AUDITING


corporate card auditing STEPS


to trouble-free


Those little bits of plastic are supposed to make life easier for all concerned – and that should be true for the finance department too, says Alex Blyth


can be tracked and analysed over time, and often the card provider offers additional benefits, such as automatic insurance on purchases. But when it comes to auditing, corporate cards can suddenly become much more complicated. Sanjay Parekh, managing director


I


at Web Expenses, says: “Offering corporate cards can in some ways exacerbate expenses-management problems rather than solve them. People tend to be more liberal with corporate credit cards because it’s not their own money. Finance teams are left with credit card statements and little option but to sign off at the end of the month.” He says that without monitoring, there is no way of controlling what is being spent, or ensuring that spending complies with company expenses policies. He continues: “Having and


issuing corporate credit cards is, unfortunately, not enough and organisations are exposing themselves significantly. If they are not policing how they are used, it is difficult to prove legitimate spending, and even more difficult to distinguish between accidental and intentional fraud.”


26 • Buying Business Travel 2013


n many ways, corporate cards make life much easier for corporate travel buyers and bookers – executives’ spend is all in one place, and


For the travel buyer this can mean that come audit time the finance department arrives with a series of questions, a raft of complaints about how cards have been used, and an avalanche of work to dump on to the already over-worked travel buyer. It is not only that the finance department is keen to ensure compliance with


“Offering corporate cards can in some ways exacerbate expenses-management problems rather than solve them”


internal policies – it also needs to ensure it can account to HM Revenue and Customs for all spending. As Sarah Keane, commercial director at Corporate Pay, puts it: “Payment models over the years have all fallen victim to inefficiency, and among the biggest challenges currently facing the industry are the impact of credit card surcharges and the reconciliation and auditing of spending on those cards.” So what can travel buyers do to


avoid this happening? Here are seven steps for you to follow to ensure you work smoothly with finance, and to keep corporate cards the stress- reliever they really should be.


1


ENSURE SPEND IS LOGGED


IMMEDIATELY For Faisal Jafri, senior product


manager at Barclaycard, the key is to allow travellers to log spend immediately. “Issues arise when audits take place months after the event,” he explains. “An executive might have travelled first class to Liverpool in the middle of February, because the fare happened to be cheaper or because he or she was travelling with a client. It could very well comply with company policy, but by the time the auditors come to ask the question in November the individual has almost certainly forgotten that reason.” Jafri advises organisations


to use Barclaycard Compliance Manager, a tool that allows employees to log the expenditure at the time it took place. He says: “It allocates immediately a score to that transaction based on how closely it complies with company policy. This allows managers to see instantly if someone is spending off policy and to then either amend the purchase or log the reasons for it. Organisations, such as the US Department of Defence, are finding it makes the auditing of corporate cards significantly easier.”


In association with


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156