In manufacturing and retail operations, managing expenses often means dealing with petty cash, scattered receipts, manual approvals and fragmented visibility. But the shift to automated digital tools can transform how companies track, approve and control spend. This article explores why manufacturing expense management is critical, and how Scoops India achieved a major leap using digital tools.
Understanding manufacturing expense management
Manufacturing expense management refers to how factories, plants and associated retail units handle all spend—petty cash, vendor payments, travel, consumables, maintenance, logistics, and more—in a structured, automated way. When the process remains manual, it’s rife with delays, errors and low visibility. But when digitised, it enables real-time control, stronger compliance and faster decision-making.
Why manufacturing organisations need to move from petty cash to digital
Companies that still depend on physical cash float systems and manual spreadsheets face:
- Lack of visibility across sites and departments
- Time-consuming reconciliation and approvals
- Risk of misuse or unauthorised spending
- Slow reporting and decision-making
In manufacturing especially, where multiple sites, field teams and retail outlets are involved, the manual approach quickly becomes unsustainable.
Challenges Scoops India faced in expense management
According to the case study, Scoops India—known for its ice-cream brands such as Scoops, Creamstone and Froops—had operations across manufacturing units and retail outlets. Tera
They confronted:
- Complexity in managing cash disbursements across manufacturing units and retail outlets. Tera
- A lack of real-time visibility into spend across departments and cities. Tera
- Heavy manual data entry, spreadsheets and receipt tracking that slowed reconciliation and increased error risk. Tera
This set the stage for inefficiencies and lack of financial control.
How Scoops India transformed their spend process
With the adoption of TERA’s digital expense management platform, Scoops India moved from petty cash and manual workflows to an automated, digital model. Key elements included:
- Replacement of manual cash disbursement with digital wallets and prepaid cards. Tera
- Real-time dashboards giving finance teams visibility and control over spend across units. Tera
- Reduction of reconciliation work and error-prone spreadsheets. Tera
- Improved accountability and discipline in spend management. As one executive said: “TERA helped us eliminate cash inefficiencies and bring discipline into our spend management.” Tera
Results achieved by Scoops India
Thanks to the digital shift, Scoops India gained:
- Real-time visibility and control across manufacturing and retail operations. Tera
- Significant reduction in manual reconciliation burden and cash-handling risks. Tera
- Better financial discipline across sites and departments. Tera
These outcomes highlight the potential of modern manufacturing expense management tools.
Key features of a robust manufacturing expense management solution
When selecting a digital tool for manufacturing contexts, look for:
- Multi-site spend visibility and branching
- Digital wallets or prepaid cards to replace petty cash
- Mobile receipt capture and auto-categorisation
- Real-time dashboards for finance teams
- Integrations with your ERP and accounting systems
- Policy rules, approval workflows and spend limits
Why digital expense systems matter for manufacturing & retail operations
Manufacturing and retail combine many cost vectors—maintenance, consumables, travel, marketing, retail operations, inventory handling. Without digital controls:
- Cash spends go untracked
- Different sites follow different rules
- Reporting happens too late
With digital expense management: spend becomes transparent, scalable and audit-ready.
Benefits of making the shift from petty cash to digital in expense management
Some key benefits:
- Faster approvals and fewer delays
- Lower risk of unauthorised or duplicate spending
- Stronger budget control across departments and sites
- Time savings for finance teams—more focus on strategy
- Better audit readiness with digital records
Best practices for implementing manufacturing expense digitalisation
- Start with mapping all petty cash spend and departments
- Digitise receipts and enforce mobile submission
- Replace cash floats with digital wallets or prepaid cards
- Set departmental budgets and enforce limits
- Provide dashboards and training for site staff
- Monitor performance, reconcile often and refine workflows
Faqs about manufacturing expense management
1. What is manufacturing expense management?
It is the process of tracking, approving and controlling all expense flows (petty cash, vendor bills, staff spend) across manufacturing and retail operations.
2. Why is digital better than petty cash?
Digital tools bring visibility, speed, control and less risk of manual errors or delays.
3. Can manufacturing sites still use cash?
Yes—but a hybrid model is risky. Ideally, move to digital wallets and minimise cash use.
4. How soon can companies see results?
With the right tool, improvements can be visible within months: fewer errors, faster reconciliation, better control.
5. Is this only for manufacturing companies with many sites?
No. Any manufacturing or retail business—even a single site—benefits from structured expense management.
6. What should we look for in a solution?
Key features: mobile receipt capture, real-time visibility, multi-site budget control, integrations with ERP/finance systems.
Conclusion: manufacturing expense management from petty cash to digital
Manufacturing and retail operations cannot afford to manage spend with outdated cash-floats, manual receipts and disparate spreadsheets. The shift to digital expense management brings transparency, control and operational efficiency. The Scoops India case study illustrates how a digital tool—replacing petty cash with wallets and deploying real-time dashboards—can empower finance teams and site managers alike.
If your business is ready to abandon petty cash chaos and step into digital expense control, investing in modern manufacturing expense management is a strategic move worth making.
