Four in 10 business travelers admit to using their corporate cards for personal purchases, according to a survey of over 2,000 travelers who had gone on at least four business trips within the past 12 months. Carlson Wagonlit Travel commissioned Artemis Strategy Group to conduct the survey from Jan. 29 through Feb. 9.
Forty-six percent of travelers in each the Americas and Europe and 38 percent in Asia/Pacific use their corporate cards for personal purchases. Sixty-three percent in the Americas and 58 percent of Europeans say their companies have policies against personal purchases on corporate cards, and in each region, 85 percent of those travelers say their companies enforce those policies. Among Asia/Pacific travelers, 69 percent said their companies have such policies and 87 percent of those enforce the policies.
Nearly half of all business travelers use their personal credit cards when traveling for business. Fifty-five percent of travelers from Asia/Pacific were more inclined to do so, followed by 48 percent in the Americas and 44 percent in Europe. "The use of personal credit cards for business expenses means companies find it difficult to track spend, and that makes it a lot harder to enforce policies, " CWT Solutions Group VP Christophe Renard noted.
Globally, 43 percent say corporate cards are their companies' preferred forms of payment for business travel; 26 percent say their companies prefer travelers to use their personal cards. Sixty-one percent of business travelers said their employers provide corporate credit cards; 67 percent of those in Asia/Pacific have a corporate card, followed by 61 percent in the Americas and 56 percent in Europe.