Concur Adds Auditing Capability

Expense management providers are augmenting their tools and services to assist clients with back-end monitoring of travel and entertainment expenses, including the launch this month of a new auditing service by Concur Technologies.

Concur said dedicating resources and personnel to receipt verification could help clients cut hours and costs associated with audits. The audit service is customizable, so Concur can conduct random audits and complete audits targeting specific users.

Most companies have the resources within accounts payable to do their own auditing, but Concur can add value with the service, particularly for companies looking to outsource, said Bob Langsfeld, a consultant with Corporate Solutions Group. "It might be a good opportunity for off-loading or reducing headcount," he said.

Gelco Expense Management, meanwhile, already has an auditing service and recently improved its approval-process capabilities. Users now automatically can reroute reports to the appropriate personnel if they exceed the approval limit of a particular reviewer, implement a first or last review of reports and hold reports for routing until all receipt imaging is received, said Jodi Lebow, Gelco's marketing manager. Gelco claims the tool can cut approval process time by as much as 60 percent.

"Over the years, we've heard unique ideas about how companies want to route expense reports through approval processes," Lebow said. "We've been building in more flexibility."