Britain ‘has £2bn expense bill error’
Mar 03 2009
Up to £2 billion in employee expenses is being wrongly approved by managers in the UK, research claims.
A report from business service provider GlobalExpense estimates that around £1.08 billion is paid out by firms in fraudulent claims from their workers, with 30 per cent of staff saying it is acceptable to exaggerate the size of their expenses.
In addition, a further £923 million, or 11 per cent of all claims, is wasted on items not covered by companies' expense policies - with charges for condoms, massages and passport renewals appearing in examples submitted.
The research examined 4.8 million expense claims from over 150,000 UK-based employees and contradicts claims by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and consultants KPMG that enterprises have reduced spending on expenses in light of the recession.
David Vine, GlobalExpense managing director, comments: 'The number one objective for most businesses right now is to control costs and conserve cash to prevent profits being further eroded. Employee expense payments come out of a company's bottom line and directly affect cashflow.'
Research from Opal Energy earlier this year claimed that 19 per cent of small companies report reducing travel expenses is their main cost-cutting priority, while 16 per cent said they will not cut spending on employee treats such as entertainment and tea.
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