It’s Hard to be Transparent When Government Organizations are Stumbling Through Blind Spots

It’s a catch 22: Government organizations face intense pressure to be accountable, but all too often lack the technology and resources to facilitate such transparency. Hard-earned reputations and credibility can be damaged when cumbersome manual processes and outdated technology lead to errors.

Spending is now often decentralized and employees are given more spending power, increasing the risk of manual mistakes, errors and fraud. A recent survey by Kelton Global of 162 financial decision makers working in state, city and local government found that 1-in-3 respondents spot frequent errors in expense reports and invoice processing. According to 3-in-10, the problem has worsened over the last 12 months, heightening the risk of fraud, waste, and abuse in their organization.

“Seventy-three percent of decision makers admit regularly maintaining compliance within their organization is a struggle.”

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Here are three highlights that may be interesting to you too if you’re considering implementing SAP Concur (or any cloud-based technology at that!).

Why is compliance so difficult? 

Even though 90% of financial decision makers in state and local government believe their organization makes good faith efforts to remain compliant, these efforts can invariably be hindered by antiquated systems and manual processes.

And it’s not just a question of errors. Organizations using legacy technology are less productive. It can take a whopping five additional hours to process each expense report and two extra hours for invoices, for example. That’s thousands of hours of unnecessary admin that could instead be used to further the organization’s mission and gain public trust.

So what’s the solution? 

You can’t expect to reach a gold standard of compliance and efficiency if you’re using an abacus in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Switching to automated and integrated financial systems for expense, travel, and invoice processes has immediate benefits, with 95% of decision makers in government organizations noting a positive impact. One-in-three credit fully automated expense report and invoice processing systems for a decline in fraud, waste, and abuse in their workplace, and average time savings of more than 3,000 hours per month.

Eliminate blind spots in the budget 

With SAP Concur solutions you can simplify back-end processes and remove waste along the way. By automating and integrating expense, travel, and invoice processes, you can eliminate costly mistakes, audit expenses efficiently with AI and put payment controls in place to improve compliance. And with a single source of centralized data, you get the visibility and tools to proactively reduce fraud and misuse of funds, manage tax and regulatory requirements, and ensure every dollar is directed to the right programs and services. Fully automated financial solutions result in a 38% reduction in fraud, waste and abuse, and a 40% increase in efficiency in managing the budget. Your organization can use those hours previously wasted shuffling paper to further your mission.

In a nutshell, when you can see clearly, it’s a lot easier to be transparent, protect your organization’s reputation, and ensure that every public dollar is put to good use. Read our eBook to learn more about how automating spend management helps states, cities, and counties increase compliance and reduce risk, reduce fraud and misuse of funds, manage tax and regulatory requirements, and ensure every dollar is directed to the right programs and services.