It’s not only MPS who falsify their expenses if the latest report from GlobalExpense is to be believed.
The Employee Expenses Benchmark Report 2011 claims that over-inflated and fraudulent claims cost UK companies over £1.3 billion last year. Almost £1,000 million of that was made up of claims that were outside company policy, the report states.
Some of the questionable claims included school fees of more than £4,000, over £58,000 for entertaining clients and a sundry expense of £26,000 for a holiday in Las Vegas. Other highly suspect claims included £1,200 spent on lap dancers and the hire of a porn film whilst in a hotel.
Expense-claiming employees in the UK made an average 33 claims last year with an average claim of £62.08. The report also discovered that the largest amount paid out to a single employee was £333,000. Spending on entertainment was the only category that increased over the past year with financial services employees being the highest spenders.
Although managers enforced tougher compliance rules on their employees, their out-of-policy spend increased in 2010. Managers were 30% more likely to make non-compliant claims than their employees.
Nigel Meyer from the Hogg Robinson Group suggests that data management could help companies cut down on their travel expenses bill. He pointed out that business travellers often amend their bookings, with changes made to connections and interchanges. In order to set an efficient travel budget, all the data should be collated, consolidated and analysed, he advised.
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Image: Takin’ it to the BANK$Y by guano
