Systems and methods for expense management

• US 9,208,528 B2
• Filed: 10/16/2012
• Issued: 12/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Chelst, Azriel, Mangeney, Estelle, Pham, Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): MARIAM, DANIEL G
• Application Number:
  US13/652,770
• Publication Number:
  US 20140105510A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,148 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/125 Finance or payroll

Abstract

Systems, methods, and articles of manufacture for expense management are disclosed. A user may submit receipts for one or more transactions into an expense management system. The expense management system may extract information from the receipts and match the extracted information to one or more of a plurality of Records of Charge (ROCs). The expense management system may match the extracted information to a ROC based on vendor name, location, time stamp, and the like. The expense management system may further assign a ROC to an expense category. The expense management system may assign a ROC to an expense category based on a standard industrial classification (SIC) code of a merchant, a category assigned to a different ROC, and a location associated with the ROC. An expense report for all submitted receipts may be generated.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer-based system, an image of a receipt, wherein the image of the receipt is captured by an app on a mobile device;

retrieving, by the computer-based system and from a transaction processor system and in response to the receiving, a record of charge (ROC) associated with a transaction account,

wherein the ROC is provided by a merchant via a merchant system to the transaction processor system,

wherein the ROC includes a standard industrial classification (SIC) code of the merchant and a location associated with the ROC; and

matching, by the computer-based system, the image of the receipt to the ROC based upon SIC code and location information acquired from the image of the receipt.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning, by the computer-based system, the ROC to a category of expense.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning, by the computer-based system, the ROC to a category of expense based upon at least one of:

a standard industrial classification (SIC) code of the merchant, a category assigned to a different ROC, or a location associated with the ROC.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising matching, by the computer-based system, the image of the receipt to the ROC based upon at least one of:

a merchant identifier acquired from the image, an transaction identifier acquired from the image, a time stamp acquired from the image, or a total amount of a transaction acquired from the image.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer-based system, a plurality of images of a plurality of receipts, wherein the plurality of receipts are separated into individual receipts;

retrieving, by the computer-based system, a plurality of records of charge (ROC) associated with a transaction account in response to the receiving; and

matching, by the computer-based system, one of the plurality of images to one of the plurality of ROCs, based upon information acquired from each of the plurality of images.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising submitting, by the computer-based system, the matched image and ROC to an expense management system.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving, by the computer-based system, at least one of a client name or project code to associate with the ROC.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer-based system and from a transaction processor system, a record of charge (ROC),

wherein the ROC is provided by a merchant via a merchant system to a transaction processor system,

wherein the ROC includes a standard industrial classification (SIC) code of the merchant and a location associated with the ROC;

requesting, by the computer-based system and to a mobile device, an image of a receipt associated with the ROC in response to the receiving the ROC;

receiving, by the computer-based system, the image of the receipt associated with the ROC, wherein the image of the receipt is captured by an app on the mobile device; and

matching, by the computer-based system, the image of the receipt to the ROC based upon SIC code and location information acquired from the image of the receipt, in response to the receiving the image of the receipt.

9. The method of claim 8, further matching, by the computer-based system, the image of the receipt to the ROC in response to receiving the image of the receipt within a period of time after transmitting an alert for the requesting.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving, by the computer-based system, an image of encoded data printed on the receipt separate from the image of the receipt.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising assigning, by the computer-based system, the ROC to a category of expense.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising assigning, by the computer-based system, the ROC to a category of expense based upon at least one of:

a standard industrial classification (SIC) code of the merchant, a category assigned to a different ROC, or a location associated with the ROC.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising assigning, by the computer-based system, the ROC to at least one of:

a client or a project.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising submitting, by the computer-based system, the matched image and ROC to an expense management system.

15. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer-based system and from a transaction processor system, a record of charge (ROC),

wherein the ROC is provided by a merchant via a merchant system to a transaction processor system,

wherein the ROC includes a standard industrial classification (SIC) code of the merchant and a location associated with the ROC;

requesting, by the computer-based system and to a mobile device, an image of a receipt associated with the ROC;

receiving, by the computer-based system, an instruction to delay matching the image of the receipt to the ROC;

receiving, by the computer-based system and after a period of time, the image of the receipt associated with the ROC, wherein the image of the receipt is captured by an app on the mobile device; and

matching, by the computer-based system, the image of the receipt to the ROC in response to the receiving the image of the receipt and based upon the SIC code and location information acquired from the image of the receipt.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the instruction to delay matching comprises inaction by a customer in response to an alert for the requesting.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving, by the computer-based system, at least one of a client name or project code to associate with the ROC.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising matching, by the computer-based system, the image of the receipt to the ROC based upon at least one of:

a merchant identifier acquired from the image, an transaction identifier acquired from the image, a time stamp acquired from the image, or a total amount of a transaction acquired from the image.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer-based system, a plurality of images of a plurality of receipts, wherein the plurality of receipts are separated into individual receipts;

retrieving, by the computer-based system, a plurality of records of charge (ROC) associated with a transaction account in response to the receiving; and

matching, by the computer-based system, each of the plurality of images to each of the plurality of ROCs based upon information acquired from each of the plurality of images.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising assigning, by the computer-based system, the ROC to a category of expense.