Published : 6 years ago, on 28/06/2018

4,000 companies offer insight on how spending management impacts productivity with employees revealing the hidden headache of paying upfront for business costs

LONDON – Soldo, the London-based FinTech solving the challenge of automating, delegating and controlling company spending, asked 4,000 businesses about how their employees and finance departments tackled the task of expense management.

The research, undertaken independently by YouGov, revealed that one of the top concerns for employees is waiting for expenses to be reimbursed after they purchased something on behalf of the business. It also showed that the majority of UK businesses (49%) expect employees to pay for company expenses up front and to be compensated at a later date.

Employees admit to agreeing with initially consolidating expenses that will be repaid at a later date if the amount is feasible, however 33% of UK businesses ask employees to pay upfront whatever the conditions or amount and 1 in 10 employees have to wait longer than a week to get their money back.

With employees complaining across the board that claiming back expenses is one of the most prominent bugbears in their employment, it suggests directors at the top need to reconsider the negative impact this often delayed process may be having in the long run.

The results from the employees are particularly significant when taken in context with gripes aired by the finance departments. Expense management was similarly exposed as a headache for those responsible for company accounting. 22% of businesses are willing to leave a percentage of company money spent as unreconciled and unidentified at the end of each month, while nearly half of all UK businesses (45%) said that the level of control over company spending is one of the biggest challenges to the business in 2018.

Nearly a fifth (18%) of medium sized businesses cited how money spent is reported as their key area for concern. Another fifth of medium sized businesses (17%) said their main concern was controlling in what situations employees or departments could spend company money.

The paradox of employee expense management revealed is that although both employees and the finance departments have identified this area as a hidden headache, solutions are not necessarily implemented.

Soldo’s survey revealed that only 9% of businesses currently give employees cash in advance to cover any expenses. However half of finance decision makers asked thought that if employees were given spending cards that could be controlled fully, trust would increase in both the business and the overall financial process used inside the company.

Carlo Gualandri, Founder & CEO of Soldo said; “Employee expense management is a hidden headache for both finance teams and employees alike. A badly implemented system results in animosity from employees having to pay business costs out of their own pocket, and similarly creates more work for finance teams due to reimbursing and reporting expenses.”

“Soldo is able to completely eradicate this headache with an incredibly simple yet powerful spend management platform that offers a company spending account, linked to one or more cards for any employees, managed by the finance team or by other authorized employees.”