a guide to effective expense management strategies for 2015
TRANSCRIPT
LIVE WEBINAR
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25,
2015
Hosted by CFO.com | Presented by
Certify
A Guide to Effective Expense
Management Strategies for
2015
Learning Objectives
• 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
2015
After attending this event you will be able to:
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Today’s Speakers
Jennifer ColegroveController 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 non-
senior-management) in 2012, and is currently a
CPA candidate.
Robert NeveuPresident & 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.
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About Certify
A leading provider of expense management software since 2008
Over 15 million expense transactions worth more than $8 billion in 2014
64 languages, 140+ currencies, users in 18 countries
Ranked #1 for User Satisfaction on G2 Crowd4
Clients and Press
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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
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.
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About the Data
• Total Respondents: 434 companies (non-Certify clients)
• Audience:
• 28% Small Business: less than 100 employees
• 37% Mid-Sized Business: 101 – 999 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.)
Third Annual Expense Management Trends SurveyConducted in December 2014
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Annual Spend on Travel & Entertainment
$50k – $5mm
Mid-Size Company101 – 999 employees
> $5,000,000
Large EnterpriseMore than 1,000 employees
< $50,000
Small BusinessLess than 100 employees
Reference: Certify’s Travel and Expense Trends Data, February 2014 9
How Companies Manage T&E
Reporting
Reference: Certify’s Annual Travel & Expense Management Survey 2015
SMALL
BUSINESS
MEDIUM
LARGE
64%
48%
19%
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Spend Trends in 2014
1. Meals
21%
2. Airfare
16%
3. Lodging
14%
4. Gas
12%
5. Misc.
8%
6. Cell Phone 6%
7. Car Rental 5%
8. Groceries 5%
9. Supplies 5%
10.Taxi
5%
11.Tolls 2%
12.Shipping 2%Reference: Certify’s SpendSmart Report, Q4, 2014 13
Benchmarking Data: Expense
Categories
The average expense amounts, based transaction data
from the 2014 Certify SpendSmart Report:
Category 2013 2014 Difference
Meals $26.08 $25.67 – 1.58%
Airfare $329.65 $345.21 + 4.61%
Lodging $200.24 $213.90 + 6.6%
Car Rental $185.27 $193.58 + 4.39%
Taxi $32.76 $31.81 – 2.94%
Gas $50.73 $40.41 – 22.65%
Parking $32.75 $32.70 – 0.15%
Cell Phone $98.88 $89.30 – 10.18%
Reference: Certify’s SpendSmart Report, 2013-2014 14
Top Pain Points in 2014
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Reviewing for policy violations
Reconciling the data
Errors on the report
Employees losing receipts
Time it takes to reconcile, review, and approve
Employee's failure to submit reports on time
16Reference: Certify’s Travel & Expense Management Survey 2015
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
17Reference: Certify’s Travel & Expense Management Survey 2015
Policy Enforcement: Manual vs. Web-
Based
14%
35% 36%
21%
1%
4%
31%
27%
19%
63%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
T&E policy is notenforced
It is the responsibility ofthe employee
Manager manuallyreview each expense
Accountant manuallyreviews, checking only
high value expenses
T&E systemautomatically flags out-
of-policy violations
Companies on a Manual Process Companies on a Web-Based System
19Reference: Certify’s Travel & Expense Management Survey 2015
Fraud in Expenses
Organizations who monitor compliance have a
70% decrease in fraudulent spending.
Reference: www.businesstravelnews.com/Expense-Management/Study--Fraudulent-Expense-Reports-Have-Cost-Cos--Millions-In-2014
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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
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 2015
Ranked the #1 top priority in
2014 by 52% of companies
in the 2014 Aberdeen
Report.
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Automate Key Components of T&E
Reference: Aberdeen Group 2014, The Travel & Expense Management Guide for 2014
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
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.
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Switching from Spreadsheets to Automation
Of companies on a manual process who plan to switch to a web-
based system, 53% estimate they will switch within the next 12
months.
21% 32% 26% 9% 9%
Within the next 6 months
6 – 12 months
12 – 24 months
24 – 36 monthsNot sure
Timeframe of anticipated switch:
24Reference: Certify’s Travel & Expense Management Survey 2015
ROI Timeframe for Expense
Software
Small
Businesses
Have the
Fastest ROI
experience 100%
ROI in under a
year
70%
25Reference: Certify’s Travel & Expense Management Survey 2015
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
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Flagged violation, notifying manager
amount exceeded policy limit
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
27Reference: Certify’s Travel & Expense Management Survey 2015
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 expense-processing 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
28References: Aberdeen Group 2014, Certify’s Travel & Expense Management Survey 2015
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
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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 email reminders to
review and submit30
Leveraging Analytics to Improve Visibility
Reference: Certify’s Annual Travel & Expense Management Survey 2015
Types of visibility gained with cloud-based expense management:
• Documented path of approvals
• Expense by employee
• Expense spend by category
61%57%
74%
57%
30%
40%44%
29%
Visibility into T&E Spend Regular Reporting Regular Audits of Expenses Automated Data Analytics
Web-Based Expense System Manual Expense Process
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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.
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To learn more about Certify, please join us for
a
Live Product Demonstration Webcast
Thursday, March 26 at 2 p.m. EST
Wednesday, April 8 at 2 p.m. EST
To register, visit bit.ly/CertifyLiveDemo