Six Ways for Enterprises to Close Spend Loopholes with Tech

Your organization is likely doing everything it can to increase sales, find new customers, and drive new revenue streams. However, you might be surprised to learn how much you lose due to non-compliant expenses:

• 56% of organizations generally reimburse employees for out-of-policy spend
• 52% of travel bookings are made outside of corporate channels by employees for hotel and air combined
• $19 billion of spend labeled as “other” in 2019 by SAP Concur customers
• 20% of companies say they cannot recover VAT due to complex and burdensome procedures

The financial health of your enterprise comes down to two things: income and expenses. And with employee spend being the second largest cost next to payroll, technology is helping businesses accelerate how to control costs. This is fortunate as many back-offices are overwhelmed trying to stay on track of the thousands of transactions that could pose as mistakes, noncompliant spending, or fraud.

Employee spend can be difficult to track because:

• Suppliers have direct relationships with employees
• There are countless ways to book and buy travel
• Employees won’t wait for a formal process to buy what they need
• COVID-19 and remote work expenses fall outside of policy

As the adage goes, a penny saved is a penny earned. The more you can reduce non-compliant spend, the less financial pressure your enterprise will face when it comes to meeting your earnings, profit, and operating cash goals.

Facing the facts of fraud during economic uncertainty

While fraud is preventable, actually preventing it is still a challenge for many enterprises. According to the ACFE, during the 2008 economic recession, more than half (55.4%) of the companies surveyed said that fraud slightly or significantly increased, compared with the level of fraud they experienced in prior years.

The current economic situation is also considered a recession. Therefore, the potential for fraud may be worsening, just as it did in 2008. In a 2020 survey, 42% of people who had committed occupational fraud recently were living beyond their means; the ACFE also found that about one-quarter of them (26%) were experiencing financial difficulties.

Get the reports and automated tools to close risky loopholes

Make fraud less tempting while guiding employees to make the right spending decisions and stay within policy. Your SAP Concur solutions provide you with the data to increase controls and compliance. Learn how to pull reports and automate controls by downloading our eBook.

And, uncover where in your business you could potentially find hidden savings.