Expenses Cost UK Small Businesses 13 Days a Year
- Over 60 per cent Spend Longer Dealing With Expenses Than Working on New Business
- Four out of Five Owners 'Concerned' by how Much Employees are Expensing
LONDON, April 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A survey of over 400 owners of small or medium sized businesses (SMBs) reveals the impact of filing, sorting and paying out expenses on the 1.2 million SMBs in the UK[1]. According to the data, UK SMBs spend an average of 13 business days[2] per year managing expenses, a significant drain on time and resource for growing companies. In fact, when compared with other vital business activities, a large percentage of SMB owners admit that their company spends more time managing expenses than they do on generating new business (63.2 per cent), thinking about the future of the business (54.1 per cent) or investigating new markets (48.8 per cent).
The survey reveals that - in addition to eating up valuable time for more important activities - the expense reporting process is also a cause of worry and concern for SMBs. Nearly four out of five (78.6 per cent) express concern about how much money employees are spending on expenses. Also, with the MPs expenses scandal fresh in the memory, one in four (27.3 per cent) voice concerns about staff expensing items they should not. In addition, a quarter (25.2 per cent) think that employees could be spending too much, and a third (31.7 per cent) are concerned that some of the expense claims made by employees maybe unnecessary, but they don't have time to check.
Isabel Montesdeoca, Vice President at online expense management software provider Concur (http://www.concur.com/en-uk/) comments: "SMB owners find that they waste far too much time and energy managing the expenses process. And yet worries remain among SMBs that all those efforts still leave them lacking the proper controls and visibility. If the right technology is put in place, expenses can be straightforward and transparent, giving confidence to focus on more important parts of running a company."
The survey also reveals one in four SMB owners (27.1 per cent) are unsure that all of the expense claims they pay out are justified, and one in six (16.3 per cent) SMBs admit to having no clear written policy for expenses in place.
Although expenses can be easily streamlined for cost efficiency with an automated system, only 39.8 per cent of SMBs currently use one. Given the importance of cash flow to smaller businesses, and the current climate for small business loans, the expense process is a clear stumbling block for many SMBs. Montesdeoca continues: "Not only is bad expense management a drain on resources, it's also an area of company expenditure that can easily escalate out of control without a proper system in place."
Automated expense management tools can make it easy for small businesses to submit and track expenses (http://www.concur.com/en-uk/small-business) online or via mobile (http://www.concur.com/en-uk/features/mobile) and convert paper receipts into digital records. Concur, a global leader in integrated travel and expense management ( http://www.concur.com/en-uk/enterprise-software/premier), today launched the UK version of its SMB specific solution, Concur(R) Breeze ( http://www.concur.com/en-uk/small-business) which opens up this technology to even the smallest of companies - down to the one person organisation. Automated solutions like Concur's enable employees to easily track expenses incurred on behalf of their company and automatically integrate credit card information allowing quick submission, approval and complete reimbursement. In addition, the solution provides visibility and control for SMB owners to keep track of the money flowing in and out of the business, and the reasons behind employee spend.
About Concur
Concur is a leading provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions for companies of all sizes. Concur's easy-to-use web-based and mobile solutions help companies and their employees control costs and save time. Learn more at http://www.concur.com/en-uk.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Survey statistics:
The research for Concur was carried out by Opinionmatters.co.uk between: 03/03/2011 and 23/03/2011 with a sample of 401 SMB owners in the UK. For the purposes of the study, SMB constitutes any company with 249 employees or less.
1) If you were to add up all of the hours spent.... how long do you think it takes you and your staff to file, sort, get all the receipts and pay out all the expense claims you get each month?
Less than 5 hours 22.7%
5 to 10 hours 38.5%
10 to 15 hours 14.6%
15 to 20 hours 9%
20 to 25 hours 2.9%
30 hours plus 0.5%
I don't know 11.7%
Average time spent processing claims = 8.7 hours
Multiply figure by 12 (months of the year) = 104.4 hours
Divide figure by 8 (hour working day) = 13.05 days
2) How does this compare to the time your business spends on the following?
New business
More 63.20%
Less 14.40%
Same 13.20%
N/A 9.30%
Meeting with staff
More 22.40%
Less 28.00%
Same 35.10%
N/A 14.40%
Securing funding & financial backing
More 30.00%
Less 23.40%
Same 36.60%
N/A 10.00%
Networking with peers & prospects
More 27.80%
Less 27.60%
Same 33.90%
N/A 10.70%
Creativity/brainstorming
More 20.20%
Less 42.70%
Same 25.60%
N/A 11.50%
Thinking about the future of your business
More 54.10%
Less 16.30%
Same 18.80%
N/A 10.70%
Investigating new markets
More 48.80%
Less 17.30%
Same 17.30%
N/A 16.60%
Reading about your industry
More 37.10%
Less 18.50%
Same 23.40%
N/A 21.00%
3) How do you currently deal with expense claims?
We hand in paper receipts 42.4%
We use a spreadsheet application like Excel 37.3%
We use an automated expense management system 18.8%
Other please specify 1.5%
4) Are you sure your business only pays out expense claims that are justified?
Yes 72.90%
No 7.60%
Don't know 19.50%
5) Do you worry about how much is being expensed to your business?
Yes, I worry about it a lot 26.6%
Yes, I worry about it a little 52%
No, I don't worry about it 21.5%
6) If yes, what exactly do you worry about?
I don't have visibility into what is being spent 40.7%
That some of the expenses are/may be unnecessary and I
don't have time to check 31.7%
My employees are expensing items that they should not 27.3%
My employees are spending too much on expenses 25.2%
Nothing specific 7.5%
Other please specify 0.3%
7) Does your company have or plan to invest in an automated expense management system?
We have this 39.80%
We plan to invest in this 11.50%
We don't plan to invest in this 26.10%
Don't know 22.70%
8) Do you have a written policy on what employees can/can't submit as expenses?
Yes 83.70%
No 16.30%
9) Do you know how much is paid out each month in expenses?
My accountant knows 36.3
I have a rough idea 36.2
I don't know 19.8
Yes, to the penny 11.7
Other 0.2
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[1] Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Statistics for the UK and Regions 2009 (Wednesday 13 October 2010)
[2] Based on a standard eight hour working day
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