Missing receipts: How to curb costly travel expense management issues

“I know they’re here somewhere,” Ben in sales sighs as he rummages around for his travel expense receipts. After turning his hotel room upside down, it’s clear. The expense receipts are gone. It’s time for an embarrassing email to accounts to explain the situation. They’ll be less than pleased, as their workload just went up, and the numbers could skew.

In a nutshell: Missing trip receipts can lead to lost travel expense reimbursements, tax issues, increased admin costs, and opaque per diem rules, creating long-term financial headaches. This blog breaks down how outdated systems contribute to these problems and how automating your travel expense management with Payhawk can eliminate receipt-chasing, improve spend visibility, and ensure compliance—all while saving time and money.

Missing receipts for commuting allowances and business travel expenses are common and costly. Sure, mistakes happen, but often, staff aren't the problem. It's the systems and processes in place that set the stage for missing receipt drama.

For example, it takes businesses an extra day each month to process expenses when using physical receipts and expense forms. This additional day costs businesses nearly £3,000 annually, which amounts to £2.8 billion for UK businesses.

But it doesn't have to be this way…

How much is your company losing from missing receipts for business travel?

The bill can be painful if your business has too many missing receipts. Here are a few losses that could crop up:

• Unclaimed expense reimbursements: Missing receipts mean your company or employees don't get funds back after paying out of pocket. The results? Underutilised travel budgets that the C-suite could divert elsewhere and lighter pockets for staff
• Higher tax bills: From forgoing VAT reclaims to staff missing out on expense benefits, missing receipts mean your business pays more tax than it should. This issue can cause significant financial losses as your company scales
• More admin and associated costs: Chasing receipts and dealing with discrepancies aren’t only time wasters; they’re money wasters, too. Correcting an error on an expense report costs $58 and takes 18 minutes, $6 more than it costs to create one and just two minutes less than it takes to make one. So, you’ll need extra cash and hands to cover the inefficiencies, resulting in higher operational costs
• Increased compliance risks: When tackling expenses like per diems and commuting allowances in countries with strict regulatory requirements, missing receipts can lead to non-compliance issues. Next comes a slew of admin to course-correct, pulling your team away from core tasks
• Inaccurate financial reporting: Patching together expense report data, credit card statements, and guessing figures can lead to incorrect financial statements. This problem impacts your company’s ability to track and manage spend effectively. Financial planning and decision-making also go downhill

The stats and facts on corporate travel

It helps to gain some perspective on the monetary losses your business could encounter from missing receipts. Let’s cover some data on commuting allowances, governmental assistance for travel costs, typical travel spend, and general corporate travel:

United Kingdom (UK)

Commuting allowance and governmental support for corporate travel expenses

• HMRC has set mileage and fuel rates, plus allowances for individuals using their vehicles for business travel. Reimbursements within these rates don’t incur extra tax liabilities
• For cars and vans, it’s 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles, after which the rate drops to 25p for each extra mile
• The UK also has tax-efficient initiatives like the "Cycle to Work" scheme. Public transport season tickets can also be tax-free up to certain limits

Typical business travel spend

• £186 for inbound business and £497 per day in London

Average annual salary

• £35,828

Corporate travel frequency and duration

• After “not at all”, the most frequent travel schedule in the UK is two to three times a year
• The typical trip length is 6.6 nights

United States (US)

Commuting allowance and governmental support for corporate travel expenses

• The IRS grants tax-free parking, transit, and public transportation costs up to $315 per month for qualified commuter employees. Companies can also save 7.65% on payroll taxes for every employee in the Commuter Benefit Program

Typical business travel spend

• $1,293 per corporate trip with a daily spend of $325

Average annual salary

• $59,436 approximately (not adjusted for seasons)

Corporate travel frequency and duration

• 77% of US corporate travelers take one to five trips annually. 15% take six to ten visits, and 7% go on more than ten a year
• Business trips often last 4.1 days

Netherlands

Commuting allowance and governmental support for corporate travel expenses

• The Netherlands Tax Administration, a.k.a. ‘de Belastingdienst’, allows employers to provide a tax-free commuting allowance. The amount for employees using their vehicles or public transport for business purposes is €0.23 per kilometer. You can also reimburse the actual travel cost for public transport journeys made for your company.

Typical business travel spend (how much international business travelers spend when visiting the Netherlands)

• €1,035 per trip

Average annual salary

• €44,000 incl. holiday allowance

Corporate travel frequency

• In 2019, 0.9 million Dutch people made a total of 3.7 million business flights
• Approximately 5% of the Dutch population travels for business
• The majority of them – 70% of people who travel for business – fly 1 or 2 times per year for business purposes
• Zero to three trips per year (3.6 on average)

Spain

Commuting allowance and governmental support for corporate travel expenses

• Spain allows companies to issue tax-free mileage expense reimbursements. The current rate is €0.26 per kilometer. Toll charges and parking fees are also tax-exempt.

Typical business travel spend

• €630 per trip on average

Average annual salary

• €30,655

Corporate travel frequency and duration

• Two to three trips per year. Spanish residents took 17.8 million business trips in 2023
• Trips typically last two to three days

Germany

Commuting allowance and governmental support for corporate travel expenses

• The German government offers a distance allowance for business travel costs called “Entfernungspauschale”. Employees get a tax-free expense reimbursement for the one-way distance to work. For example, it’s €0.30 per kilometre for the first 20 kilometres in a car, then €0.38 per kilometre

Typical business travel spend

• €154 per day

Average annual salary

• €45,457

Corporate travel frequency and duration

• Four to six trips a year and 2.4 days on average

France

Commuting allowance and governmental support for corporate travel expenses

• Employers have a legal obligation to pay 50% of employees’ public transportation costs, known as “prime de transport”. For example, covering half the cost of a season ticket. Companies can combine this allowance with the sustainability mobility allowance within the €500 per year and per employee limit
• Employees can access a flat-rate, tax-free mileage allowance for using their vehicle for business purposes
• Companies can also offer an optional full or partial payment for their employees’ personal transport costs. This commuting allowance takes three forms: a transport bonus, mileage expense allowance, or sustainability mobility package

Typical business travel spend

• $511 (in Paris, France)

Average annual salary

• €41,706

Corporate travel frequency and duration

• Three to five days long, averaging three to five trips per year

General business travel statistics

• 12% of airline passengers are corporate travelers
• Global business travel could hit $449.9 billion in 2027
• Business travel frequency is rising. 77% of corporate travelers took one to five trips, 15% take six to ten visits, and 7% go on more than ten a year
• Business travelers in Europe spent $888 on average per person on each trip, with a typical trip length of 3.51 days. This spend is higher than the US ($1,293) and Asian-Pacific ($1,038)

What are the consequences of misplaced travel expense receipts?

Missing receipts are more than a hassle for your Accounts team to solve; they can have harmful, long-term effects on your company. Let’s run through the most common.

Actual financial losses

The monetary loss can be staggering when you combine missing receipts with outdated expense management tools and processes. Let’s put this problem into perspective. Say you’re the CFO for a martech scale-up with 200 employees. The business has three offices in Berlin, Paris, and Amsterdam.

The sales, relationship management, and marketing teams travel regularly between these offices. They also attend industry trade shows, conferences, and training seminars across Europe.

Due to your staff’s busy, on-the-go schedule, paper expense reports and receipts get lost frequently. Some employees also forget to email expense reports or submit incomplete ones. So, chasing receipts is the norm for accounts. Some example monetary losses your business could incur from this setup include:

• Intra-office travel: At €400 per trip with 20 employees, the total monthly travel cost is €8,000. If 15% of receipts go missing, your company can’t account for €1,200 monthly. That’s an annual loss of €14,400
• Industry events: Assuming an average expense of €1,500 per event, 50 employees attending six events yearly racks up an annual €450,000 bill. If 20% of receipts get lost, that’s €90,000 your company can’t justify
• Training programs: If staff attend 100 training sessions per year with an average cost of €800, 10% of receipts going amiss creates an €8,000 bill you can't prove

These situations would result in an eye-watering €105,200 bill that your company is on the hook for, all because of missing receipts.

Data visibility gets murky

It's like operating in the dark when piecing together physical receipts, paper expense reports, and manual account transfers for travel expense reimbursements. It's nearly impossible to know your company’s current financial position, what's coming up, and where to turn. With this setup, budget tracking goes array. Costly issues like overpaying an employee, inaccurate expense management records, and overrunning costs soon follow. Worse, you won’t know until there's significant damage. Spend visibility issues are rife; 43% of companies want to improve it.

Month-end close headaches

Have you ever had to delay finalizing monthly accounts because too many employees submitted incomplete or late expense reports? It’s an administrative nightmare. You have to push back the entire financial reporting process. This problem could have your team pulling late nights to catch up. Such scenarios also place your hard-working team in a bad light, raising eyebrows among key stakeholders.

A poor employee experience that knocks morale

While many employees may enjoy work trips, the expense admin associated with them probably isn’t their idea of fun. It’s incredibly frustrating when staff have to submit expenses manually and lose the paperwork.

You may have to delay or void an employee's expense reimbursement without a receipt. Considering one in three workers has to pay expenses out of pocket, this is tricky, particularly for significant expenses like cross-country journeys. Worse, employees can become discouraged and apprehensive about making business purchases, lowering team morale.

Opportunity costs that hinder your company’s potential

The time and money your company spends chasing receipts wastes resources. These problems create a huge opportunity cost. You could have spent the cash and time on strategic initiatives like financial planning and identifying new business opportunities. Then, there are the industry shifts that mean you’ll have a larger bill for receipt faux pas. Travel costs are rising (1.8% for airfare, 29.8% for hotel rooms, and a projected 2.1% for rental cars). Corporate travel spending may also grow by 14% to 15% each year.

Landing in legal hot water from regulatory non-compliance

Missing receipts can skew your numbers, fast-tracking your company into legal trouble. This is especially true when managing per diems for countries with complex rules. For example, the Netherlands has different per diems depending on the type of expenses and time restrictions. Dinner expenses are valid during the business trip between 6 pm and 9 pm. The UK’s international per diem rates depends on the country and trip duration, which is difficult to manage manually. Next, come tax investigations and audits rounded off with hefty penalties and fines. These consequences can harm your business’ reputation and pockets, setting it back.

How Payhawk solution can revolutionize your travel expense management

The great news is you don't have to handle expenses unsupported. Let’s zoom in on some ways you can use our solution to make travel expense management a breeze:

Streamline and automate commuting allowance admin

Are you tired of chasing receipts and dealing with lost ones? Ensure staff can send in expense reports on the go to reduce such instances with our commuting allowance features. For example:

• Employees can pay for travel by phone or card, then snap and send the receipt via our expense tracking mobile app. Our AI and OCR technology will take it from here, extracting and organizing key data to keep your commuting expenses in order
• You can let technology chase the receipts via our travel expense management solution. It’ll even block cards after five days if employees don’t send them in
• Your team can manage multiple mileage rates and ensure speedy reimbursements with our purpose-built features

Take Porsche e-Bikes, for example. The team had a cumbersome travel expense management system. As a result, submissions and expense approvals were sluggish and complex.

Gabriela Leovac, Accountant at Porsche e-Bikes, explains:

The biggest problem before Payhawk was business travel expenses. We didn't have a system that let employees submit their trip expenses easily. And we wanted to find a solution that allowed employees to use corporate cards, apply for a daily allowance, upload all of their travel and work expenses, and get fast approvals.

But once the team implemented our virtual cards, OCR technology for receipt capture, per diem tool, and expense management software. They also integrated TravelPerk.

Managing expenses, tracking mileage, and booking trips is now simple for the Porsche e-Bikes team. They’ve gained real-time spend visibility, an efficient bookkeeping process, and strong internal controls. The team has also saved time, money, and energy by eliminating manual tools and processes, which they’ve redirected to needle-moving tasks like analytics.

Enforce spending policy compliance on autopilot

Does your team have to constantly watch spreadsheets and credit card statements, worrying about the budget? Gain spending visibility and a control tower to manage outgoings with our powerful corporate Visa cards and expense management software. For example, you can:

• Set up transaction alerts and blocks on spending after 8 pm with our advanced card controls
• Use our corporate cards to cover costs like client entertainment and dinners so no one pays out-of-pocket
• Make cards single-use with a set monetary amount
• Set customized, automatic, and multi-level approval workflows for specific expense types and amounts with our Workflow Designer

Hannah Dobson, VP of Sales at GDS Group says:

Payhawk has saved me time, but more importantly, it's saved my team time. It's a dream because now I can get my team to do their own expenses, and I can approve them from afar quickly and efficiently. It's a great user experience. And it means they can focus on higher value activities.

Simplify per diem management

No more cross-referencing spreadsheets, spending policies, and government legislation websites; hoping you’re using the right per diems. Automate daily allowance calculations and travel expense reimbursements for transparent and paperless processes with our per diem feature. The process is quick and easy:

• Your staff create a per diem expense by entering trip details on the mobile app
• Our solution calculates the exact per diem allowance
• Your team managers can approve or deny the request via the app
• Finance can then rapidly reimburse approved expenses by bank transfer in different currencies and countries with Instant SEPA and faster payments
• Plus, you can set custom per diem rates and automated approval workflows

Take per diems in the Netherlands, for example. A worker’s average one-way commute from home to their employers’ permanent address was 32 minutes in 2023. The typical distance was 15,73 kilometers. The €0.23 per diem (tax-free) rate equals €3.60 per employee daily. So, a company with 40,000 employees annually losing 5% of their receipts creates a €160,000 yearly hole. But by using our per diem feature, corporate cards, and app you can eliminate most missing receipt instances, saving time and money.

Power seamless travel expense management and tracking

Centralizing per diems, employee expense reimbursements, and mileage tracking on one platform with our solution make it easy to get up to speed in just a few taps. Our expense management features allow you to control spending across trips, entities, and territories. For instance, you’ll get automatic cost calculations for expenses like accommodation, corporate events, and industry conferences. You can also adjust spending limits and workflows per your travel policy.

Diana Ruseva, Finance Manager at Eleven Ventures, says:

One of my favorite features is missing document reminders. It saves me from chasing my teammates for uploading invoices from their trips. And my absolute favourite feature is low funds alert, it helps me not to leave some of my teammates without any funds in the middle of a business trip abroad.

You don’t settle for fragmented systems and clunky processes with us. Create a travel expense management ecosystem using our direct integration with TravelPerk. Your team won’t have to individually upload flight, hotel, car, or train ticket receipts to Payhawk. All bookings made through TravelPerk get automatically transferred to our solution. Plus, you can ensure the numbers add up without your team’s manual effort by leveraging the automated reconciliation of all Travelperk expenses made using our corporate cards.

Clawback VAT stress-free

No more searching for missing documents and expense forms or battling manual receipt reconciliations for VAT recovery. Support efficient VAT reclaims using our automated receipt and invoice reconciliation, categorization, and expense management. Then, get precious funds back automatically and lower associated admin costs using our direct integration with 60dias, a VAT recovery solution. Bye-bye VAT, hello, relief!

Handle commuting expenses with ease

Tackling travel expense management ill-equipped takes a colossal effort. It also sets the scene for missing receipts, financial losses, and missed opportunities. Expensing doesn’t have to be this way. Using a comprehensive expense management solution and strategic integrations, you can curb late-night number crunching, hoping travel expenses are correct. Delayed accounts and bruised profits can also become distant memories.

Going paperless and putting the right spending policies in place will also reduce errors and maximize returns on corporate travel. It pays to get a handle on missing receipts sooner rather than later. So, take steps towards stress-free travel expense management today and fly high for years to come.

Don’t manage expenses the hard way. Put your travel expense management on cruise control with Payhawk. Book a demo with one of our experts to learn more.