A SAP Concur podcast conversation with Dr. Mark Stirling of Blue dot discusses the complexity of domestic and foreign VAT reclaim. Blue dot finds 23% of expense reports have incorrect tax information, and about 100 VAT rule changes occurred across multiple countries. The discussion also covers the post-pandemic rise of non-trip spend from under 5% to 25%, and the tax treatment of taxable employee benefits and bleisure travel.
In an SAP Concur podcast, Andrew Walker and Crystal Schoenhals from EY discuss using employee sentiment data to improve employee experience. They note that top reasons employees leave include total compensation, flexibility, benefits, and well-being. Collecting sentiment data must be operationalized and ongoing, not a one-time survey. They advise organizations to proactively understand employee needs and close gaps to retain talent.
This SAP Concur blog post discusses the importance of business expense categories (expense types) and offers three best practices for optimizing expense management: refining existing categories, unpacking the 'Other' or 'Miscellaneous' category, and aligning policies with categories. It cites Penn State University reducing expense types from 1,000 to 200 without losing transparency.
SAP Concur partner NeoSystems outlines that government contract travel cost reimbursement is governed by FAR 31.205-46, requiring contractor procedures to meet allowability requirements. Key compliance points include: combining visits within the same geographical area into a single trip; using the lowest customary standard coach airfare during normal business hours to the maximum extent possible; and coordinating travel to minimize trips to the same location. Concur Expense tracks GSA per diem rates, integrates with TMCs, and automatically separates unallowable costs.
SAP Concur blog interviewed experts from TransferMate and Taxback Group on how companies can create effective disaster recovery and business continuity plans. Experts recommend starting with existing controls, conducting a business impact assessment, testing recovery capabilities, and ensuring executive involvement. The article stresses acting early, continuous communication, and leveraging technology to improve remote operational agility.
An SAP Concur podcast conversation highlights Penn State University's collaboration with Huron to innovatively use Concur Request to manage corporate and P-Card spend, enabling pre-approval before expenses are incurred. Penn State University has been a pioneer in expense management technology since the 1980s and reconnected with Huron through the SAP Concur higher education community. Outcomes include reducing over 500 expense GL accounts to under 200, simplifying ERP migration, and reducing training needs for new tools because users were already familiar with the SAP Concur platform.
The SAP Concur blog addresses accounts payable (AP) professionals, recommending continuous learning, peer networks, and industry events to sharpen skills and influence. It cites a survey of 500 finance and IT leaders at small and midsized firms, with nearly half (47%) saying the pandemic exposed inefficient business processes. It also introduces tools like Spend Impact Analyzer and promotes AP Recognition Week each October.
SAP Concur announces six Innovation Award winners at Fusion: Siemens, Vodafone, CAF America, Bishop-Wisecarver, Serco, and Keppel Corporation, recognizing their innovation and business transformation using SAP Concur solutions.
SAP Concur published a case study on how investment advisory firm Mairs & Power automated its accounts payable processes by implementing Concur Invoice. The firm, with over $9.5 billion in managed assets, previously had its finance team bogged down by administrative tasks. After implementing Concur Invoice, Accountant and Financial Analyst Luke Odegaard gained an entire day every week back to focus on strategic growth. The company also gained better visibility into invoicing and expenses to support business decisions.
This SAP Concur blog post stresses that while pursuing growth, companies must adhere to expense policies and regulations. Compliance is not a necessary evil but essential to protect against overspending, fraud, and fines. It recommends using automation for real-time reviews, intelligent flagging, and analytics to build a culture of compliance, making compliant spending easier than non-compliant.
A SAP Concur blog post explores how businesses can control costs and drive savings by gaining a holistic view of spend data. It notes that employee-initiated spend is difficult to control and fragmented across channels, and timely consolidated reporting to departmental managers is crucial for managing actual spend against budget. Automating travel and expense processes is a critical first step but not the only action. Integrating all employee spending, from p-cards to invoices, helps align spending with strategic priorities, stay nimble, and redirect funds. SAP Concur solutions capture and consolidate all travel, expense, and invoice data, providing real-time transparency to forecast costs,…
A SAP Concur blog post offers a 90-day framework for new finance leaders, starting with understanding the company's finance processes and best practices. It recommends diving into the numbers and knowing spend, gathering primary reports such as the income statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, budget vs. actual reports, annual reports, accounts receivable aging report, and current and past forecasts. If finance and accounting processes are automated, real-time data and a clear picture of day-to-day numbers should be available. It also advises learning industry financial best practices, proactively learning finance systems, understanding business fundamentals, and getting a handle on…
A SAP Concur blog post notes that the integration of purchasing cards (p-cards) has freed organizations across industries from paper-based purchase orders. As p-card transaction volumes continue to grow, healthcare organizations are seeking more efficient ways to increase control and visibility over this spend category. Manually managing p-cards slows down the AP process, causes missed rebates, and can lead to waste, out-of-policy spending, and fraudulent activity. SAP Concur's Company Bill Statements solution simplifies and centralizes the p-card process, enabling purchase-to-general-ledger completion in days rather than weeks.
A SAP Concur blog post notes that business travel has long faced challenges including logistics, expense compliance decisions, and expense report submission. It introduces how SAP Concur solutions use AI to simplify travel and expense experiences, citing a Forbes article showing how AI assistants help business travelers plan trips and offload financial decision-makers' busywork. Using fictional VP of Procurement Judy as an example, it shows AI can automatically develop itineraries, recommend hotels, provide built-in compliance policy queries, and AI-assisted auditing of 100% of expenses to speed up reimbursement.
The SAP Concur blog discusses challenges faced by higher education finance departments in remote work environments, including unexpected expenses, a surge in invoices and reimbursement requests, and traditional policies that don't fit. The article emphasizes automation, integration, and digitization as key solutions, enabling streamlined workflows, AI-driven auditing, and real-time visibility to control costs and improve compliance.
A SAP Concur blog post introduces its 'Surge Blanket Travel' functionality, designed to help federal government agencies rapidly and efficiently deploy large numbers of relief personnel during simultaneous disasters. The article recounts the record-setting disaster year of 2017 and notes that the previous paper-based travel authorization process was inefficient. The new functionality allows for the deployment of personnel from multiple origins to a common crisis destination using a single travel authorization, enabling a reliable, scalable, compliant, auditable, and agile response.
SAP Concur published a blog post discussing the impact of cash versus credit card spending on corporate savings. The article notes that non-compliant cash spending is difficult to track and can lead to fraud and waste. In contrast, card payments are cheaper, easier to track, and provide better data quality and corporate rebates. It cites Harvard Business Review data indicating that organizations can almost always find 15% to 20% of spending that hasn't been managed closely.
SAP Concur has released a new eBook, "Why SAP Concur? And the Cost of Doing Nothing," discussing the risks of not investing in automated expense, travel, and invoice management. The article states that 75% of finance leaders say their business often exceeds expense, travel, and invoice budgets; manual processes and siloed data can lead to wasted time, lost productivity, unclaimed VAT, and spiraling costs. SAP Concur says its cloud-based and mobile-optimized tools can help automate processes, increase compliance, and reduce fraud risk.
SAP Concur released a podcast where Marchelle Klippenstein, VP of the Value Experience Group at SAP Concur, and Katheryn Nolfo, Consulting Director at Huron Consulting Group, discussed how organizations can build resilient travel and expense programs to prepare for the next disruption. Key points include: organizations are shifting from measuring the ROI of travel to the Return on Travel (ROT), with a greater focus on employee safety and well-being. Additionally, car rental costs have increased due to rental companies reducing their fleets during the pandemic, leading to higher demand and lower supply. Companies are also re-emphasizing pre-approval processes and managing home office expendi…
The article discusses slow adoption of cloud technology for employee spend management in state and local government, citing a GCN survey where 47% of employees said lack of leadership prioritization was the main reason and 80% of respondents said their agency was not open to adopting cloud-based solutions. It outlines three ways technology can help: control employee spend and reduce costs, increase productivity and achieve scalability, and reduce fraud, waste, and abuse. Data cited includes 40% of public sector employees still using pen and paper, over 80% saying expense approval takes two weeks or more, and ACFE finding 18.7% of employee fraud occurs in government entities in 2018.
SAP Concur and Motus experts discuss adjusting mileage programs amid the work-from-anywhere trend. The IRS mileage standard is based on prior-year costs and may not reflect actual employee expenses. The fixed and variable rate (FAVR) method uses current and location-based costs, offering more accuracy and fairness. Mileage is a top-10 expense category in many industries.
A SAP Concur blog post advises small and medium-sized businesses to create or update expense policies to streamline reporting, reviewing, and approval processes. It emphasizes that policies should be clear, easy to find, and highlight benefits, and recommends supplementing policies with automation tools like Concur Expense.
A SAP Concur podcast features Kara Bernard, Managing Director of the Lyndon Group, discussing how organizations can optimize spend management systems for post-pandemic global business needs. Topics include ERP migrations, M&A, system configuration for global expansion, policy development, change management, and using data to optimize spend. The Lyndon Group received the SAP Concur Partner Growth Award for implementing 27 certified projects in 2020.
SAP Concur published an article discussing how city governments can improve efficiency through automated expense and accounts payable management. The article notes that remote work and paper invoice backlogs increase management challenges, and recommends integrated expense and AP systems to control costs, track employee spending, and simplify budget management. Automation can increase productivity, reduce errors, improve cash flow, enhance compliance, and reduce fraud risk.
SAP Concur published a blog post discussing how technology can help businesses prevent fraud and save money. The article cites a report from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) estimating $7.1 billion in annual losses due to internal fraud, with the average organization losing 5% of its annual revenue. It notes that small and mid-size businesses face higher risks of duplicate invoices and recommends preventing fraud through automated expense management, mobile solutions, and clear policies.
A SAP Concur blog post discusses risk and compliance issues around employee spend, including UK HMRC penalties for errors due to a lack of reasonable care, internal policy compliance, financial risk and fraud risk. It cites data that 37% of business travelers had at least one exception on their expense reports and that T&E fraud averages a median loss of $125,000.
SAP Concur notes that the pandemic has led many organizations to revisit work models and employee benefits, and work-from-home arrangements may become the future norm. The article asks whether companies have given enough thought to the business expenses incurred by work-from-home employees, and invites readers to download a white paper on expense management considerations related to work-from-home policies.
In an AP Recognition Week post, SAP Concur notes that accounts payable (AP) is often the last line of defense for small and midsize businesses (SMBs) managing cash flow. Many AP teams still handle paper invoices with convoluted workflows and non-disaster-proof storage. The post states that most SMBs it works with process around 600 invoices per month, at least half arriving as paper, causing heavy manual data entry, approvals, and reconciliation. SAP Concur recommends cloud-based AP tools such as Concur Invoice to automate invoice receipt, processing, payment management, and settlement, enabling faster audits, better cash flow management, and increased spend visibility.
A SAP Concur blog post advises UK SMBs to prepare for Brexit, whatever the outcome. It notes that businesses trading with or traveling to the EU may need to adjust travel, expense, and invoice processes. Specific recommendations include updating travel policies, considering prepaid currency cards, and preparing for changes to VAT refund processes.
A SAP Concur blog post argues that many corporate expense and invoice processes were originally quick fixes and may no longer be fit for purpose as businesses grow. It recommends automation, cloud-based tools, and customizable integrated solutions to improve scalability. A customer case notes invoice approvals taking days and high paper and storage costs. A study cited found finance teams using automated T&E solutions saw a 15% reduction in time spent processing expense reports, while invoice management users saw a 16% reduction.
SAP Concur's blog notes that finance departments often scramble to account for employee expenses during year-end reporting. It recommends reviewing the end-to-end expense process, clarifying responsibilities, and adopting automation to increase visibility. An automated system can track expenses in real time and support mobile receipt submission, speeding up reimbursement and reducing non-compliance and fraud risks.
A SAP Concur blog post cites ACFE President Bruce Dorris: the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic instability will not only increase levels of fraud but also lead to more discoveries of existing fraud. The post recommends organizations bolster internal controls to mitigate fraud, focusing on detecting and preventing fraud in expense, invoice, and other employee spend areas, and references the ACFE 2022 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse.
SAP Concur suggests finance managers improve team efficiency with three steps: ensure members understand team and corporate goals, provide tools like automated AP and expense software, and play to members' strengths. Automation streamlines processes, increases spend visibility, and supports remote work.
SAP Concur data shows December is the peak month for expense reports, with a peak around December 19. The article suggests finance leaders attend a webinar on November 28 to learn how to help teams face year-end challenges, boost productivity, and prepare for 2019.
A SAP Concur blog post notes that mileage reimbursement is one of the largest categories of employee spend, with U.S. businesses spending more than $1.95 billion on mileage reimbursement in 2017. Manual mileage tracking is error-prone: employees may forget to record, deviate from routes, or pad claims. SAP Concur offers Concur Drive, which tracks mileage automatically or manually using phone GPS and sensors, integrates with Google Maps, and provides a transparent audit trail to simplify compliance and VAT reclaim.
SAP Concur blog post discusses how finance leaders can build a scalable audit process to support business growth. It recommends considering when, what, and why to audit, and emphasizes the need to ensure compliance with global regulations and internal policies amid global expansion and acquisitions.
A SAP Concur blog post opens with the idea that doing the same thing repeatedly while expecting different results is futile, arguing that companies relying on manual processes and outdated systems will not see unexpected spend, poor productivity and employee dissatisfaction resolve themselves. It says travel and expense is often the second-largest spend for businesses, and that Concur Expense and Concur Travel help review consolidated reliable data, spot cost-saving opportunities, and improve policy compliance, productivity and employee satisfaction.
This SAP Concur blog post emphasizes that moving from manual expense management to automated, cloud-based solutions saves time and improves competitiveness. Automation allows teams to spend less time on expense reports and invoice reconciliation, focusing on strategic matters. Mobile capabilities further boost productivity, with 57% of SMBs reporting over 50% of employees using mobile devices for business.
The pandemic has caused state and local governments to face unexpected expenses and new spending categories, with 68% of decision makers citing this as a major challenge. CARES Act funding comes with compliance requirements; automating expense and invoice management provides real-time visibility, ensures compliance, and adapts to change.
SAP Concur launched a travel and expense (T&E) policy builder for small businesses that generates a customizable policy template in about three minutes through six questions, covering mileage reimbursement rates, airfare cabin classes, meal allowances, hotel price caps, and preferred booking methods.