Think travel expenses are legit? It’s worth taking a second look

There’s a whole other T&E problem that could be draining your firm’s bank account.

Depending on your review processes, you could be reimbursing employees for T&E expenses that go against company policy.

In fact, a new study from Certify shows at least 20% of reported T&E expenses are in violation of corporate policies.

Large companies (those with more than 1,000 employees) submit between 500 and 1,000 expense reports each month.

Result? Tens of millions of dollars of in-violation travel expenses are reimbursed every year!

Making matters worse, nearly 40% of employees don’t submit expense reports on time. But at least that’s better than last year when 46% turned in expense reports late.

Accounting practices for T&E still stuck in the stone ages

Expense management software could streamline the process. But according to the Certify study, only 5% of companies have such a system in place.

Most firms use online travel web sites (34%) or travel agencies (20%) to book T&E and (hopefully!) keep a handle on costs.

If you’re concerned T&E is costing your firm more than it should, take a look at the cloud for the solution.

Among large companies that use cloud-based software for expense management, 56% report achieving ROI in less than a year! That’s a big jump from 46% in 2013.

Companies that switch to cloud-based software cite two reasons:

• reducing expense processing costs, and
• improving the visibility of spending and compliance.

Have you had any success recently with keeping T&E costs under control? Let us know about it in comments section.