Research question
Which measures reveal hidden workload in employee expense review?
What authoritative sources establish
IRS Publication 463 explains substantiation requirements for travel, gift, and car expenses, while IRS recordkeeping guidance connects deductions to supporting records. For operations teams, missing purpose, date, amount, or receipt evidence creates a correction loop before accounting review.
Operational analysis
Measure first-pass acceptance, missing evidence, policy exceptions, duplicate submissions, days awaiting employee response, and finance reviewer minutes. Correction rate is more useful than report count when judging preparation capacity.
Staffing boundary
Administrative support can check required fields and organize approved evidence. Tax treatment, policy exceptions, reimbursement approval, and accounting entries remain finance decisions.
Conclusion
Measure first-pass acceptance, missing evidence, policy exceptions, duplicate submissions, days awaiting employee response, and finance reviewer minutes. Correction rate is more useful than report count when judging preparation capacity. This evidence supports a capacity decision only when the queue recurs and a named owner reviews exceptions.