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T&E Management: Comparing spreadsheets with expense report automation
The document discusses the benefits of automating travel and expense (T&E) management compared to using manual spreadsheet methods, highlighting cost savings, improved policy compliance, and enhanced reporting visibility. It includes insights from a webinar featuring industry experts and surveys that show a significant shift from manual to web-based expense systems among businesses. Additionally, it outlines key strategies for managing T&E expenses efficiently, reducing fraud, and optimizing administrative workflows.
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T&E Management: Comparing spreadsheets with expense report automation
- 1. T&E Management for2015: Comparing Spreadsheets with Expense Report Automation October 15, 2015
- 2. • The expensereport processing costs for spreadsheet-based manual processes and automated systems • How to improve control over employee spending and business travel decisions • What companies like yours are doing to enforce policy compliance and reduce fraud • New ways automation can tame your data management and simplify administrative reporting • Strategies to streamline the expense reporting process and improve productivity After attending this event you will learn: Learning objectives 2
- 3. • Today’s eventwill be recorded and all attendees will be kept in listen- only mode to eliminate excessive background noise. • Links to today’s presentation and the recording of this webinar will be sent out to all attendees within 24 hours of the event. • Please ask questions on today’s topic via the “Questions” box in your GoToWebinar control panel at any time during the event. We will do our best to get to your questions during the Q&A/panel discussion at the end of the event. If we do not get to your question, we will follow up with you directly to address your question. Webinar event notes 3
- 4. Ben Parker Regional SalesExecutive Ernie Humphrey Chief Executive Officer Today’s speakers 4
- 5. • Industry-leading withfirst fully automated expense system • #2 expense report software providing travel and expense solutions since 2008 • 64 languages, 140+ currencies, clients in 80 countries • #1 Highest Rated Expense Management Software on G2 Crowd, with a 4.8 out of 5 star rating • Over 25 million expense transactions in 2014 • Processing over $10+ billion/year in expense reports About Certify 5
- 6. 6 T&E Management Trends: Manualvs. Automated
- 7. a) Paper-based/spreadsheets b) ERPsystem (Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, etc.) c) Web-based expense software (Certify, Concur, etc.) d) Not applicable POLLING QUESTION 1 How does your organization currently manage T&E spend? 7
- 8. 8 Reference: Certify AnnualExpense Management Outlook 2015 Manual processes are used by the majority of companies, however Excel or electronic spreadsheets, pen/paper and homegrown systems provide little control or visibility. 37% WEB-BASED 43% MANUAL 19% ERP Methods for managing T&E reporting
- 9. T&E Adoption Rates Manual- 64% ERP - 11% Web-Based - 25% Manual - 19% ERP - 33% Web-Based - 48% Manual - 48% ERP - 19% Web-Based - 34% Small Business Medium Business Large Business Reference: Certify’s Annual Travel & Expense Management Survey 2015 T&E management trends 9
- 10. 10 $50k – $5mm Mid-SizeCompany 101 – 999 employees > $5,000,000 Large Enterprise More than 1,000 employees < $50,000 Small Business Less than 100 employees Reference: Certify Annual Expense Management Outlook 2015 Annual T&E spend by company size
- 11. of small businesseshave migrated off of Excel/spreadsheets as their expense management system within the last 12 months of small businesses currently use a web-based expense system, compared to 8% last year. 20% 67% 25% of companies indicated Excel/spreadsheets as their expense management system in 2014 Reference: Certify Annual Expense Management Outlook 2015 The shift to web-based expense systems 11
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- 13. a) Under $7per report b) $10−$20 per report c) $25 or more per report d) We do not track these costs What is the average cost to process a single expense report at your organization? POLLING QUESTION 2 13
- 14. 14 $36−$64 depending uponthe degree of automation used (American Express) Best-in-class companies: $7.17 Laggard organizations: $41.12 (Aberdeen Group) $26.63 manual $17.31 semi-automated $6.85 fully automated (PayStream Advisors) Expense report processing costs
- 15. 15 • Man hoursto create, review and approve reports • Hard costs for paper, printing and postage • Time required for reconciliation and reimbursement • Storage fees to archive expense reports • Lost productivity PayStream Advisors 2015 of all companies do not know their expense report processing costs80% Expense report processing costs
- 16. 16 Gather receipts, itineraries andwrite down non-receipt items Enter expenses in Excel with category, vendor, dates, etc. Print spreadsheets, tape or staple receipts and make copies Sign report/date report and present or mail to manager And then … wait Receive reports for all employees at different times during the month/quarter Check expenses for receipts, review for out- of-policy items, etc. If errors, return report to employee to start over; wait for resubmission Sign/approve reports and route to the next manager or to AP Receive reports for all employees at different times during the month/quarter Match receipts with line- items, verify all charges, dates and vendors Check for receipts, manager approvals, out-of-policy items, etc. Manually enter expense data into accounting software Manually enter data from accounting software to payroll for reimbursement Accountants Managers Employees Manual expense reporting costs
- 17. 17 48% 28% 20% 32% 24% 13% Need to reduceexpense processing costs Need to eliminate manual/paper-based processes Lack of business traveler productivitiy Best-in-Class Laggards Top Pressures Driving T&E Improvements Aberdeen Group Travel and Expense Management: Spend and Save Cost and process inefficiency drive change
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- 19. 19 Spreadsheets offer littlecontrol: • Does not integrate with electronic systems for travel booking, corporate payments, AP, ERP, HRIS, etc. • Inefficient and redundant manual data entry negatively affects employee productivity and leads to reporting errors • Making the right policy choices left to employee discretion when planning travel and making business purchases Spending control
- 20. 20 Aberdeen Group: Traveland Expense Management: Spend and Save Maybe … 88% 58% 87% 77% 68% 63% 34% 63% 50% 35% Expense reports audited regularly Automatic linkage between expense mgt. and back-end systems Online travel booking system Commercial card system/program End-to-end expense mgt. solution Best-in-Class Industry Average T&E strategies and tools used by best-in-class companies
- 21. 21 • Direct controlover T&E expenses through policy restrictions, spending caps, reduced fees and more • Full view into traveler data for tracking compliance and leveraging supplier negotiation • Value-added services including fraud protection, travel-related insurance, global support, etc. 77% 50% Commercial card system/program Best-in-Class Industry Average Corporate credit card integration
- 22. 22 Open Booking (through direct provider) OnlineTravel Sites/Agencies (i.e. Expedia, Orbitz, Kayak) Online Booking Tool (OBT) (i.e. Carlson, Get There) Travel Agency (through a travel agent) PRO: Flexibility CON: No control over policy enforcement PRO: Flexibility CON: No control over policy enforcement PRO: Policy enforcement CONS: Contracts and systems; minimum transactions. Best for organizations spending over $2mm on T&E. PRO: Full-service policy enforcement CONS: Cost; $40-50 fee in addition to booking fees. Best for organizations spending over $4mm on T&E. Online Travel Sites Travel Agency Online Booking Tool 68% 21% 11% 48% 42% 10% How companies are booking travel: Manual process Web-based process Integrated corporate travel
- 23. 23 Mileage reimbursement beforeand after using an automated system with integrated mapping Oct. '13 - Mar '14 Oct. '14 - Mar. '15 $362,000 SAVED Certify enterprise client: • 12,000+ retail locations • 100,000 employees • 58,000 users creating and submitting expense reports annually in mileage T&E control = real savings
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- 25. a) We haveno formal T&E policy b) Manual review process c) Automated system that flags violations d) Policy is not enforced How does your organization enforce compliance with T&E policies? POLLING QUESTION 3 25
- 26. Manual policy reviewis inefficient and creates room for error and fraud 78% Of companies indicate they have a T&E policy 65%Of those companies are manually reviewing for policy violations Policy enforcement trends 26
- 27. 27 • Expense fraudaccounted for nearly 14% of all occupational fraud in 2014 with a median loss of more than $30,000 • Businesses with fewer than 100 employees have a 28% higher median fraud loss than those 100+ • Organizations that monitor compliance experience a 70% decrease in fraudulent spending Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Oversight Systems 82% Expense report fraud
- 28. 28 1. Establish acorporate travel and entertainment expense policy • Clearly defined for all employees with ongoing training • Executive support for T&E policy is essential 2. Integrate your policy into the expense system, setting both: • Hard Policies (decline expense exceeding X amount) • Soft Policies (manager’s discretion for approval) 3. Allow technology to enforce policies, notifying employees and managers of violations, including: • Missing receipts • Duplicate expenses • Items exceeding spend limits Flagged violation, notifying manager amount exceeded policy limit Automate policy compliance
- 29. 29 1. An end-to-endexpense management system allows administrators to automate policy controls across a single platform for improved employee compliance 2. Pre-trip approvals using an integrated online travel booking system can stop out-of-policy expenses before they occur (used by 87% of all best-in-class companies) 3. Mobile applications encourage policy compliance by making it easier for employees; mobile also reduces expense report processing costs by up to 65% Adopt a unified platform
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- 31. 31 One spreadsheet can’ttell the whole story: • Inability to link receipts or images with expense line items; you can email spreadsheet expense reports but can’t link receipts • Lack of integration with corporate and accounting systems limits availability and accessibility of expense data • Inefficient, labor-intensive manual administrative reporting process subject to human error affecting accuracy of information • Auditing expense reporting via a manual process is ineffective, often relies on sampling due to sheer volume Reporting visibility
- 32. 32 • 55% ofall organizations’ main priority for 2014 was to enhance visibility into overall T&E spend • Manual processes provide only 30% visibility vs. 61%+ visibility with web- based expense systems • 74% companies using cloud/web- based systems regularly audit expense reports vs. 44% of companies on manual system 61% 57% 74% 57% 30% 40% 44% 29% Visibility into T&E Spend Regular Reporting Regular Audits of Expenses Automated Data Analytics Web-Based Expense System Manual Expense Process Reference: Certify’s Annual Travel & Expense Management Survey 2015 Technology improves visibility
- 33. • Documented pathof approvals—Has each expense report been reviewed and approved by the right person at the appropriate time? • Expense reports by employee—Which individual employees (or departments) are expensing the most? Are they managing the budget responsibly? • Expense spend by category—Which areas are costing the company the most? Can we add controls, negotiate preferred rates, etc.? 33 Insight into process and spending
- 34. 34 Additional analytics forGL dimensions, pending reports, approval actions, processed reports, multiple input parameters and more Expenses By Category shows totals for expense categories and employees simultaneously Meals Attendees displays group meals expenses with detailed and free text attendee information Mileage By Employee captures personal automobile usage including subtotals by employee Expense Policy Review shows processed and in-progress expenses with policy violations and other potential issues Reports available with automation
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- 36. 36 0% 5% 10%15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% Reviewing for policy violations Reconciling the data Errors on the report Employees losing receipts Time it takes to reconcile, review, and approve Employee's failure to submit reports on time Inefficiency tops the list: Reference: Certify’s Annual Travel & Expense Management Survey 2015 Top pain points in 2014
- 37. 37 Reference: Certify’s AnnualTravel & Expense Management Survey 2015 Process is an opportunity: 36% 25% 21% 14% 4% Expense Management Process Integration Between Systems Travel Booking Mobility Software Deployment Top areas to improve in 2015
- 38. 38 • Automated approvalworkflow: Managers instantly notified of reports pending approval, decreasing lifecycles and reimbursement times • Online expense report creation: create, submit and approve expense reports online; no more time-consuming spreadsheets • Mobile receipt capture: employees take a photo of a receipt with their smartphone instantly turning it into an electronic receipt • Direct feeds: automated feeds sync data with accounting, credit card and HR systems to simplify reporting and eliminate redundant manual data entry Examples of T&E automation
- 39. 39 Remove barriers toefficiency: • Take guesswork out of T&E policy compliance • Expedite spend capture and report creation • Eliminate manual processes, redundant data entry • Provide a single, familiar platform for all users Give travelers the power of mobile apps: • Automate receipt capture • Reduce paper usage and storage • Streamline report creation and review • Approve reports anywhere, anytime (managers) Streamline workflow inside and out
- 40. 40 • Transition frommanual to automated expense management process with 500 company employees using the system • Streamlined processes for expense report creation, plus mobile access with automatic receipt capture • $40,000 first year savings from avoiding duplicate/out of policy expenses and reduced paper postage costs • Increased visibility from extensive integrated reporting capabilities also used to help with annual budget planning • Reduced overhead—the full-time accountant for expense auditing was reassigned to a higher-value function within the company Benefits with Certify
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Editor's Notes
- #5 Ashley, does this need to be more about Ben? Read bios: Ben Parker Ben joined Certify in 2013 bringing years of successful experience in sales, operational and accounting roles. At Certify, Ben has served as the Director of Business Development where he was responsible for creating new industry and technology partnerships. Ben was recently appointed to the role of Regional Sales Executive and serves as a resource to companies in the Atlanta and greater Georgia area. Ernie Humphrey Ernie currently serves as the CEO of 360 Thought Leadership Consulting, helping companies define and unlock the strategic value of their thought leadership programs. Formerly, Ernie served as the Vice President, Educational Programs for Proformative, as the Director of Treasury Services and as a Director of the Corporate Treasurers Council for the Association for Financial Professionals
- #6 For an overview on Certify …
- #14 Bob: We have arrived our final poll question, so I’m going to turn your attention to our moderator. Steve: Thank you. As with the previous questions, you may respond immediately, while I read the question and response options. Our fourth poll question for today is… “Question?” Please choose from one of the following options, and then click the “Submit” button, located on the right, below the response options, to be sure that your answer is properly recorded: Response option Response option Response option Now I’m going to turn the presentation back over to our presenter. Bob clicks the yellow arrow to display the poll results.