Do Not Gamble with Expense Reports!

Expense report fraud typically occurs when an employee submits an expense report that contains false or inflated expense claims. This could include claiming reimbursement for personal expenses as business expenses, or claiming reimbursement for a higher amount than was actually spent. Expense report fraud can also involve submitting fake receipts or invoices to support the false claims. In some cases, employees may collude with vendors or contractors to submit false expenses on behalf of the company.

Expense report fraud can be difficult to detect, as it often involves small amounts of money that may not be noticed in the normal course of business. It can also be difficult to prove, as it may require an in-depth review of the employee's expenses and documentation. However, companies can take steps to prevent and detect expense report fraud, such as implementing strict expense reporting policies and procedures, conducting audits of expense reports, and using software to automate the expense reporting process and flag potentially fraudulent activity.

There are several steps that a finance team can take to prevent expense report fraud:

• Implement strict expense reporting policies and procedures: Clearly define what expenses are and are not eligible for reimbursement, and require employees to provide supporting documentation for all expense claims.
• Conduct regular audits of expense reports: Periodically review a sample of expense reports to ensure that they comply with company policies and that the claimed expenses are legitimate.
• Use software to automate the expense reporting process: Expense report software can help to streamline the process and flag potentially fraudulent activity.
• Train employees on proper expense reporting: Educate employees on the importance of accurate expense reporting and the consequences of fraud. 
• Implement internal controls: Establish controls to ensure that expense reports are reviewed and approved by the appropriate individuals within the organization.
• Encourage anonymous reporting: Establish a system for employees to report suspicious activity anonymously, such as a fraud hotline.

By taking these steps, finance teams can help to prevent expense report fraud and protect the company's financial interests.

Expense report software can help finance teams implement these steps and automate the expense reporting process and reduce the risk of fraud in several ways:

• Automated expense report generation: Certain expense report software can automatically generate the expense reports for employees from incoming receipts, eliminating the need for manual data entry and reducing the opportunity for fraud. Expense report recognition service can act almost like an independent audit, where you have basically a 3rd party review the invoices and receipts, and flag possible issues.
• Utilization of multiple data sources: Some expense report software allows to automatically compare for example credit card or bank feeds with data generated automatically from incoming receipts. This way deviations can be automatically flagged, and escalated to different stakeholders, including finance.
• Streamline the review and approval process: Expense report software can help to streamline the review and approval process by routing reports to the appropriate individuals for review and allowing for electronic approval. Dynamic routing of approvals across multiple levels with escalation under certain conditions can help catch fraud or issues. The fewer steps approvers have to take to review reports, the more easily they will actually review reports.
• Make it easy to capture receipts for employees: Usability is a key consideration. If capturing receipts is very simple and does not require additional data entry, there is simply less desire to commit fraud. Employees are less lightly trying to get back at their employers and are instead delighted by how fast it was for them to complete their expense report. The right software and mobile applications can allow employees to track expenses in real-time already as expenses are incurred, making it easier to identify and correct possible errors and giving a company a more real-time view on expenses.
• Flag potentially fraudulent activity: Some expense report software includes features that can flag potentially fraudulent activity. For example, policies could be set up for you based on your desired business process and expense policy to flag possible deviations or policy violations, or even fully stop an expense report from submission in case of a policy violation.

The right expense report software can help finance teams reduce the risk of fraud and improve the accuracy and efficiency of the expense reporting process!

If you would like to discuss more about your needs and how ABUKAI may be able to help your business, please contact us.