reports. 2. Faster month-end close. 3. Fewer budget surprises at quarter-end. 4. Lower audit risk. 5. Managers feel more confident approving expenses.
How business critical is this project?
Somewhat critical
Who exactly will change what they do?
People managers who approve their team's expense reports.
What has already been tried to bring about this change, and what happened?
A reminder email from Finance at each quarter-end, but compliance didn't improve.
What happens if nothing changes?
Continued rework for Finance, delayed month-end close, and growing audit risk from incorrect approvals.

Performance gap

What is the current level of performance? Describe what people actually do today.
Managers approve expense reports without opening the receipt attachment or checking the cost-centre code.
How is this measured today?
Finance tracks this monthly through its expense audit dashboard, which flags missing receipts or wrong codes.
What is the desired level of performance? What should they be able to do without asking anyone?
Every manager reviews receipts and codes before approving, and flags anything unclear to Finance first.
Why don't they do it today? Is it knowledge, skill, tools, time, or the environment?
Unclear which costs need pre-approval, pressure to approve quickly between meetings, and unawareness of the latest policy update.
What are the effects of the problem right now?
Finance spends hours correcting reports, overspend goes unnoticed until quarter-end, and audit risk rises.

Actions & tasks

Check receipts and budget codes before approving an expense report
What makes this hard to do right? Approvals pile up at month-end and managers are rushing between meetings.
What mistakes do people make? Approving without opening the receipt attachment at all.
What would help them do it? A checklist built into the approval screen showing exactly what to verify.
Flag unclear or missing cost-centre codes to Finance before approving
Explain a rejected expense to the employee clearly

Audience

Which job roles need this training?
People managers (team leads and above) across all departments.
Roughly how many people per year, and where are they?
About 250 managers, across the US, UK and Singapore offices.
What experience level are we designing for?
Intermediate
What do they already know or do well on this topic?
Most have 2+ years of people-management experience but no formal finance training; familiarity with the policy is patchy.
What are their computer skills and language needs?
Comfortable with everyday business software (email, expense system, chat).
Where and when will they realistically do the course, and how much time do they have?
Mostly at work, on their laptop, in 20-30 minute gaps between meetings.
How often should people repeat it?
Annually

Evaluation

What improvement do you expect — by what percentage, and by when?
Correct expense-report submissions from 45% to 85% within one quarter.
If one person has learned this and another hasn't, how would you tell just by watching them work?
The prepared manager's team reports get approved cleanly the first time; the other manager's reports keep bouncing back from Finance with correction requests.
A year from now, which metric would you look at to say the problem is solved?
Finance stops chasing managers for missing receipts, month-end close is faster, and the audit dashboard shows consistently correct approvals.

Logistics & materials

Is there a deadline or launch date?
End of next quarter
What budget is allocated for this course?
Approximately $8,000 for design and development
Which devices will learners use?
Desktop / laptop
What should the course include?
Interactive text and images, Real-life scenarios, Practice quizzes, Video
Which of these materials already exist? We'll use them as references, not as the course itself.
Policy documents and standards, Guidelines, Presentations
Where will the course be hosted, and are there technical constraints we should know about?
250 licences, 1 year each, renewed annually.
Who should we contact with follow-up questions? Name, role, email and phone.
Priya Shah, Head of Finance Operations — priya.shah@example.com / +1 555 0199

New session