expense

EMPLOYEES ‘EVEN THE SCORE’ AGAINST OBSTRUCTIVE EXPENSE SYSTEMS

sberteloot — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:23:33 +0100

16/12/2008

International survey shows expense processing is ripe target for cost-cutting corporations

Download Study: http://www.kds.com/en/KDS_expense_study

Windsor, UK -- December 15, 2008 – Business travelers are frequently out of pocket as a result of their employers’ archaic or unhelpful expense claim systems, which causes some staff to feel entirely justified in filing fictitious claims to recoup their losses. At the same time, these outmoded systems are saddling employers with excessive admin costs at exactly the time that they most need to trim budgets, according to new research from KDS, the European leader in on-demand travel and expense solutions.

KDS recently surveyed the opinions of 364 travel and expense professionals and regular travellers. Respondents were predominantly based in the United Kingdom, France and United States, giving a highly international perspective to issues around expense management. Key findings included:

As many as 60% of respondents employers remain wedded to time-intensive spreadsheets for expense systems.
Expenses are a major drag on executive time: 23% of travellers spend over an hour on each claim, and 35% take between 30 minutes and an hour.
Staff may be padding their expenses as ‘retaliation’ for enduring convoluted claims procedures: 24% say they fail to claim back all their expenses, often losing track of receipts; 10% say this can cost them as much as €100 personally per claim; 11% have to wait over a month to be reimbursed.
11% of respondents say their employers expect them to pay the Internet charges for checking work emails whilst travelling.
16% of US respondents admit to inflating their expenses, versus 9% of British and 10% of French
French staff cheat more often than their UK and US counterparts. However, while UK and US employees falsify expenses less frequently, when they do so it will, on average, be for a larger amount than their French counterparts would claim.
The favourite method of boosting an expense claim in France is – quelle surprise – restaurant bills. Brits and Americans prefer more mundane taxi fares.

Given the frustrations of expense claim processes, it is perhaps surprising that not more employees fiddle – or admit to fiddling – their expenses. Although 49% said they knew how to do so, just 13% of respondents said they bumped up their claims. In most cases, the amounts over-claimed came to less than €50.

Yves Weisselberger, chief executive of KDS, said, “Expense claims remain a bête noire for many employees, and this survey shows how a minority seek to even the score. The greater message of this study is that, by sticking with time-intensive systems, companies are forsaking important cost-savings when they need them most, and submerging their people in admin when they should be out winning business.”

A previous study by American Express and global management consulting firm AT Kearney found that indirect administrative costs associated with travel and expense accounts amounted to 4.6% of the expenditure occurred. Better practices, the report argued, could reduce this by more than half, to just 2.1%, or €21 for every €1,000 spent. According to KDS, the adoption of automated expense account management would make up a significant proportion of this reduction.

Comments from respondents to the KDS survey include the following:

“When I put in a claim, I have to complete an online form attaching a PDF version of the receipts, then print a copy to send to Finance with a copy for reference, then send a request to my management team to authorise payment, then ensure they send all the information and receipts on to the Finance department. This is extremely time consuming and information has to be accurate, otherwise it is all rejected and you have to start again!”
Secretary, mid-size consulting firm, UK

“A salesperson falsified some restaurant receipts and claimed for meals that were actually eaten at home.”
Accountant, large distribution company, France

“The finance department seems to think it runs the company, whereas in reality it is an outsourced entity trying so hard, yet so vainly, to adhere to stricter than normal rules given by the employer recovering corporate card data.”
R&D professional, large media company, UK

“It’s important to reflect on why people cheat with their expense accounts. I cheat because my company’s policy is sometimes so restrictive that I’m looking to compensate for lost money. It’s the only way to get all my money back. For example, I can’t claim for my minibar bill, so I increase my taxi fare by $5.”
Marketing professional, large IT company, USA

“One reason for a lack of receipts is the London Transport Oyster system. In effect the fare doubles if you want an individual receipt. You also need to queue, delaying the journey.”
IT manager, mid size financial services firm, UK

“The more I went on business trips, the more I lost money. My company’s policy was to make the reimbursement of business expenses lengthy, difficult and discouraging.”
Manager, large media company, France

“Companies often turn a blind eye to our phone calls and Internet connections although we’re often asked to be on duty (at night and during weekends) and are therefore likely to have to communicate from elsewhere. Trips to see customers in the Paris region are counted as Home-to-Office trips, although customers are invoiced for them.”
Engineer, large IT company, France

“This is definitely one of the areas – or the area – where we have the most work to do. We have unclear or unsuitable policies, inconsistencies, archaic processing, no reliable reporting...I won’t go on because the list is too long!”
Managing Director, small IT company, France

“One of the things that’s ‘broken’ in our expense account system, which is extremely frustrating, is that no matter how fast I complete my monthly expense accounts, the credit card suppliers invoice me for penalties for delay. There’s a problem between our tool and the credit card and I find it totally unjust that I’m penalised personally for this problem. Until it’s fixed, I’ll keep submitting overstated expense accounts to compensate.”
Sales person, large transport company, USA

A copy of the full survey report is available from KDS upon request from http://www.kds.com/en/KDS_expense_study

KDS launches KDS Express, the first travel expense management service designed for mid sized companies

sberteloot — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:54:37 +0200

30/09/2008

Pre-configured for setup in less than four weeks without IT deployment, KDS Express is a “pure Internet” solution that generates savings of up to 30% of the cost and processing of expense reports and travel bookings.

London, September 29, 2008 – During the Business Travel Conference, The Park Inn, London Heathrow 29 – 30 Sept.; KDS, the European leader in on-demand travel and expense management, unveiled KDS Express, its Mid-Market online solution for expense report automation and travel management.

KDS Express is a hosted solution, SaaS (Software as a Service) available from any Internet browser. Preconfigured to meet the specific requirements of small and medium sized companies, KDS Express can be deployed in less than four weeks. Requiring no IT skills, clients automatically benefit from ongoing product enhancement without any additional cost.

To illustrate the advantages of a SaaS expenses and travel solution, KDS has produced a comic strip that can be viewed at http://www.kds.com/en/comic_episode1

Extremely easy and intuitive to use, with a few clicks KDS Express makes available the full operating power of the latest generation of KDS software (see description further down in this press release).
“The mid-market is still largely under-equipped although we note a strong demand. It was essential for us to design a product for this segment that benefits from our large account know-how. Now enterprises of all sizes will have access to the full power of a unified travel and expense solution," said Stéphane Donders, KDS General Manager.
“While companies have a lot to gain by automating their travel expense management processes, a study we conducted on the subject last July shows that, in Great-Britain, expense reports are still entered on a spreadsheet in 68 percent of cases.”

Deploying a dedicated Travel & Expense solution makes it possible to save up to 30% of T&E budgets by streamlining processes, eliminating multiple entries and errors, focusing travel on preferred suppliers and increasing policy compliance.

Advantages of a unified solution for travel and expense management.

During implementation:

Users only need to learn one new system...
Adoption of the travel booking interface is increased by the fact that users are naturally using the expenses entry interface.

The software solution is automatically updated by KDS.

KDS Express will:

Provide a holistic view of your companies T&E spend
Reduce costs via standard application of company policies.
Decrease non-compliancy via automated business rules.
Eliminate manual tasks by automating accounting processes.
Control business travel-related expenses efficiently in real time.
Reduce expense report filling time for users by means of an intelligent reconciliation engine.
Simplify trip booking (flight, train, hotel, car, etc.).

KDS Express unifies business trip booking, expense reporting and invoicing within a single service. An intuitive user interface guides users through making a trip booking and then makes sure that they do not need to re-enter the same details on their expense claim.

Key features are:

Management of expenses and travel reimbursement policies.
Offline entry of expense reports.
Configuration of accounting processes and assignments (accounting, costs, etc.).
Reporting
Tracking of taxable benefit data for legal declarations e.g. DADS, P11D etc.
Expense-account, invoice and trip approval engine.
Powerful fare engine comparing the various travel option in order to selects the best fares according to the organization's policy.
Data import/export: integration of corporate card, lodge card, supplier invoices HR data and export of expense and invoice to the accounting system.

Online Travel & Expense Management
The travel and expenses policies are easy to administrate: the rules governing payment of expenses are integrated and applied automatically. Similarly, the trip purchasing rules guide users to preferred suppliers and ensure compliance with negotiated rates.

Supplier and corporate card data integration.
Management of the different accounting and analytical segments.
Calculation of deductible VAT.
Automatic conversion of currency.
Continuous monitoring of costs through predefined accounting reports.

Online travel & expense management
The travel and expenses policies are easy to administrate: the rules governing payment of expenses are integrated and applied automatically. Similarly, the trip purchasing rules guide users to preferred suppliers and ensure compliance with negotiated rates. Similarly, an intuitive user interface guides users through making a trip booking and then makes sure that they do not need to re-enter the same details on their expense claim.

The software is designed to integrate data from suppliers (e.g. lodged cards, etc.) and corporate cards. With this function, any expense paid for on a corporate card is sent to KDS Express as an expense-line thus saving time and providing 100% accurate data.

KDS Express manages different accounting and analytical segments, calculate deductible VAT and convert currencies. KDS Express's fare engine searches for the best offers according to the travel-policy and negotiated rates.

KDS Express is available immediately. KDS Express can also be easily interfaced with the portals of travel agencies and KDS partners.

Note: The KDS Express comic strip is available at: http://www.kds.com/en/comic_episode1

KDS Express Comic Strip

sberteloot — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:22:08 +0200

Description:

PDF of the Episode 1 of "Expense & Travel"

KDS SURVEY TO GAUGE TRAVELLER OPINION ON EXPENSE CLAIM

sberteloot — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:17:46 +0200

10/06/2008

For the second year global expense poll give a chance to employees to speak-up about expense claim

London, June 9, 2007 – KDS, the leader in on-demand travel and expense, is asking business travellers to talk about their experience relating to expense claim processes. The resulting study will be announced late June and will put in perspective findings from the spring 2007, KDS Study.

Participants around the world are invited to share their views anonymously on a range of issues, including inflated expense claims, the frustrations of form filling, and the extent to which losing track of receipts sees travellers subsidising their employers.

"Peek previews on the current results are fascinating," said Stanislas Berteloot, KDS Marketing Director. "Expenses are still dealt with by many companies as they were ten years ago. People are growing frustrated with the time wasted filling cumbersome reports and the lake of efficient reimbursement processes."

Last year's study had revealed that 1 in 5 respondents admitted padding claims. The new study will provide a deeper look at the situation, analysing reasons why employees, at time, inflate their expense reports and ways they use to do it.

KDS will also provide industry best practices for organisations looking at optimizing their expense claim processes.

Everyone who regularly fills-in expenses is encouraged to take part to help improve understanding of one of the most contentious aspects of corporate life. To participate, simply follow this link and complete the simple online questionnaire:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=m5BLCS6uCyYWhkG6lwy5Vw_3d_3d

The findings of the survey will be publicly announced by KDS in June.

ENDS

Ariba-KDS Case Study

mhanus — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:59:30 +0200

Description:

Download the Ariba-KDS Case study

Ariba

mhanus — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:50:12 +0200

Partner Type:

Technology

Teaser:

Ariba, Inc. is the leading provider of spend management solutions to help companies realize rapid and sustainable bottom line results. Successful companies around the world in every industry use Ariba Spend Management software and services. Ariba can be contacted in the U.S. at 1.650.390.1000 or at www.ariba.com.

See the Press Release announcing the Ariba-KDS partnership: http://www.kds.com/en/kds-strenghtens-aribas-travel-spend-management-solution

Description:

See the Press Release announcing the Ariba-KDS partnership: http://www.kds.com/en/kds-strenghtens-aribas-travel-spend-management-solution

Website:

http://www.ariba.com

Logo:

Attached Success Stories:

Ariba & KDS - Travel Managers: How are you managing?

Attached Documents:

Ariba & KDS Integration

Ariba & KDS - Travel Managers: How are you managing?

mhanus — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 16:56:47 +0200

Description:

The travel industry is seeing three broad trends:

Integrated solutions for Expenses and Travel Booking
Increased interest from Procurement organizations in the management of all types of spend (including Travel)
Increased focus on policy, contract and regulatory compliance regardless of where the spend is recorded

Ariba has extended management of Travel and Expenses spend with the integrated bundling of the KDS Corporate version 6.0 to the Ariba Spend Management Platform....Download the case study to read more

Attached Documents:

Ariba-KDS Case Study

Publication Date Auto:

1190559407

Boston Scientific to Present End-To-End KDS Case Study at Online Travel Management Conference

sberteloot — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 10:06:06 +0200

05/09/2007

Paris, September 4, 2007 – The benefits of KDS’s end-to-end Travel & Expense solution are to be showcased at Business Travel World’s Online Travel Management conference in London on September 13.

Boston Scientific, the worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices, will present a case study of how it has implemented KDS’s T&E solution throughout the EU, creating a 'one-stop-shop' for all its travel and expense requirements.

Volker Spichal, Boston Scientific’s European finance director, will discuss the company’s motivations for choosing an on-demand solution and its observations on how to introduce such a system efficiently across multiple markets. In particular, he will focus on the need to establish clear communication between the company, T&E partner and TMC; the vital importance of the project design phase and data standardization; and the need to tailor automated business processes to local operating environments. In addition, Volker will discuss how an end-to-end T&E solution may be integrated with an ERP system, and how such an approach can help a business achieve Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.

Stanislas Berteloot, marketing director for KDS, said, “Travel and Finance departments are increasingly working together to achieve complete T&E process management solutions. Boston Scientific’s global deployment illustrates how such end-to-end solutions streamline travel related processes. KDS is delighted that Boston Scientific is prepared to share the secrets of its success with this select audience.”

ENDS

Press Contacts:
Melanie Hanus / Marc Cornelius
KDS / 80:20 PR
+33 1 46 29 58 88 / +44 (0)20 7924 7576
mhanus@kds.com / marc@8020pr.com

Notes to Editors

KDS on-demand travel & expense offers a completely integrated solution for travel and expense management, addressing essential needs ranging from travel policy definition and enforcement, to online travel self-booking, to automated travel expense processing and beyond. Every critical procedure can be completed through the KDS ASP offering, resulting in greater efficiencies and associated financial benefits. In addition, KDS offers the most extensive back-end connectivity to airline, car, rail and hotel providers in the industry, ensuring optimized pricing and up-to-the-minute inventory control. For more information, visit www.kds.com.

Boston Scientific is a worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices whose products are used in a broad range of interventional medical specialties. For more information, visit www.bostonscientific.com.

KDS strenghtens Ariba's travel spend management solution

mhanus — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:02:54 +0200

23/07/2007

KDS to power best-selling U.S. procurement management system

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - Paris, France, July 23, 2007 – KDS, European leader in on-demand travel and expense, is joining forces with Ariba, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARBA), the leading U.S. spend management solutions provider, to deliver the first truly integrated solution for managing travel spend from end-to-end. The news came during the National Business Travel Association International Conference & Exposition being held this week in Boston.

Through the new partnership, KDS’s travel booking functionality will be integrated into the Travel and Expense™ module of Ariba’s Procure-to-Pay™ and Invoice Presentment and Payment™ spend management solutions, which are widely used by companies in the United States and internationally.

“Companies are increasingly turning to integrated solutions offering complete sourcing and procurement offering and until now travel was not available in these systems,” said Annicka Lofstrand, Business Development Director EMEA, KDS. “By teaming with Ariba, we can provide an industry-leading end-to-end offering that enables corporate travel managers and procurement managers to achieve these goals and measure them on the same platform as all other spend categories.”

“Corporate travel procurement executives are under increasing pressure to implement processes and solutions that deliver savings and efficiencies,” said Charles Brossman, Solution Line Manager, Ariba Travel and Expense. “In order to do this, they must look beyond point solutions that focus exclusively on travel and leverage offerings that allow them to manage their spend in a more comprehensive way.”

In joining forces with KDS, Ariba will enable companies to combine travel with other spend categories and drive everything from sourcing, procurement, invoicing, expense, reimbursement and analysis using a single solution. An industry first, the new offering will allow travel procurement executives to improve cost control efforts, create process efficiencies, drive compliance with managed travel programs and deliver greater results and ROI.

Ariba® Travel and Expense™ – On-Demand Key Features:

Ariba Travel and Expense combines proven technology with spend management best practices to help companies better manage their travel-related spend. With the integration of KDS travel services, companies can manage online, offline and webform travel booking right from their procurement system, creating a closed-loop system and policy compliant process that drives savings more quickly to the bottom line. Leveraging the new features, companies can:

Drive compliance with corporate travel policies and curb maverick spend
Increase accuracy of expense data and improve audit and regulatory reporting processes
Enhance visibility into spend and drive more optimal sourcing
Better manage supplier relationships
Perform more detailed travel commodity reporting

“Spend management is a critical driver of effective corporate travel strategies,” Brossman said. “With our closed loop system, corporate travel professionals can move beyond managing routine processes and engage in strategic activities such as evaluating new global and domestic sources of supply, managing existing relationships, negotiating optimal contracts and analyzing spend at granular levels to drive better business decisions and bottom-line improvements.”

Availability

Ariba’s on-demand Travel and Expense solution is available and in use by customers today. During the fourth quarter of 2007, integrated KDS functionality will be delivered in the Ariba Travel and Expense module of Ariba’s spend management solutions, including Ariba Procure-to-Pay™ and Ariba Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment™.

About Ariba, Inc.

Expense Claim Study Now Available

sberteloot — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:42:44 +0200

Description:

Download the study

(You need to be logged on in order to have access to this document)

Publication Date Auto:

1182850964