Expense management system and method
First Claim
1. An expense management method for controlling a budget of at least one department in an organization, the expense management method comprising the steps of:
- providing at least one terminal unit and a host connected to each of the terminal units via an electronic communications network;
storing a budget of the at least one department in the host;
sending a purchase requisition of one department from a terminal unit of that department to the host via the network;
calculating a current budget balance of the said one department according to the stored budget and a history of expenses of the said one department in the host; and
determining if a total cost of the purchase requisition exceeds a current budget surplus of the said one department as disclosed by the calculation of the current budget balance.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An expense management method for controlling a budget of each department in an organization is provided in an operational environment which includes a plurality of terminal units electrically connected to a host via an electronic communications network. Firstly, a user stores a total budget of a department in the host. Secondly, a user sends a purchase requisition of the department from a terminal unit of that department to the host via the network. Thirdly, the host calculates a budget balance of the department according to the total budget and a history of expenses of the department that is stored in the host. Finally, the host determines if a total cost of the purchase requisition exceeds the budget balance of the department. If the total cost is within the budget balance, the host sends purchase order to an appointed supplier. Otherwise, the host sends an alarm to the user.
163 Citations
22 Claims
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1. An expense management method for controlling a budget of at least one department in an organization, the expense management method comprising the steps of:
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providing at least one terminal unit and a host connected to each of the terminal units via an electronic communications network;
storing a budget of the at least one department in the host;
sending a purchase requisition of one department from a terminal unit of that department to the host via the network;
calculating a current budget balance of the said one department according to the stored budget and a history of expenses of the said one department in the host; and
determining if a total cost of the purchase requisition exceeds a current budget surplus of the said one department as disclosed by the calculation of the current budget balance. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An expense management system for controlling a budget of at least one department in an organization, the expense management system comprising:
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a basic information memory module for storing information about each of the at least one department, a cost of any article needed by any of the at least one department, at least one supplier, and at least one form;
a transaction process module for controlling purchase requisitions, purchase activity and settlement of cost accounts;
an inquiring and analyzing module for inquiring and analyzing information in the basic information memory module;
a statistical reports module for collecting information in the basic information memory module and information related to costs; and
a system management module for managing information on users and changing data records in the basic information memory module. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An expense management system comprising:
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means for storing information of a budget of a department;
means for comparing a purchase order with the budget;
means for sending an alarm to the department if a monetary amount of said purchase order exceeds the budget or for processing the purchase order if not exceeds; and
means for updating the information before comparing the purchase order with the budget.
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Specification