Why Is A Good Expense Policy Key To Preventing More Serious Fraud?
One of your employees pads his mileage on reimbursement forms. Another conveniently loses a receipt for a less-expensive meal so she can claim the $25 maximum reimbursement. For most companies, this kind of petty theft is no big deal. If the amounts lost are small, it might seem easier to ignore the problem than to investigate, but expense report fraud can have large indirect consequences.
What You Don't Know about Your Expense Management Team
You may assume that expense management teams are supported by financial departments, but it might surprise you to know that many expense management teams are partially supported by various Human Resources personnel. After all, expense management teams are an integral part of the payroll department. (In some cases, the payroll department is actually known as the Expense Management Team.) This means that the expense management team needs to have more than just a working knowledge of different financial avenues. The team also needs to know how to deal with employees in a way that won’t seem threatening or offensive.
Really – the Only Way to Reduce Costs is through Staff Reductions?
All the talk of fiscal austerity and budget cutbacks makes one believe that the only way to reduce costs is through reductions in staffing and labor. There’s no doubt that labor is taking the brunt of the pain in today’s current economic environment. But creative companies are applying big data analytics to their spend management processes to uncover hidden costs where simple changes can yield substantial savings.
The Most Influential Business Travel Executives in 2012 - Are You One?
Recently, I was reading BTN Group's 29th annual roundup of "The 25 Most Influential Business Travel Executives of 2012", which recognizes the executives who are shaping the future of the business travel industry. Call them "movers and shakers" or "power players" or "dealmakers"—these are the folks who are driving change, and their list of accomplishments is impressive indeed.
Want to Know the Road Warriors’ Preferred Hotels?
No matter how pervasive conference calls and web meetings have become, sometimes there’s just no substitute for being there in person. But before you fasten your seat belts, business travelers, don’t forget that every dollar spent will be scrutinized by management, clients, et al. So, how do you ensure you’re getting the best bang for your business-travel buck without sacrificing the high level of service you need while traveling and working? Your best bet is to check with the experts: your fellow business travelers. You know you can rely on your peers because their war stories are just like yours. Do any of these sound familiar? You can probably add quite a few of your own!
You Don’t Have to Eat Artery-Clogging Business Meals
For many business travelers, a typical business meal consists of an artery-clogging burger and fries at convenient airport pubs, or unappealing, dry and tasteless sandwiches available from refrigerated carts in gate corridors. We’ve found a few smartphone apps that can help you track down healthier, more preferable choices and breathe new life into your travel meal rituals.
100% Accuracy: The Secrets of Your Payroll Department
If you’re not actively involved in the operation of your payroll department, you might be under the impression that it really isn’t that complicated. However, if you were to do a little digging, you’d discover the secrets of your payroll department run deeper than you might imagine.
Business Audit? Learn How to Survive.
When it comes to understanding how to survive an audit, you’ll discover it really isn’t all that difficult. Granted, not many people out there enjoy being audited, but more and more businesses are adopting audits as a way to keep costs down and to make sure there is compliance with various regulations, both local and federal.
3 Benefits to Travel Expense Management
Some businesses fail to see the benefits of travel expense management. They feel that their employees are on the straight and narrow and don’t believe they need to spend any time or effort dealing with travel expense management. Some of these businesses believe they are too small to benefit from this kind of expense management, but no business can afford to ignore any potential area where money or time might be lost.
Travel Loyalty Card Programs – Are They Worth It?
Recently I had to self-impose an “unsubscribe” blitz on my emails in order to eliminate the continuous bombardment of reward card promotion and offer “spam” from hotels, airlines, supermarkets and stores where I had taken the bait of signing up for the dream of accumulating points or miles.
