Sanjay Parekh, Managing Director at WebExpenses, analyses the positive effects of cloud-computing technology for keeping Travel and Entertainment budgets in check.

1. Cloud Computing – Keeping Travel and
Entertainment Budgets in Check

2. Sanjay Parekh, Managing Director at
WebExpenses, analyses the positive
effects of cloud-computing technology
for keeping Travel and Entertainment
budgets in check.

3.  A series of studies paint a picture of:
 Embarrassing loopholes in employee expenses rules
 Unchecked expense claims
 FDs using outdated processes to wade through mountains of data
 Widespread fraud and digital waste
Something is deeply wrong at the heart of company finance systems

4.  A quarter of all employees admit to making exaggerated claims
 Deloitte found that widespread expenses fraud is costing UK
businesses in excess of £1.3 billion a year
 Experts believe that this could just be the tip of the iceberg, as
many companies admit to checking less than 2% of expenses
claims
 A quarter of SMEs say they would not be confident if compelled to
account for their employees expenses to HMRC

5.  Businesses attempt to combat spiralling claims, by pre-planning
employee trips on company cards; but to no avail
 From rounding up trips, to generous, mystery tips, unexpected
out-of-pocket extras, and shock receipts, there is an extensive list
of employee expenses tricks
 TMC, a mileage audit and fuel travel cost company, estimates
drivers inflate the cost of business journeys by up to 25%
 All these coupled with changes to the travel sector, mean that
many companies are leaking money

6.  Opportunities to obtain hefty discounts with travel firms for bulk
bookings or long-term custom, are missed as businesses fail to
keep track of expenditure across the board
 Travel companies frequently conceal costs by unbundling deals,
leaving travel bookers unaware of potential extra expenditure
 A significant proportion of companies still manually file data in
hard copies, thereby increasing the risk of lost records
 When complex claims are submitted across multiple currencies
FDs find it impossible to maintain the necessary paper trail to
ensure compliance

7.  Firms rely on employees to submit evidence alongside expenses
claims without policy reminders, which employees are unaware of
 With the result 9% of expenses claims are incorrect
 In an environmentally-conscious age, the increasing number of
fraudulent travel claims means that FDs cannot place a figure on
their employee’s carbon footprint
 As a result companies lacking the evidence to defend themselves
against dubious claims and may have to start cutting jobs
instead of T&E budgets

8.  Good news is that we know from the research and experience that
this can be changed
 By switching from red-tape to automated expenses-management
systems, the Aberdeen Group reckons companies can slash their
admin costs by over 50%
 This has also increased compliance by up to 30%, as
companies can conduct best-practice audits, and instantly
reimburse employees

9.  Cloud-based solutions are changing the way companies do
expenses management –
 Expenses can be populated directly from corporate-credit cards to
company accounts
 Advanced mapping is used to accurately gauge mileage and carbon
footprint
 Now, mobile apps –
 Reduce processing costs by up to 50%
 Give employees the ability to submit claims and evidence on the move
 Enable companies to monitor claims in real-time from anywhere,
reimburse employees instantly, conduct audits, swiftly spot emerging
trends and inconsistencies and block inaccurate claims

10.  When Spring Group trialed WebExpenses, the results were so
dramatic that they rolled it out immediately globally
 WebExpenses now supplies in excess of 300 companies with
cloud-computing expenses solutions, in over 60 countries
 WebExpenses cannot eradicate fraud as ultimately every
technology depends upon a degree of trust in its users; but it
will help you fight it
 It offers companies a golden opportunity to cut waste and
restore probity to finances

11. You can connect with WebExpenses on
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