Patent Publication Number: US-2018053259-A1

Title: System and method for personalized, policy based expense processing

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This application relates generally to automated accounting and payment systems. The application more particularly relates to payment, tracking and fee allocation for business travelers. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Payment for goods and services has evolved from barter, to cash, to checks, and more recently to credit cards and debit cards. Merchant transactions are typically undertaken at a point of sale, such as a shop in the case of goods, or in person in the case of services. Transactions are frequently followed with a receipt. Early receipts were hand written, perhaps in duplicate for the transacting parties such as with carbon paper. More recently, transactions involved mechanical devices that could process a transaction and generate a printed receipt. Payment by check also provided a receipt evidencing a transaction. 
     Point-of-sale devices evolved from mechanical adding machines and cash registers to computerized terminals. Devices evolved to become networked, allowing for immediate communication between merchants, credit agencies and banking institutions. While the term “credit card” and “debit card” are still used, many credit or debit transactions do not involve use of a physical card. They may be accomplished by exchange of financial information or by payment with a consumer device, such as via a smartphone. Receipts may still be printed on site during a transaction. Instead of, or in addition to printing of receipts, electronic versions may be sent, such as via e-mail. 
     Receipts are important for situations such as documenting a transaction for possible return of an item for a refund or exchange. Receipts may also provide evidence supporting tax deductions, such as for purchases of business or charitable items. Many business costs are initially born by employees. An employee may present a receipt to their employer for purposes of seeking reimbursement. 
     SUMMARY 
     In accordance with an example embodiment of the subject application, a system and method for purchase cost allocation, payment and reporting includes a device receiving charge data corresponding to a purchase of goods or services from a merchant by a user. The device also receives a merchant category classification code associated with the merchant and stores account data corresponding to at least one business charge account and at least one personal charge account. A processor categorizes received charge data as a business charge or a personal charge in accordance with a comparison of received charge data and the merchant category classification code. The device generates debit data to at the business charge account or the personal charge account in accordance with categorized charge data. 
     In accordance with other example embodiments, charges are categorized in accordance with established company policies retrieved from a storage, from calendar data showing timing of business trips or from a location from where a purchasing transaction occurs. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Various embodiments will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims and accompanying drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  an example embodiment of a system  100  for personalized, policy based expense processing; 
         FIG. 2  is an example embodiment of a digital device; 
         FIG. 3  is a flowchart of an example embodiment of expense processing system; 
         FIG. 4  is a software module block diagram of an example embodiment; and 
         FIG. 5  is an example embodiment of a printout of data from an electronic receipt. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The systems and methods disclosed herein are described in detail by way of examples and with reference to the figures. It will be appreciated that modifications to disclosed and described examples, arrangements, configurations, components, elements, apparatuses, devices methods, systems, etc. can suitably be made and may be desired for a specific application. In this disclosure, any identification of specific techniques, arrangements, etc. are either related to a specific example presented or are merely a general description of such a technique, arrangement, etc. Identifications of specific details or examples are not intended to be, and should not be, construed as mandatory or limiting unless specifically designated as such. 
     As discussed above, employees may present receipts to their employer for reimbursement. In smaller or less formal businesses, reimbursement may be ad hoc. A business owner may subjectively determine whether the purchase was justified and whether the cost was reasonable under the circumstances. The owner may consider different factors relative to approving or disapproving the requested reimbursement. For example, an employee may frequently seek reimbursement for business lunches or dinners. The owner may determine a submission is justified, or unjustified, depending on the employee&#39;s job description, productivity or rate of reimbursement submissions. 
     Larger businesses may employ a more established reimbursement policy. For example, an employee may have an annual travel budget, or a monthly entertainment budget. A company may have pre-established, maximum rates or per diem amounts. They may have certain providers that are pre-approved or with whom special rates have been established. Requests may be processed, analyzed and approved or disapproved, in whole or in part, by an accounts payable person or department. Reimbursements can be further complicated when business purchases are coupled with personal or non-reimbursable expenditures. This may occur when an employee exceeds an allotted expense cap, placing the overage as the employee&#39;s personal responsibility. In other example situations, a family member may have accompanied an employee during a business meal, or a hotel receipt can include charges for personal items billed to a room account. If all charges are on a personal credit card, a portion will need to be reimbursed to the employee. If all charges are on a business credit card, an employee may have to reimburse the employer or have the amount deducted from a future pay. 
     In situations such as those exemplified above, considerable effort to isolate reimbursable expenses and amounts from non-reimbursable or personal expenses must be made. Complex situations may result in error and significant delay in processing of payments or reimbursements. 
     In accordance with the subject application,  FIG. 1  illustrates an example embodiment of a system  100  for personalized, policy based expense processing. A user, such as an employee, has a personal digital device  104 , such as a smartphone, tablet, notebook computer, or the like. Personal digital device  104  is provided with data input and data output capability via any suitable wired or wireless data communication system. Examples for wireless data communication include radio frequency based communication, such as WiFi, cellular, near field communication (NFC), or BLUETOOTH, as well as optical communication, such as via diode, including laser or infrared. 
     Personal digital device  104  is suitably enabled for data communication with one or more point-of-sale terminals, such as terminal  108 . A point-of-sale terminal may be comprised of a check-out station at a retail establishment, such as a department store, gas station or hotel. A point-of-sale terminal is also suitably comprised of an online or telephonic sales system, such as a web-based or app-based ordering system. Terminal  108  communicates receipt information such as an itemized cost for purchases, item description or merchant description. By way of further examples, product descriptions may comprise stock keeping unit (SKU) data. SKU data is frequently preset for inventoried items and may include information could include information as to a manufacturer, product description, material, size, color, packaging, or warranty terms. Additional receipt information may include merchant category code (MCC) information. As currently implemented, A MCC is comprised of a four-digit number assigned to a business by credit card companies (for instance, American Express, MasterCard, VISA) when the business first starts accepting one of these cards as a form of payment. The code reflects the primary category in which the merchant does business and may be used by credit card companies to offer cash back rewards or reward points, for spending in specific categories. Additionally, the MCC is used to classify the business by the type of goods or services it provides. In the United States, it can also be used to determine whether or not a payment needs to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service for tax purposes. 
     Both personal digital device  104  and point-of-sale terminal  108  are also suitably connected to a data network  112 , suitably comprised of a local area network, a wide area network, the Internet, or any combination thereof. Also in data communication with data network  112  are one or more financial institutions, such as illustrated by financial institutions  116  and  120 . By way of example, financial instructions may be comprised of banks, credit agencies, lenders, credit unions, savings and loan institutions or the like. Financial institutions can also be suitably comprised of Internet or eCommerce payment services, such as PayPal, WePay, and the like. Financial institutions may accommodate employers, employees or both, presumably under separate accounts. 
     In accordance with a purchase, such as with personal digital device  104 , information about the transaction is suitably communicated from terminal  108  to personal digital device  104  which, in turn, communicates some or all information for employer approval to a server, such as policy server  124 . Policy server  124  suitably acts on product purchase information, suitably including pricing information, SKU data and/or MCC data, along with employee data setting forth the employees spending levels, permissions, budgets, history and the like. After applying policy data to the purchase information, policy server  124  communicates with personal digital device  104  providing data corresponding to allowable business expenditures. Personal digital device  104  suitably completes payment via terminal  108 . Payment may be divided between a company account and the user&#39;s private account for charging as is appropriate for a particular transaction to one or more financial institutions. Alternatively, a single payment by the company or the user may be made with appropriate reimbursement made or scheduled. An electronic receipt corresponding to the purchase, suitably accompanied by data relative to payment breakdown, is retained by the digital device and/or sent to the employer, such as via policy server  124  or any suitable data gateway. 
     Computers, smart phones or tablets may be used to hold electronic calendars. A user may include a business itinerary. Business itineraries may include flight reservation information, including flight number, departure time/date and arrival time/date. Many times a user can have such information added into their calendar, such as an Outlook calendar or Google calendar by a website selection after booking. Personal calendar data may reside on any suitable computer. Electronic calendar  128  may be stored on personal digital device  104 , policy server  124  or any other suitable data device. Information may be shared among multiple devices. By way of example, a user may enter calendar information  132  in personal digital device  104 , and the calendar information  132  is shared with the policy server  124  when a data path is available. Similarly, a colleague, such as a secretary, can enter calendar information  132  and it will be replicated at the user&#39;s personal digital device  104 . In addition to use of policy data as indicated above a determination may be made as to whether a charge is a business expense by comparing a time or date of charge with calendar information  132 , for example a scheduled business trip. For example, certain expenditures may be considered business related that would not otherwise be considered so if policy data set accordingly. In the illustrated example, certain expenses, such as may be determined by cost, SKU or MCC information may be deemed business expenses if they occur in the Aug. 9, 2016-Aug. 16, 2016 date range. 
     Location information for personal digital device  104  may also be used in connection with determining business expenses. By way of example, if a user is determined to be outside of their home city, state or country, there may be additional information leading to a conclusion that expenditures are business related. With each purchase transaction, an electronic receipt is suitably generated by personal digital device  104 , or alternatively by another networked device such as policy server  124 , as will be described further, below. 
     Turning now to  FIG. 2 , illustrated is an example embodiment of digital device  200  suitably comprised in personal digital device  104 . Analogous architecture suitably comprise terminal  108  and policy server  124 . Included are one or more processors, such as that illustrated by processor  204 . Each processor is suitably associated with non-volatile memory, such as read only memory (ROM)  210  and random access memory (RAM)  212 , via a data bus  214 . 
     Processor  204  is also in data communication with a storage interface  216  for reading or writing to a data storage system  218 , suitably comprised of a hard disk, optical disk, solid-state disk, or any other suitable data storage as will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art. Positioning data for location based services is suitably obtained via a global positioning system (GPS) interface  220 . 
     Processor  204  is also in data communication with a network interface controller (NIC)  230 , which provides a data path to any suitable wired or physical network connection via physical network interface  234 , or to any suitable wireless data connection via wireless network interface  238 , such as one or more of the networks detailed above. The system suitably uses LBS or location based services, such as those described above, using GPS or wireless network information or combinations thereof. 
     Processor  204  is also in data communication with a user input/output (I/O) interface  240  which provides data communication with user peripherals, such as display  244 , as well as keyboards, mice, track balls, touch screens, or the like. Also suitably included are a BLUETOOTH interface  250 , a near field communication (NFC) interface  260 , a cellular interface  264  and an optical, such as infrared, interface  268 . It will be understood that functional units are suitably comprised of intelligent units, including any suitable hardware, or software platform. 
     Referring next to  FIG. 3 , illustrated is a flowchart of an example embodiment of expense processing system  300 . The process starts at block  304  when a purchase is made. A determination is made at block  312  as to whether the user making the purchase is on a business trip as determined by calendar information  314 , such as may come from the user&#39;s digital device or a server. If not, progress is made to a payment abstraction system  316 . Payment to the merchant is divided between personal payment method  318  and business payment method  322  in accordance with current breakdown of charges. Payment is accomplished with a vendor point of sale terminal at block  326 , and a smart receipt generated at block  330 . A complete expense report is generated or updated at block  334 . 
     In addition to the forgoing, a business trip duration is monitored at block  338 , suitably with calendar information  314 . When the business trip is over, an expense report is generated at block  334 . 
     A determination at block  312  that the user is on a business trip moves to block  342  wherein charges are categorized as business charges or personal charges in accordance with location information  346  and merchant data  350 , such as merchant name, MCC data or SKU data. A payment abstraction decision is made at block  354  with corporate expense policy information  358 , and the system progress to payment abstraction  314  as detailed above. 
     Turning now to  FIG. 4 , illustrated is a software module block diagram  400  of an example embodiment. Decision engine  404  processes and categorizes payments in accordance with corporate policy information  408 , suitably from a company policy server, calendar information  412 , such as from a user&#39;s Outlook or Google calendar information, merchant information  416 , such as merchant name, MCC information or SKU information and location information  420 . Payment abstraction engine  430  processes payments to the appropriate payment vehicle, such as a user&#39;s credit card or company credit card, as described above. Smart receipt generation engine  440  generates a smart receipt for use by the company as described above. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 5 , illustrated is an example embodiment of a printout of data from an electronic receipt  500  generated in accordance with the subject application. Data accumulated from location information, vendor information, product information, calendar information, and the like is listed at  510 . Once payment abstraction has been completed, business charges are categorized at  520  while personal charges are categorized at  530 . 
     While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the spirit and scope of the inventions.