Corporate spending is an extreme concern for one-third of companies

Press release

The news:

• A survey by Insights For Professionals (IFP) found that 36% of senior managers are extremely or very concerned about corporate spending
• Human error is the greatest challenge facing organizations with their corporate spending
• Senior managers want greater visibility of how money is being spent in their organizations

The report revealed that senior professionals are concerned about the state of spend management and a lack of business expense visibility across multiple solutions in their organizations, despite the technological improvements that have made paper processes and manual work a thing of the past.

Companies of all sizes face challenges with their corporate spending, and human error topped the list, with 29% of respondents citing it as a major challenge. The survey, commissioned by Payhawk - the company that makes business payments easy - found the other challenges were time wasted on reconciliation, resistance to change, ineffective software, and inefficient and/or legacy processes.

Hristo Borisov, CEO and Co-Founder of Payhawk, said, “Corporate spending used to be managed with piles of paper, and receipts and invoices that were filed by hand. Those days are long gone, and businesses can be proactive in their approach to spend management. However, despite the massive improvements that have come with accounting digitalization, companies are still facing numerous challenges, and senior professionals are right to be concerned about the current state of corporate spending.”

The IFP research focused on uncovering attitudes to corporate spending and surveyed over 100 senior professionals in the US and the UK across more than 11 industries, including finance, health, education, and manufacturing. The company size of those interviewed ranged from 250 employees to companies with over 25,000 employees.

Aside from the challenges companies face, senior managers expressed how important visibility was and how understanding how money is being spent is a crucial part of their role. Of all the professionals surveyed, 51% said they had ‘very good’ visibility into company spend, but this figure dropped to 38% for professionals in large organizations.

Borisov added, “Senior professionals are bogged down with inefficiencies and a lack of up-to-date, accurate information about their corporate spending. With the right processes in place and the right information at their fingertips, they can make clear, strategic decisions about how their organization’s money is being spent. With greater automation and efficiencies, they will have more time to focus on more important things.”

The report noted that organizations will have to invest in spend management initiatives to overcome the current challenges they face. Most surveyed said they would invest next year, with 22% stating they planned to invest $500,000 and $1 million in such initiatives. Through such investment, the respondents said they aimed to have better internal spend controls, improve efficiency and minimize risk. “By having the right technologies and initiatives, every organization can improve their spend management process,” said Borisov.

Curious to discover other insights from the IFP report? Download it here.