A Guide to Effective Expense Management Strategies for

Transcription

1 A Guide to Effective Expense Management Strategies for 2015 LIVE WEBINAR WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2015 Hosted by CFO.com Presented by Certify

2 Learning Objectives After attending this event you will be able to: Benchmark key categories of T&E to compare your company's overall spend with other organizations Learn the business travel spend trends of 2014 and what to expect in 2015 Recognize current and emerging trends in T&E automation Identify ways to improve management of your company s T&E spend in

3 Today s Speakers Robert Neveu President & Co-Founder In 2008, Bob and his team launched the Certify product featuring mobile technology and web-based automation. Certify has accelerated its position to become the second largest provider of expense reporting software in North America. Jennifer Colegrove Controller of Inventory and Operations Accounting Backed by 20 years of accounting experience, Jennifer is Controller of Inventory and Operations Accounting at BlueLinx. She joined BlueLinx in 2004, received the prestigious VP Roundtable Award (the highest honor for nonsenior-management) in 2012, and is currently a CPA candidate. 3

4 About Certify A leading provider of expense management software since 2008 Over 15 million expense transactions worth more than $8 billion in languages, 140+ currencies, users in 18 countries Ranked #1 for User Satisfaction on G2 Crowd 4

5 Clients and Press 5

6 About BlueLinx Leading distributor of building products Headquartered in Atlanta 49 distribution centers across U.S. and Canada More than 1,700 employees The BlueLinx advantage: With unique combination of market position and coverage, the strength of a local and national sales force, the buying power of centralized procurement, and the efficiencies of centralized accounting and systems technologies. BlueLinx is able to provide a wide range of value-added services to our customers and suppliers. 6

7 The Importance of T&E On average, Travel and Entertainment (T&E) accounts for 10-12% of the annual budget, second only to payroll as the largest business expense. 7

8 About the Data Third Annual Expense Management Trends Survey Conducted in December 2014 Total Respondents: 434 companies (non-certify clients) Audience: 28% Small Business: less than 100 employees 37% Mid-Sized Business: employees 35% Large Business: 1,000+ employees Location: 6% International 94% U.S. Demographics: 38% C-level or above finance professionals 43% manager, controller or accountant 19% other (accounting staff, consultant, administrative, etc.) 8

9 Annual Spend on Travel & Entertainment < $50,000 Small Business Less than 100 employees $50k $5mm Mid-Size Company employees > $5,000,000 Large Enterprise More than 1,000 employees Reference: Certify s Travel and Expense Trends Data, February

10 BENCHMARKING DATA: T&E TRENDS FOR

11 How Companies Manage T&E Reporting SMALL BUSINESS 64% MEDIUM 48% 19% LARGE Reference: Certify s Annual Travel & Expense Management Survey

12 Spend Trends in Meals % 2. Airfare % 3. Lodging % 4. Gas % 5. Misc % 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 % Reference: Certify s SpendSmart Report, Q4,

13 Benchmarking Data: Expense Categories The average expense amounts, based transaction data from the 2014 Certify SpendSmart Report: Category Difference Meals $26.08 $ % Airfare $ $ % Lodging $ $ % Car Rental $ $ % Taxi $32.76 $ % Gas $50.73 $ % Parking $32.75 $ % Cell Phone $98.88 $ % Reference: Certify s SpendSmart Report,

14 Top Pain Points in 2014 Employee's failure to submit reports on time Time it takes to reconcile, review, and approve Employees losing receipts Errors on the report Reconciling the data Reviewing for policy violations 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% Reference: Certify s Travel & Expense Management Survey

15 5 Goals for Improvement in 2015 Expense Management Process (36% ranked this the #1 area for improvement) Increase efficiency by automating expense management Integration Between Systems (25%) Eliminate manual data entry and reduce human error Gain insight in real-time across multiple systems Integrated Travel Booking (21%) Enforce T&E policies before employees book travel Save money with negotiated corporate travel rates Mobility (14%) Increase productivity in employees on the road Software Deployment (4%) Efficiently implement large-scale software by involving all departments in the rollout plan and vendor selection process Reference: Certify s Travel & Expense Management Survey

16 Policy Enforcement: Manual vs. Web- Based 70% 63% 60% 50% 40% 35% 36% 30% 31% 27% 20% 14% 21% 19% 10% 0% 4% 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 1% T&E system automatically flags outof-policy violations Companies on a Manual Process Companies on a Web-Based System Reference: Certify s Travel & Expense Management Survey

17 Fraud in Expenses Organizations who monitor compliance have a 70% decrease in fraudulent spending. Reference: 17

18 BEST PRACTICES FOR T&E MANAGEMENT IN

19 Strategies to Meet Expense Management Goals 1. Automate the process Automated expense reports, direct credit card feeds, automated approval workflows, etc. 2. Improve and enforce corporate T&E policies Ranked #2 by 48% of companies surveyed Automated pre-trip policy enforcement Ranked the #1 top priority in 2014 by 52% of companies in the 2014 Aberdeen Report. 3. Arm travelers with new technology Mobile apps Globally accessible tools with currency, multiple languages 4. Leverage analytics to improve intelligence and data Manage large-scale user data through integrations with HRMS interfaces, multiple ERP systems, and accounting software References: Aberdeen Group 2014, The Traveler & Expense Management Guide for 2014; Certify s Annual Travel & Expense Management Survey

20 Automate Key Components of T&E Automating the expense management process is the first step to a Best in Class expense management program, according to 52% of companies in the Aberdeen Expense Management Benchmark report. Companies using automated expense management systems experience: 50% lower expense-processing costs than other companies 43% higher rates of business travel spend under management 31% higher rates of corporate policy compliance Reference: Aberdeen Group 2014, The Travel & Expense Management Guide for

21 Switching from Spreadsheets to Automation Of companies on a manual process who plan to switch to a webbased system, 53% estimate they will switch within the next 12 months. Timeframe of anticipated switch: 21% 32% 26% 9% 9% Within the next 6 months 6 12 months months months Not sure Reference: Certify s Travel & Expense Management Survey

22 ROI Timeframe for Expense Software Small Businesses Have the Fastest ROI 70 % experience 100% ROI in under a year Reference: Certify s Travel & Expense Management Survey

23 Improve and Enforce Corporate Policies The #1 way to reduce expense management costs is to improve compliance to T&E policies. Organizations using cloud-based expense management are experiencing up to 91% compliance rates to corporate travel policies and guidelines. Setting hard travel policies around formerly gray areas such as seat upgrades has trimmed travel spending by 10% to 20%. Linda Parcher, VP and CPO, Diebold, Inc. Wall Street Journal 23

24 Guide to Increasing Policy Compliance 1. Create corporate travel and entertainment expense policy 2. Integrate policy into expense system, setting both: Hard policies (decline expenses exceeding a predetermined amount) Soft policies (manager s discretion for approval) 3. Allow technology to enforce policy, notifying employee and manager of any violations, such as: Missing receipts Duplicate transactions Items exceeding spend limits Flagged violation, notifying manager amount exceeded policy limit Reference: Certify s Travel & Expense Management Survey

25 Arm Travelers with Technology Online travel booking system Used by 87% of all Best-in-Class companies Control the expense before it occurs Spend captured more quickly, and in compliance to policies Mobility Second most important feature when selecting an expense vendor: 45% of companies named it #1 Users of mobile expense applications have reduced their expenseprocessing costs by 65% By enabling travelers with the power of mobile, they can store virtual receipts, enter expense data, and review expenses on the go References: Aberdeen Group 2014, Certify s Travel & Expense Management Survey

26 Established Technologies for T&E Management 1. Credit Card Integration Automated data feeds of corporate credit card transactions eliminates the reconciliation process 2. Mobile Receipt Capture Employees take a photo of a receipt with their smartphone, turning it into an electronic receipt 3. Online Expense Report Creation Create, submit and approve expense reports online, eliminating time-consuming spreadsheets 4. Direct Feeds Automated feeds sync data with accounting and HR, eliminating manual data entry between systems 26

27 Emerging Technologies in Automation Three features specific to Certify: 1. AutoFill (Parsing) Technology Software scans receipts and extracts expense data, eliminating manual entry 2. Receipt Match and Merge Software matches expense items from employee s corporate credit card feed with corresponding receipts 3. Auto-generated Expense Reports Expense reports are built automatically on preset schedule. Users receive reminders to review and submit 27

28 Leveraging Analytics to Improve Visibility Types of visibility gained with cloud-based expense management: Documented path of approvals Expense by employee Expense spend by category Web-Based Expense System Manual Expense Process 74% 61% 57% 57% 30% 40% 44% 29% Visibility into T&E Spend Regular Reporting Regular Audits of Expenses Automated Data Analytics Reference: Certify s Annual Travel & Expense Management Survey

29 Client Case Study: BlueLinx Certify client since autumn 2013 Had used a competitor for 8 years prior to switching to Certify All employees create and submit expense reports Users travel internationally to source product For BlueLinx, an automated, reliable means to conduct reports and manage expenses was crucial. Certify significantly increased visibility into spend and minimized manual data entry with system integrations. 29

30 To learn more about Certify, please join us for a Live Product Demonstration Webcast Wednesday, April 8 at 2 p.m. ET To register, visit bit.ly/certifylivedemo

31 Thank you for attending today s session. For more information about Certify, visit