There are three areas where expense and business travel management software can protect organisations from fraud
Around half of Australian and New Zealand organisations do not know the name of the online system or software that supports their expense claims and business travel management, according to the SAP Concur study Finance in the New World of Work.
The study surveyed 300 Australian organisations and 100 New Zealand organisations, revealing that 48 per cent of Australian business decision-makers, and 56 per cent of New Zealand decision-makers, could not recall the expense management system that supported their organisation.
The study of finance and expense management users was conducted across the financial services, retail, manufacturing, public sector, healthcare, education, and hospitality industries.
Matt Goss, managing director, ANZ, SAP Concur said this result is concerning given the critical financial role that expense management systems perform in organisations.
So if managers aren’t fully aware of the expense management system supporting their organisation, how can they effectively manage the business’s finances?
The lack of knowledge regarding expense and business travel management systems puts these organisations at an increased risk of employee fraud.
The SAP Concur study also found that only one in 10 organisations used fully digital and intelligent processes to submit business expenses, with one-third of Australian organisations, and almost half of New Zealand businesses, still completely relying on manual processes.
SAP Concur has identified three areas where expense and business travel management software can protect organisations from fraud:
Business compliance
Expense and business travel management software automatically applies organisational compliance requirements to expense claims, preventing the system from accepting non-compliant claims to reduce the risk of mistakes and fraudulent behaviour. This also saves finance and management teams the time it takes to review expense claims for compliance or chase information for non-compliant claims.
Financial management
Real-time data provides insights into all aspects of the business at any given time.
This helps finance teams quickly and easily assess the overall financial performance of the organisation, as well as closely monitor specific areas such as cashflow and expenses based on business functions or factors such as location, department, project, customer, and vendor. Consequently, finance teams can be more responsive, rapidly detecting and resolving cost containment issues before they become larger business problems.
Data security
With the rise of cyberattacks, including State-based attacks, on organisations, securing financial data is paramount. Using manual and semi-manual processes provides many clear pathways for organisational breaches by cybercriminals.
For example, a supervisor may think they have received an expense claim from an employee, which in reality is a phishing attack. Fully intelligent, digital expense and business travel management software eliminates these risks with secure data centres, backup facilities and 24/7 service.
According to Goss, reviewing current expense management systems to ensure they are still working effectively, and educating employees on their use, is even more crucial now in a remote working environment where employers have reduced visibility into their employees’ activities.
“It may be one thing to trust that employees will do the right thing but, without the correct systems and processes in place, even the most trustworthy employees can make costly mistakes for the organisation.”
