The smart way to manage mileage expenses
The danger posed by expense fraud is ‘death by a thousand cuts’. It’s the cumulative impact of multiple small losses over time which can deliver so much damage to business efficiency.
A global report, commissioned by Webexpenses, identified that while fraud patterns vary greatly between different nations, the common factor they share is the dominance of mileage fraud.
Traditional management approaches have proved incapable of shielding our businesses from exaggerated and falsified travel claims. In many cases, companies have seen no alternative but to grudgingly tolerate these losses.
It’s an endemic problem which contributes to the $2.9 trillion which is being lost by businesses each year as a result of fraudulent workplace activities.
In this white paper, we will discuss how fraudulent mileage claims go unnoticed and how to prevent them from happening in the future, including:
- Falsification
- Exaggeration
- 'Rounding up'
Scale of Fraud
The true scale of the problem can be seen when these kinds of regular losses are multiplied across an entire workforce. Over time, even the smallest of ‘rounding up’ abuses can accrue to substantial losses.
Unless it’s tackled, this is a problem which only gets worse over time. Once travel expense abuse takes hold, it becomes a self-perpetuating problem. Employees become emboldened by each and every fraudulent expense which is processed.
It gives rise to a business culture in which even the most honest of workers can feel comfortable submitting ‘creative’ travel claims.
Effective Travel Expense Management
The fundamental problem faced by finance teams when it comes to controlling travel expenses is the lack of accurate information. It’s the grey area caused by having no effective way of knowing exactly how, when or where an employee has travelled.
In the past, costs have been based on claimants providing estimates of any distances travelled, with no simple or accurate way to properly verify the details submitted. Even when claims are supported by paper receipts, it provides minimal additional information.
Digital expenses management completely changes the way that businesses are able to manage and monitor employee travel expenses. Cloud-based software, linked to a smartphone app, provides the basic tools required for companies to start regaining full control of mileage costs ...