Corporations generally consider business travel related T&E expenses to be unavoidable. CFOs have often given these expenses the unfortunate moniker of “sunk cost”.
However, in this stringent economy and tight financial conditions, corporations are beginning to view their expense management systems and processes in more detail, according to Aberdeen Group’s (NYSE: HHS) latest findings that were released earlier this year.
“The State of Travel and Entertainment” report, closely analyzed, assessed and reported on the systems, processes, and performance of almost 175 enterprises. The report found that organizations perceive expense management to be a strategic function that drives solid value to the overall enterprise. This is a fresh and a highly welcome line of thinking, which will continue to be a departure from decades of viewing expense management as an an unavoidable cost of conducting business.
Here are some excerpts from the report:
“T&E expenses account for nearly $24 million a year for the average enterprise,” said Christopher Dwyer, research analyst, Aberdeen. “With enterprises reinstating travel budgets and conducting business on a global scale, there is heightened organizational awareness to the benefits of controlling spending on this category and managing the complexities of T&E expenses in a strategic manner.”
The study found that over 53% of organizations currently place a high priority on expense management in current economic conditions. The report also highlighted the strategies employed by the best-in-class corporations, that have achieved a policy compliance rate of greater than 31% compared to the laggards and have also generated more than 80% reduction in expense processing costs.
Some of the big take-aways from the report are:
- More than 50% of corporations are likely to hold instantaneous visibility into Travel and Entertainment (T&E) spending against budget
- More than 43% are likely to audit expense reports regularly
- More than 20% are likely to sign up for a formal sourcing program
The entire report can be obtained from
http://www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/6039/RA-travel-entertainment-expense.aspx
This article reinforces our solution and corroborates how it can help corporations save cost and improve efficiency by adopting an automated approach to expense management that ties in to a back-end finance/accounting/ERP system.
As always, please send us your comments to info AT gorillaexpense.com. We like to hear from you!
