LCBC Church needed expense management software that could streamline processes for their geographically-dispersed staff. With BILL Spend & Expense, they got modern technology, a simpler process, and some serious time savings.

The challenge

Since David Ashcraft began serving as pastor of LCBC Church in 1991, they’ve grown from one location in Manheim, Pennsylvania to 14 throughout the state—with average attendance increasing from 150 people weekly to more than 17,000.

As LCBC grew, so did the time it took accounting staff to reconcile expenses. Lauryn Fitch, LCBC accounting associate, said they used expense management software, but its outdated processes—like requiring receipts to be uploaded as PDFs from a desktop computer—were complicated and time consuming.

“With our old system,” Lauryn explained, “people had to take an image of every receipt with their phone, send the images to their computer, convert them to PDF, then upload the files. And, because we constantly had to update our passwords, everyone was always getting locked out of the system.”

As a congregation with a forward-thinking mindset, LCBC needed a more modern, user-friendly expense management solution. One that could keep pace with their broad use of technology and deep focus on financial responsibility.

“With our old system, people had to take an image of every receipt with their phone, send the images to their computer, convert them to PDF, then upload the files.”

The solution

LCBC first learned about the BILL Spend & Expense spend and expense management platform in summer 2018. As a free system, it didn’t require any investment to start using, so the accounting team launched a BILL Spend & Expense pilot at two locations.

For two months, select LCBC staff made purchases and monitored transactions on BILL Spend & Expense, working out questions and concluding that it simplified every step of the expense management process. After the pilot, they were eager to implement BILL Spend & Expense throughout the organization.

The rollout began with Lauryn traveling from the Central Ministry in Manheim to each of the 13 other LCBC locations, and providing a quick training on BILL Spend & Expense web and mobile apps. She said, “I’ve had experience in eight different expense management systems for credit cards, and BILL Spend & Expense is by far the best.” Her favorite thing about the platform is that it’s so intuitive.

By summer 2019, LCBC reached 100% implementation, with 182 employees—everyone who needs to spend—now using BILL Spend & Expense.

“I’ve had experience in eight different expense management systems for credit cards, and BILL Spend & Expense is by far the best.”

The results

“BILL Spend & Expense has been a massive step forward for our team,” Lauryn said. “Our employees are genuinely excited about it—some even got mad at us for not rolling it out sooner.”

Asked about the quantitative benefits of using BILL Spend & Expense, Lauryn said, “I estimate we save at least $30,000 a year just because of the time BILL Spend & Expense saves.”

She said the greatest efficiency comes from using the mobile app to seamlessly upload receipts at the point of purchase. That means closing their books faster because digital receipts are already embedded in the transaction data they import from BILL Spend & Expense to their accounting software.

“Not only is BILL Spend & Expense the best product on the market for credit card management,” Lauryn said, “it costs us nothing out of pocket and we earn rewards just for using it. LCBC loves BILL Spend & Expense! Their customer service is the best I’ve experienced.”

“I estimate we save at least $30,000 a year just because of the time BILL Spend & Expense saves.”