Dummy blog post

The world’s most outdated office ritual

Crumpled receipts. Confusing forms. “Please attach documentation” requests. Transaction details you’d never remember. Expense reports are a workplace ritual that should’ve disappeared decades ago.

And yet, billions of hours are still wasted doing them manually — time that could be spent on work that actually matters. The truth is, expense reports are a solved problem. Ramp customers don’t file them manually anymore; automation and AI handle them in real time.

So this year, Ramp is officially calling time on one of the modern office’s most absurd inefficiencies. October 15 is now National Expense Report Day, a holiday created to spotlight (and retire) the grind that is manual expense reporting.

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History’s first receipt

The world’s first written record wasn’t a poem or a law — it was a receipt, etched into clay 5,000 years ago. Humanity has since invented running water, electricity, and the internet … but somehow, not a better way to file expenses.

From shoeboxes of receipts to spreadsheets in the 1980s to digital tools in the 2000s, the process barely changed. Employees still hunt for receipts, fill out forms, and wait for approvals.

It’s time to move on from the parchment-and-quill era of finance.

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Brian’s Office: A live look at inefficiency

To prove just how absurd manual expense reports have become, Ramp teamed up with Brian Baumgartner (aka everyone’s favorite fictional accountant) for a live NYC stunt: Brian’s Office.

For one day, inside a glass office in Manhattan’s Flatiron Plaza, Brian will do expense reports the old-fashioned way — by hand — and try to keep pace with the 600,000 receipts Ramp automates every single day.

Part comedy, part cautionary tale, Brian’s Office shows what happens when a task long past its expiration date refuses to die.

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The data behind the day

New research from The Harris Poll,¹ commissioned by Ramp, reveals the toll of manual expense reporting: lost time and lost money.

• 67% of employees who file expense reports lost money in the past year due to missed deadlines or abandoned submissions.
• 68% have lost receipts before submitting.
• 33% spend two or more hours a month filing reports, and 15% spend four or more hours.

Ramp eliminates expense reports altogether. Every transaction is automatically categorized, matched with its receipt, and approved in real time. No spreadsheets, no follow-ups, no lost weekends.

Finance teams get back their hours to focus on more strategic work. Employees get back their sanity. Companies move faster.

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A new era: From National Expense Report Day to National Expense Report Remembrance Day

Ramp’s goal isn’t to make this holiday permanent. It’s to make it obsolete.

Once every company embraces automation, October 15 will evolve into National Expense Report Remembrance Day, a moment to look back at the absurdity of manual expense reporting and celebrate a world where finance teams and employees can finally focus on work that matters.

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Join the movement

Here’s how to take part in National Expense Report Day 2025:

1. Check out Brian’s Office: Watch highlights of the live NYC stunt on Ramp’s social channels.
2. Share your story: Post your funniest or most frustrating expense report fails with #ExpenseReportDay.
3. Try a smarter solution: See how Ramp automates away the pain of expense reporting once and for all.

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