SAP Concur has unveiled two new Concur Expense add-on services designed to help corporate finance departments and budget managers navigate challenges arising from changing international tax regulations and employee spending patterns stemming from Covid-19.
The first new offering, Concur Tax Assurance by VATBox, uses artificial intelligence to help ensure companies are in compliance with value-added tax regulations and maximize recovery of such taxes. Offered in partnership with VAT compliance and reclamation specialist VATBox, the tool confirms data integrity for international spending to help solve a key challenge in VAT reclamation for many companies; a 2018 study by VATBox found that 42 percent of employee expense transactions didn't meet VAT reclaim requirements due to incorrect information and/or missing data. Over the past year, the global Covid-19 pandemic has complicated the issue, with many jurisdictions enacting temporary or permanent changes to VAT regulations, making it harder to ensure compliance and maximize reclamation using manual processes, Concur noted.
The expense management giant's second new service, Concur Detect by Oversight, addresses expense fraud. Offered in conjunction with spend auditing specialist Oversight, Detect automatically analyzes all expenses before and after payment to spot suspicious or potentially fraudulent claims. According to a 2020 report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, a lack of internal controls contributed to nearly one-third of all instances of corporate expense fraud attempts. And the drastic increase in work-from-home models amid the ongoing pandemic has led to an increased risk of expense fraud and policy violations, according to data.