Recently, a number of different factors have influenced corporate travel. From the current geopolitical conditions to leveraging available traveler data, companies are seeking ways to streamline employee trips while ensuring the business stays on budget.

Next year is sure to bring even more changes, shifting the processes and strategies that organizations in every industry use to govern their corporate travel. Here are a few trends to look out for as we head into 2018:

Travel Programs Increase to Support Retention

Although travel saw a decrease in recent years due to technological disruptions like video conferencing, experts predict that face-to-face interactions on the part of employees with customers and partners will rise in 2018.

Issa Jouaneh, American Express Meetings & Events senior vice president and general manager, predicted that next year will see an increase in travel as part of talent competition, recruitment, and retention strategies. Travel that enables staff members to complete work and further the company mission from a desirable location may also become a more sought-after perk.

"As competition for talent heats up, employers will look to travel programs as meaningful benefits for employees who want to take advantage of business destinations, have a productive trip, and get home safely," Jouaneh said. "The line between traveling for work and leisure is continuing to blur for many travelers, and companies will find that developing programs that offer a more flexible work-life balance will attract prospective employees, and keep current employee morale high."

This type of approach can also allow businesses to hit two birds with one stone — not only can client and partner relationships be improved with face-to-face interaction, but when these meetings are in an attractive place, it benefits worker satisfaction as well.

Mixing business travel with pleasure may help companies improve employee satisfaction while boosting retention.

Higher Focus on Security and Risk Preparedness

While mixing business with pleasure may increase next year, this step won't happen without appropriate risk management and security planning. This is particularly true for organizations whose employees take corporate-sponsored trips outside of the U.S. — it's more critical than ever to consider the current conditions of the region to which workers are traveling.

Reporting on Advito's 2018 Industry Forecast, BCD Travel noted heightened concerns surrounding travel risk and security, especially given the current geopolitical situation involving the U.S. and other foreign nations. In addition, any changes to visa and immigration regulations which may impact employees' travel abroad should be taken into account with risk preparedness as well.

"Corporate travel departments must keep up with what's happening in geopolitics and understand how political upheavals, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks anywhere in the world could affect their travelers," BCD Travel noted.

Training employees on best practices for travel safety can help organizations manage any increased risk. Putting in place a risk management travel security policy is also helpful. This company standard should include a plan to support communication with travelers in the event of an emergency, as well as strategies for the business to locate and assist traveling employees should an incident take place.

Analyzing Travel Data

Next year will also see an increased focus on the use of available company travel data. Forbes contributor Laura Parker argued that big data is continually on the rise. In an interview with Sam Turner, sales director at Hotelbeds Group and keynote speaker at the MarketHub Americas 2017 conference, Parker noted that this data can hold considerable potential for companies willing to put in the time and effort to analyze it.

As Turner highlighted, many organizations have more data than they know what to do with. However, pinpointing relevant information and ensuring that this data is accurate, measurable, and sufficient for analysis can help businesses identify important travel insights. These analysis results can then be applied to traveling planning efforts, including to keep companies' budgets in line while supporting employee and client needs.

"Looking to the future, the companies [that] will be able to drive real insights that create real added economic value will place a significant gap between themselves and their competitors," Turner told Parker.

Leveraging Mobile Expense Management

Corporate travelers are increasingly demanding capabilities that make certain mission-critical processes easier from the road. As travelers continue to rely on their mobile devices while operating outside of the office, it only makes sense for businesses to offer robust features on these platforms.

Expense management will always be a top priority for corporate travel, and this is sure to continue into 2018. Now, however, legacy expense management strategies like spreadsheets simply won't cut it, and employees must have ways to track and report their spending from the road.

This is where a mobile expense management solution becomes a critical element to support employee travel. Such technology enables workers to leverage their mobile device to capture receipts and seamlessly track spending during their trip. In addition, expense report approvers can easily review reports for expense policy violations and more quickly approve them for faster reimbursement.

Tracking and accounting for spend is critical for any type of organization, but it's especially important when the group is a nonprofit. There are several critical rules that these groups must follow in order to achieve and maintain their nonprofit status, and when it comes to employee or volunteer spending, one of the most essential guidelines to keep in mind has to do with the organization's accountable plan.

What Is an Accountable Plan?

In short, an accountable plan helps a nonprofit track and organize spending related to the group's activities or other outreach. Transactions completed by organization directors, other employees, or volunteers must meet the requirements of the nonprofit's accountable plan to prevent the group from having to pay taxes on these expenses and enable individuals to qualify for reimbursement.

What's Included in an Accountable Plan?

According to financial firm Raffa, accountable plans should include several requirements:

• Expenses must have been incurred to support the organization and its ability to provide services or outreach.
• Any costs paid for by a member of the organization must be reported to organizational leaders within a reasonable period of time.
• Reimbursement must also take place within a reasonable time period.

These requirements help ensure that spending is accurately tracked, that workers or volunteers are reimbursed quickly where appropriate, and that records can show that expenses are tied to the organization and its mission.

An accountable plan can impact the organization's taxes.

Why Use an Accountable Plan?

Expense reporting and the associated reimbursements that take place according to the requirements of an accountable plan allow nonprofit leaders and volunteers to exclude these sums from taxable income. As legal firm Nolo pointed out, not only are these expenses tax-free, but they don't have to be reported to the IRS so long as they are incurred for the purpose of the organization and can be accounted for correctly.

An accountable plan doesn't just bolster expense tracking and reporting for nonprofits - it can also help eliminate fraudulent activity.

"These strict rules are imposed to prevent directors and employees from seeking reimbursement for personal expenses (or nonexistent phony expenses) under the guise that they were work expenses," Nolo noted. "An accountable plan doesn't need to be in writing (although it's not a bad idea). All your nonprofit has to do is set up procedures for your employees to follow that meet the requirements."

Best Practices for Your Accountable Plan

As Nolo recommended, it's good to record your nonprofit's accountable plan, including its requirements for tracking and reporting spending. This ensures that everyone who incurs expenses associated with nonprofit activities is on the same page and understands what their responsibilities are according to IRS standards for taxable income.

It's also important to keep the plan's time periods in mind. Expenses should be reported within 60 days of the transaction, and any money exceeding the cost of the expenses should be returned in less than 120 days, Nolo stated.

In order to meet these deadlines, employees and volunteers need a streamlined way to track and report their spending, and organization directors must be able to quickly approve reports and support fast reimbursement. An advanced yet simple-to-use expense reporting solution can provide the capabilities today's nonprofits need to align spending with their accountable plan and ensure quick and accurate reimbursement.

Your nonprofit organization's mission often requires fundraising and spending on the part of your volunteers. Your group must have an easy way to account for expenses and make necessary reimbursements.

But what's actually required when it comes to nonprofit expense reporting, and what best practices should your organization leverage to improve this process? Let's take a look:

Reimbursement through an Accountable Plan

As nonprofit knowledge network Mission Box explained, your organization can leverage an accountable plan for expense reimbursement. Such a plan not only shields the group from having to report payments or pay taxes on them, but also prevents the reimbursed volunteer from having to include these monies in his or her taxable income.

In order to qualify as an accountable plan under Internal Revenue Service standards, the policy must only encompass spending related to the nonprofit. Volunteers must report spending within 60 days of it taking place. It's also their responsibility to return any extra funds within 120 days of the expense. These rules prevent reimbursements from having to be taxed and also protect the nonprofit against fraudulent reimbursement of personal expenses.

When expenses are reported as part of a nonprofit accountable plan, the following information should be included:

• The name of the individual who incurred the expense and requires reimbursement.
• The type of goods or services that were purchased, as well as the original receipt or service invoice.
• The date on which spending took place.
• The purpose of the expense, as it relates to the nonprofit.

With this information in hand, report approvers can ensure that expenses are recorded and organized according to the accountable plan, that reimbursements will not be taxed, and that approval and repayment can take place as quickly as possible.

Categorizing Expenses

In addition to outlining and organizing details about spending to support fast reimbursement, your nonprofit should also look to break down its expenses into different categories. This ensures that employees and managers have the most visibility possible over the organization's spending, and your group can account for how donations and other capital were used.

Accounting and consulting firm McKonly & Asbury explained that nonprofit spending categories can include:

• Program service expenses, including necessary spending that takes place in order to support the organization's stated mission.
• Fundraising, such as costs required to host a solicitation event.
• Management and general expenses, or costs tied to administrative activities like bookkeeping and day-to-day governance.

Expenses should be organized into categories for each type of spending.

Leveraging Technology Alongside an Accountable Plan

While an accountable plan isn't a requirement for nonprofit expense reporting, the alternative typically involves repaying volunteers using a fixed allowance or stipend, resulting in individuals having to report and pay taxes on this income. As a result, many nonprofits are utilizing accountable plans to support better organization and visibility into group expenses.

One of the easiest ways to streamline your nonprofit's spending and reimbursement is to leverage an advanced expense reporting solution that automatically captures and provides all the information managers need to quickly approve reports and disburse repayment. Volunteers can easily complete reports from their mobile device, and your organization's leaders can access and approve reports in a much more streamlined manner.