As the second largest line item cost for most companies and organizations, travel and expense spending requires careful controls to maintain corporate policy and manage budgets. Each year, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) researches average costs for meals, lodging and incidental expenses in destinations throughout the 48 continental states. As a well-defined and well-researched guideline, the GSA per diem rate framework can be used by any organization to create a successful travel and expense management policy with greater control and visibility into T&E spend.

1. How to establish a successful T&E policy and improve
control using GSA per diem rates
July 23, 2015

2. • Travel and expense management spending trends and benchmarks that
support the need for greater control
• The essential elements of every successful corporate travel and expense
management policy
• How Certify GSA per diem rate services can simplify T&E reporting and
improve policy compliance
After attending this event you will understand:
Learning Objectives

3. Webinar Event Notes
• Today’s event will 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.

4. In 2008, the Certify team launched its first product
featuring mobile technology and web-based automation.
Certify has since accelerated its growth to become the
second largest provider of expense reporting software in
North America.
Ben Parker
Director of Business Development
Today’s speaker

5. • Industry-leading with first 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

6. • 97% clients would recommend Certify
• Rated #1 Expense Management software for user satisfaction
• Rated #1 of all SaaS products for Ease of Use, Ease of Setup
and Satisfaction for Enterprise Users
www.g2crowd.com/categories/expense-management
Certify ranked #1 by users

7. Travel & Expense Management 2015:
Spending Trends and Benchmarks

8. • Travel and entertainment (T&E)—second only to
payroll as the largest business expense, accounts for
10–12% of total annual budget
• North American companies will spend $186b on travel
and entertainment in 2015, according to a report by
J.P. Morgan
• Businesses with fewer than 100 employees have a
28% higher median fraud loss than those 100+
$6.85
automation
$26.63
manual process
$19.78
saved per report
Average expense report
processing costs
Source: www.travelpulse.com/news/business-travel/travel-leaders-business-travel-data-unveils-importance-of-corporate-
rates.html Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
Control is critical for T&E management

9. Reference: Certify’s SpendSmart Report, Q4, 2014
1. Meals 21%
2. Airfare 16%
3. Lodging 14%
4. Gas 12%
5. Misc. 8%
6. Cell Phone 6%
7. Car Rental 5%
8. Groceries 5%
9. Supplies 5%
10. Taxi 5%
11. Tolls 2%
12. Shipping 2%
13. Parking 1%
How the T&E budget was spent
by business professionals: MEALS
AIRFARE
LODGINGGAS
MISC.
CELL PHONE
CAR RENTAL
GROCERIES
SUPPLIES
TAXI
TOLLS
SHIPPING
PARKING
Overall T&E spending

10. a) Follow GSA per diems
b) Based on internal spend habits
c) We do not have spend limitations on those items
d) Other
How does your company set travel policy spend
amounts on items such as meals, hotel, airfare?
POLLING QUESTION

11. Average amounts for common expense categories:
Category 2013 2014 Difference
Meals $26.08 $25.67 – 1.58%
Airfare $329.65 $345.21 + 4.61%
Lodging $200.24 $213.90 + 6.6%
Car Rental $185.27 $193.58 + 4.39%
Taxi $32.76 $31.81 – 2.94%
Gas $50.73 $40.41 – 22.65%
Parking $32.75 $32.70 – 0.15%
Cell Phone $98.88 $89.30 – 10.18%
Reference: Certify’s SpendSmart Report, 2013-2014
Benchmark data by expense category

12. Average meal expense amounts
compared to GSAs per diem meal rates:
Meal Breakdown
Average Expense
Amounts for 2014
GSA Per Diem
Highest Tier (Major
Metros)
Breakfast $11.88 $12
Lunch $21.46 $18
Dinner $28.24 $36
Total Per Day $61.58 $71*
*includes $5 for incidental expenses
Reference: Certify’s Annual Travel & Expense Management Survey 2015 | http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/101518
Benchmark data for meal expenses

13. • Set maximum allowable reimbursable amount for hotels, meals and
incidental expenses for 48 continental U.S. states (CONUS rates)
• Reimbursement amounts calculated primarily on expense category,
reimbursement type, destination and travel dates
• Reimbursement type = 3 ways to use GSA per diem limits:
– Expense Amount Capped Employee reimbursed for actual expense amount. Per
diem acts as a cap and prevents employees from exceeding
– GSA Amount Employee reimbursed for full GSA per diem amount only (spend
less = full amount/spend more = above per diem not reimbursed)
– GSA Amount / No Expense Amount Reimbursement amounts determined by
destination and travel day entries only
Established by the U.S. General Services Administration:
All about GSA per diem rates

14. T&E Management Trends

15. Reference: Certify’s Annual Travel & Expense Management Survey 2015
Manual processes are used by the majority of companies, however Excel or
electronic spreadsheets, pen/paper and homegrown systems provide little control.
37%
WEB-BASED
43%
MANUAL
19%
ERP
Manual vs. Web-based vs. Enterprise

16. T&E process by company size
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

17. 14%
35% 36%
21%
1%
4%
31%
27%
19%
63%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
T&E policy is not enforced It is the responsibility of the
employee
Manager manually review
each expense
Accountant manually
reviews, checking only high
value expenses
T&E system automatically
flags out-of-policy violations
Managing T&E policy compliance
Manual Process Web-Based System
Reference: Certify’s Annual Travel & Expense Management Survey 2015
Policy enforcement

18. Manual policy review is
inefficient and creates
opportunity for error
78%
Of companies indicate
they have a T&E policy
65%Of those companies are manually
reviewing for policy violations
Policy review

19. Online Travel Sites
Travel Agency
Online Booking Tool
68
%
21
%
11
%
48
%42
%
10
%
How companies are
booking travel:
Open Booking
(through direct
provider)
Online Travel
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.
Manual process
Web-based process
Corporate travel compliance

20. Best Practices in T&E Management

21. Flagged violation, notifying manager amount
exceeded policy limit
• Put it in writing
– Document and address all potential employee questions
– Clearly communicated and accessible with support from the top
• Integrate policy controls
– Hard controls: automatically decline expense exceeding X amount
– Soft controls: some approvals left to manager discretion
– Set spending limits by category (e.g. GSA per diem rates)
• Encourage compliance
– Automated T&E reporting workflow, integrated travel booking
– Corporate cards, mobile applications, etc.
• Audit often
– Real-time reporting visibility by cost center, employee, etc.
– Budget management, fraud protection, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance
T&E policy essentials

22. Aberdeen Group: Travel and 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

23. “What are the biggest benefits you have achieved by
automating your T&E process?”
PayStream Advisors 2015 Travel and Expense Management Report
$6.85
automation
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Better ability to enforce travel policies
Improved visibility over spend
Quicker reimbursement of employee
expenses
Improved ability to detect and prevent
fraud
$26.63
manual
$19.78
saved per report
Average expense report
processing costs
Benefits of T&E automation

24. Mileage reimbursement before and after using an
automated system with Google Maps
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

25. Solutions to Improve Control

26. You can’t control what
you can’t see:
• 55% of all 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
Leverage technology for improved visibility

27. Automation—including expense report creation/scheduling, direct
credit card feeds and approval workflows
Policy Enforcement—integrated policy with automatic employee
notification of violations and set expense limits by category
IT Integration with Legacy Systems—manage large-scale user data
and reporting through integrations with HRIS, multiple ERP systems
and accounting software
Mobile Technology—manage expenses and approvals remotely with
smartphone access including receipt capture images and on-the-go
travel booking
Must-have features requested by the finance department

28. 1. An end-to-end expense management system
allows administrators to automate controls across
a single platform for all company employees,
departments, etc.
1. 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)
2. Mobile applications support policy compliance
with timely, accurate data and reduce expense-
processing costs by 65%; the #1 feature in
selecting expense vendors by 45% of companies
Automate workflow and compliance

29. • Documented path of 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.?
Streamline administrative reporting

30. Certify Product Demo
GSA Per Diem Rate Service

31. Q&A

32. Thank you