Insights from Coupa and Acquis Consulting Group on T&E Spending
T&E spend is typically the 2nd largest controllable expense
The pandemic changed everything — travel spend decreased but remained flat in many cases
Budgets were reallocated to accommodate the changing working environment
Opportunities to Reimagine and Redesign T&E Spend Management
You don’t want people to feel like people are being watched. We must work towards a trusted but verified and respectful culture.
Leverage community buying power to pre-negotiate optimum pricing.
Technology can help eliminate fraud, biases, and optimize spend.
5% of business expense is fraud. It is important to have technology on your side to make sure fraud is not happening.
Four main considerations when reevaluating your T&E program:
Create processes that don’t disrupt existing workflows
Document current spends habits into formalized expense policy
Better user experience = more adoption = better control
Spend has shifted to accommodate new working styles and changing business needs
Evaluate and consolidate new areas of spend
Spend consolidation = greater visibility = deeper insights
T&E fraud has increased overall during pandemic
Build a culture of trust and verification
Consider non-punitive audits
Unpredictability in spend isn’t a problem, it can be an asset
Just because it’s post-approved spend doesn’t mean you can’t influence it or optimize it
Make your T&E spend work for you
If you want to stay ahead of the curve, you need to shift from tactical T&E management to strategic.
Reach out to the Acquis team
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