Global reimbursements: Simplifying employee reimbursements worldwide with Expensify
Managing employee reimbursements can be a complex and time-consuming process, especially for companies with a global workforce. Luckily, Expensify recently launched its Global Reimbursements feature, aiming to streamline and simplify the reimbursement process for businesses operating across multiple countries.
Real-world data supports why fast global reimbursements matter
Employee reimbursements aren’t just an operational detail; they impact financial wellness and retention.
According to a 2025 State of the Workplace study by Morgan Stanley, 66% of employees say financial stress negatively affects both their work and personal life.
When reimbursements are delayed or unclear, employees are forced to float company expenses on their personal cash or credit. For global teams, this can mean large currency conversions, FX fees, or waiting weeks to be paid back.
Fast, transparent reimbursements directly reduce financial stress and improve morale. And companies are starting to respond.
A 2025 Global Benefits Forecast from MBWL International shows that technology and in-platform automation, including employee spend automation — are now among the top investment priorities for global organizations.
Translation: companies are looking for platforms that streamline spending, automate reimbursements, and reduce manual finance work - exactly where Expensify’s global reimbursement workflow excels. Let’s explore how Expensify can help you manage employee reimbursements worldwide.
Streamlining the reimbursement process
Global reimbursements empower businesses to reimburse employees located anywhere in the world quickly and seamlessly. Traditionally, managing reimbursements across borders involved complicated manual processes, diverse currencies, and regulatory compliance challenges.
However, Expensify’s solution eliminates these hurdles by automating the entire process, offering businesses a user-friendly interface to manage reimbursements from one centralized platform.
Seamless cross-border payments
One of the standout features of global reimbursements is its ability to facilitate seamless cross-border payments. The platform supports over 160 currencies, enabling companies to reimburse employees in their local currency without incurring excessive fees or currency conversion headaches.
This feature not only simplifies the reimbursement process but also ensures that employees receive their funds promptly and without unnecessary financial burdens.
Efficient tracking and reporting
When you reimburse employees through Expensify you also get access to our robust expense tracking and reporting capabilities, enabling companies to maintain accurate records of employee payments across multiple regions.
You can export reports that provide valuable insights into spending patterns, allowing businesses to identify potential cost-saving opportunities and make data-driven decisions.
In addition, reimbursed expenses can easily be exported to major accounting systems such as QuickBooks, NetSuite, Xero, Sage Intacct, and many others.
Expanding the scope of employee reimbursements
Expensify’s global reimbursement feature not only simplifies the reimbursement process for traditional employee expenses but also extends its benefits to a broader range of transactions.
Whether it’s reimbursing employees for travel expenses, software subscriptions, or even remote office setup, Expensify provides a unified solution to manage and reimburse expenses of various types, catering to the evolving needs of modern businesses.
Included in both the collect and control plan
Global reimbursements are now available for both Collect and Control plan members at no additional cost. Expensify’s activity-based pricing model means all of our fantastic features from reimbursement to the Expensify Visa Commerical Card to SmartScan are included in your subscription.
Global reimbursement trends in 2025
Growing demand for realtime spend visibility and automation
Finance teams are no longer satisfied with “month-end clarity.” They want real-time visibility into what’s being spent, in which country, and in which currency — as it happens.
Employees don’t want to chase receipts, and finance teams don’t want to chase employees.
This shift is being fueled by automation:
AI reads receipts and matches them to expenses.
Currency conversion and categorization happen automatically.
Global reimbursements can be triggered instantly from one dashboard.
Increased complexity from hybrid/remote workforce
Global reimbursements used to be tied to global travel — now they’re tied to global teams. Hybrid and remote workforces introduce challenges traditional reimbursement tools weren’t built for:
Employees working across multiple timezones
Regional bank requirements and payout formats
Cross-border compliance (VAT, GST, per diem rules)
Companies don’t want to manage separate tools for each region or “Venmo hacks” that create compliance risk. They need one global workflow that pays people wherever they are, without forcing finance to manage multiple payout providers.
Expensify centralizes this into a single workspace, whether an employee is in Chicago, Singapore, or Dublin.
Employee experience and global mobility as competitive differentiators
Reimbursements directly affect how employees feel about their employer. If people are waiting weeks to get reimbursed, morale dips. They end up carrying company costs on their personal credit card, often across borders. This isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s emotional and financial stress.
Key metrics finance teams should track
Tracking the right metrics helps companies prove ROI on reimbursement automation and identify where delays or bottlenecks exist.
Reimbursement cycle time (days)
How long does it take from expense submission → approval → payout?
Modern finance teams aim for same-week reimbursement, especially for international employees who face higher cash flow pressure. Expensify’s Insights dashboards surface cycle time trends and highlight bottlenecks (policy issues, late approvers, missing documentation).
Percentage of expenses processed without manual intervention
The best reimbursement systems automate:
Receipt scanning
Approval routing
Categorization
Policy checks
Your goal: Increase the % of expenses auto-approved on first pass.
A high automation rate means:
lower admin cost per expense
fewer back-and-forth emails
faster payouts
Currency conversion cost reduction
When companies use manual reimbursements, FX fees and conversion markups are often hidden.
With centralized global reimbursement:
FX fees become transparent
Rates are standardized
Finance teams can forecast global spend with confidence
Tracking the reduction in FX costs shows tangible ROI on switching from manual to automated reimbursements.
Employee satisfaction with reimbursement experience
You can’t improve what you don’t measure.
Track:
Employee satisfaction score (post-reimbursement survey)
NPS for reimbursement experience
% of employees paid within your target timeline
When reimbursements are fast and transparent, employee morale and trust increase, which reduces turnover.
Let’s get started!
With global reimbursement, Expensify is revolutionizing the way companies handle employee reimbursements. With this innovative solution, organizations can focus on their core operations, knowing that employee reimbursements are handled efficiently, accurately, and seamlessly across the globe.
To learn more about enabling global reimbursements, simply start a chat with Concierge.
FAQs about global reimbursements for employees
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Expensify automates payouts worldwide, supports 160+ currencies, and reimburses employees directly into their local bank accounts, without finance needing to manage regional payout providers.
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Yes. Expensify applies your policy rules automatically and can auto-approve compliant expenses, reducing manual workload and speeding up reimbursement cycles.
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Expensify uses standardized conversion rates and displays them in expense reports so finance teams get full transparency into FX costs and conversion timing.
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Yes. Whether they’re full-time employees, contractors, or project-based contributors, Expensify can process global reimbursements to their bank accounts.
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Expensify syncs with tools like NetSuite, QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, and more, keeping expense and reimbursement data aligned automatically.
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Expensify supports global payouts in 160+ currencies and continues to expand payout availability based on banking partnerships.
