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SaaS benefits are hard to ignore

Posted on May 9, 2013 by ExpenseOnDemand

Compelling benefits

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application software sits on a server in the cloud, eliminating the cost and resource required to run systems in-house. SaaS generally has little or no impact on in-house IT teams since SaaS providers often provide maintenance and training as well as technical and user support.

With compelling financial benefits including eliminating capital costs of server hardware and software, and the on-going expense of licensing, the trend towards online applications has been steadily growing in recent years.

Fast changing market has entered a new phase

Few marketplaces change as fast as the technology sector and over the last decade, many traditional IT hardware companies have repositioned themselves as software and services businesses.

M&A activity and start-ups mean that the market is in a state of constant flux. SaaS is the latest phase of this shift and SaaS companies are being snapped up by larger businesses in the quest for software and services expertise and capability.

This is not to say all SaaS companies are small. The poster-child of SaaS is Salesforce.com which provides a range of services around a core CRM application. Valued at over $19 billion it is hardly a snip and is unlikely to be snapped up by anyone!

Research by Gartner, one of the leaders in IT sector analysis, suggests that the market has entered a new phase of development. Many businesses have adopted SaaS to supplement and run alongside software run by the in-house IT team.

As in-house applications reach end-of-life, businesses may seek to rationalise software and are likely to replace in-house applications with SaaS because the benefits are just too hard to ignore.

Great value from Expense On Demand

For any business that needs to take control of employee expenses, Expense On Demand offers all the hard to ignore benefits of SaaS. However not all SaaS applications are created equal – some are just not as comprehensive as others.

Expense On Demand offers excellent value because the software is packed with advanced functionality designed to save you time and money. The team behind the application includes experts in financial accounting, tax and software development. Expense On Demand also provides pre-sales expertise to ensure a successful and trouble free implementation that will deliver value month after month and year after year.

Why not click this link to take a look at this case study about how we put expense management in for CTIL, a leading UK telecoms consolidation and rationalisation services company in just one week?

Click this link to see the press release ‘Gartner Survey Shows 71 Percent of Respondents Using SaaS for Less Than Three Years’ at gartner.com

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8 ways to cheat in the workplace

Posted on April 29, 2013 by ExpenseOnDemand

Workplace fraud increases in tough times

Many are aware that fiddling expenses is a popular way for employees to boost their incomes in difficult economic times. However, there are other ways too and with tough times set to continue, it’s prudent to be aware of how some employees try to supplement their salaries …

Common employee frauds

Expense claims – first on virtually anyone’s list of employee frauds. Travel, including vehicle  mileage, air tickets and taxi receipts are all major sources of expense fraud. Also watch out for food and beverage and incidental expense cheating. Often the more senior the employee, the larger the fraud.

Stock theft – employees may steal goods to sell on. This is not limited to retail or consumer businesses. For example, spare parts may be targeted by service engineers for private repair work.

Stealing raw materials – where goods are manufactured, materials may be diverted for personal use or for private sale. Timber, metals and construction materials are all targeted for this type of fraud and may implicate logistics workers to move materials around.

Inflating sales to hit targets – sales people often shift invoicing across monthly boundaries to smooth out their sales graphs. However, sometimes sales bonuses are realised by raising an invoice one month only to credit it back the next.

Invoices for undelivered goods or services – your employees may work in cahoots with suppliers to invoice goods or services that are not supplied. Goods or services for personal use can also be ordered without the co-operation or knowledge of the supplier.

‘Insider’ procurement – the process of sourcing goods or services may be corrupted by an insider that is able to influence the purchasing decision. This often provides the company with poor value, while leading to personal gain for those involved.

Fictitious employees – this requires access to payroll systems and processes and is usually only possible in businesses with sizable, distributed work forces. Fictitious employees are simply invented and paid a monthly salary.

Fake invoices – fake invoices may be placed into the accounts payable system and processed in the normal way. A ‘little and often’ approach can lead to this practice going undetected for long periods.

Prevent the Number 1 workplace fraud with Expense On Demand

Expense On Demand provides the management system required to prevent the Number 1 source of workplace fraud – employee expense fraud. Through use of a well thought out and designed online system which reinforces company expense policy, employees are prevented from submitting false expense claims.

Managing claims like this controls and reduces the cost of Travel and Entertainment expenditure. The process efficiency which is built into Expense On Demand also enables savings of typically 8 -14 percent.

Thinking of implementing an expense management solution? Click here to find out if the time is right for your business with ‘A finance manager’s checklist for employee expenses’ a FREE guide from Expense On Demand.

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Bankers tested for ethics and integrity

Posted on April 22, 2013 by ExpenseOnDemand

Initiative to test ethics and integrity

Finance industry trade body The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) has launched an initiative to test the ethics and integrity of workers across the entire financial services industry, something that it says is long overdue.

CISI which is a professional body for individuals working, or seeking careers in wealth management and capital markets, wants all of its members to undergo integrity screening or face losing their membership, as it battles to restore public faith in finance.

Previously, only individuals offering financial advice had the test imposed as a condition of membership of CISI and to comply with UK rules on the selling of investment funds to savers.

The initiative aims to impose the test on bankers working in areas like corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions, and traders in bonds, shares and derivatives.

Restoring the reputation of banking and finance

There would be few that would contest the view that the finance sector needs to restore its reputation; with LIBOR fixing, mis-selling scandals and the credit crunch all laid squarely at its door, the industry is in need of something to underpin its integrity and boost positive perceptions.

Headquartered in London, CISI has a global reach with offices in financial centres such as Dublin, Singapore, Dubai and Mumbai. In total numbering some 40,000, around 7,300 of CISI’s members have sat the Integrity Matters test. This presents users with six dilemmas, all based on real life examples from the financial sector. Each dilemma evolves over a series of time periods, with each response determining how the scenario develops.

However, with 1.1 million UK workers employed in the financial and insurance industries in the UK (March 2012) there appears to be a significant volume of finance and banking staff that will not have their integrity and ethics assessed.

Ethical behaviour with Expense On Demand

Some see the CISI Integrity Matters test as pointless. The test may prove that someone knows how to act ethically, but it is no guarantee that they will act with integrity in response to a situation. The same, however, cannot be said of users of Expense On Demand. Not only does Expense On Demand guarantee that those claiming expenses act ethically, it promotes integrity through encouraging cultural and behavioural change.

Expense claimants must act within the constraints of an organisation’s expense policy. Claimants are reminded at the point of entry of what the organisation’s policy is for any given expense item. The system can prevent the submission of claims for items that fall outside of policy.

Find out more about how an expense policy promotes integrity while building a more efficient business. Click this link to download ‘The quick expense policy guide’ FREE from Expense On Demand.

Click this link to see the story ‘Trade body rolls out compulsory integrity tests for bankers’ at uk.reuters.com

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Army school fees expense fraud results in detention

Posted on April 10, 2013 by ExpenseOnDemand

‘Help for Heroes’? More like ‘help yourself’…

Last month an ex-Army officer was sentenced to one year in jail for a fraud which enabled his children to receive an expensive private education, to which they were not entitled, at the taxpayer’s expense.

Former Lt Col Robert Jolleys denied 11 counts of fraud, deception and forgery which enabled his sons to be sent to private school. Over five years this expenses fraud paid school fees of £188,060.11. The Army provides a CEA (continuity of education allowance) which allows the children of service personnel to avoid disruptions to schooling which result from parental postings around the UK and abroad.

The CEA entitlement is provided only to those living in married quarters with their spouse. Separated from his wife at the time, the former officer carried on a charade maintaining that his wife and he lived together in army accommodation.

Has anyone seen my husband?

Exposed in 2009, the fraud was only revealed when his wife telephoned a senior officer to enquire on his whereabouts. After it was exposed, Jolleys set about trying to disguise the circumstances. As part of this attempt at deceit Jolleys is alleged to have bullied his wife into agreeing he was the primary carer and forged bank account forms to change the names of account holders.

It seems there are no boundaries to expenses fraud. Expenses cheats come from all walks of life and can be found at all levels of society; even those from whom we should expect the highest standards of honesty and integrity are susceptible. Privilege and opportunity are no barriers to fraud. For some they breed the belief that there is an entitlement to perks.

Highest standards of integrity with Expense On Demand

Expense On Demand supports the highest standards of honesty and integrity for those claiming business expenses. As the need for efficiency and cost control only continues to escalate, many organisations need to reduce T&E spend, re-charge to cost centres and prevent fraud. Find out if you are ready for expenses management. Click here to download our guide: ‘A finance manager’s checklist for employee expenses’.

Click this link to see the story ‘Army colonel Robert Jolleys jailed for school fee fraud’ at bbc.co.uk

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Budget 2013: Fiddling the biggest expense account of them all?

Posted on April 3, 2013 by ExpenseOnDemand

There’s a hole in my budget …

As The Budget 2013 was delivered on Wednesday 20th March 2013, there was a great hope that it would be water-tight and free of the controversy that led to the coining of the word ‘omnishambles’ last year.

There was to be no such luck for the Chancellor, however. As economists, analysts and the media picked through the fine print it emerged that there was indeed a hole.

Designed to help first time buyers get on to the property ladder, the ‘help to buy’ home loan scheme appears to be open to high earners, and provides an opportunity for the wealthy to purchase 2nd homes with subsidised borrowing.

While this appears to be a detail that can be fixed by revising the policy, there was also the accusation that figures had been massaged so the Chancellor could announce that the national deficit – in effect the UK’s expense account – had come down.

Figures managed to reduce the deficit

The drop in the 2012/13 deficit of just £100 million from £121 billion to £120.9 billion is attributed to various measures taken to manage the year in which spending falls.

Among the steps taken, The Treasury had enforced an £11 billion hold on minister’s end of year spending. Also, the payment of big international bills was shuffled, including payments to the World Bank and an £87 million environment fine to the EU.

Although many that run finances in business will regard it as standard practice to manage budgets by shifting expenditure across financial year boundaries, the motive here appears to be more to do with politics than solid financial management. The Chancellor has repeatedly promised that he would reduce the deficit and to fail would damage his reputation.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said The Chancellor had caused a “real economic cost” by trying to ensure he did not miss the deficit target — an “economically unimportant outcome”.

The chief of the IFS, Paul Johnson, said: “There is every indication that the numbers have been carefully managed.”

Transparency with Expense On Demand

Fiddling the books to meet the deficit reduction target has not been for anyone’s personal financial gain. However, there is something equally important at stake – political credibility and the personal integrity of politicians.

We are fortunate that modern government provides the transparency that allows us to see how the national deficit figures have been managed. Expense On Demand provides a similar level of transparency into business expense accounting. Expense On Demand helps prevent expenses being fiddled and provides the ability for real expense management and T&E cost control.

To find out more about how expense management reduces T&E, click here to download our FREE whitepaper ‘T&E Control on Demand’.

Click this link to see the story ‘Chancer of the Exchequer’ at thesun.co.uk

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Official: Academic study shows honesty and trust are good for the economy

Posted on March 18, 2013 by ExpenseOnDemand

High trust levels save on business transaction costs

An integrity study conducted by Essex University suggests that an erosion of trust between individuals has economic as well as social consequences. The author of the study report, Professor Paul Whiteley, states that an increase in dishonesty is usually accompanied by an economic downturn.

Professor Whiteley writes in the report: “Trust is important because it allows individuals to move beyond their own immediate family or communities and engage in co-operative activities with strangers. High level of trust in society help to save on what economists call transaction costs – the price people pay for doing business.

“In a trusting society these costs are likely to be small, since if people give their word that they will do something then generally they can be expected to deliver on that promise. There is no need to draw up elaborate legal contracts to enforce agreements.”

Low levels of trust raise the cost of doing business

The professor continues: “In a non-trusting society, however, things are different and enforcement mechanisms such as formal contracts and courts are required to ensure compliance, and these all make the costs of doing business higher. Clearly, integrity is essential to the building of trust.

“Empirical research suggests that societies in which trust and integrity are strong perform much better on a range of economic and political indicators than societies where they are weak.”

Decline of integrity over time

Much of this reflects the run into the credit crunch and the fallout that has been observed since. ‘Sharp practices’ – such as fraud and bribery – have been identified in many areas of business and society. As a result we have seen the cost of doing business soar, and the burden of compliance continues to mount, which is in itself a component of increased business costs.

A bit like the medieval Golden Age of Chivalry, the Professor alludes to a romanticised Age of Integrity by writing: “This highlights the need to research integrity and its apparent decline over time. It raises many important issues such as how do people actually define dishonesty? Can individuals genuinely disagree about what honest means in practice? Is honesty all of a piece or is it compartmentalised in people’s lives?”

Improve integrity of expense claims with Expense On Demand

Just like the Age of Chivalry, the Age of Integrity is unlikely to re-establish itself. The trend for increased business costs and an ever growing compliance burden is set to continue. Unfortunately this also means that expenses fraud is unlikely to decrease. However, you can improve the integrity of business expenses.

Expense On Demand safeguards against expenses fraud and controls T&E spend while squashing expense processing costs. The system also helps prevent bribery being hidden within business expense accounting, and helps to defend corporate charges of bribery.

Click here to download the FREE Expense On Demand guide: ‘Expenses Fraud: How to beat it’.

Click here to read the article ‘Honesty test: lack of integrity is bad for the economy scientists conclude at telegraph.co.uk

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£1 million taxi expense fraud at the CPS

Posted on March 12, 2013 by ExpenseOnDemand

CPS target of expense fraud by employees

The CPS (Crown Prosecution Service), the principal prosecuting authority in England and Wales, has been the target of a major expenses fraud by employees. Occupying such a pivotal position in the UK’s criminal justice system, it is only natural to expect the highest levels of personal and professional honesty and integrity from employees; there can be little doubt that to the CPS it is a matter of great embarrassment that two members of staff have been charged with £1 million fraud.

False witness care taxi claims

It is alleged that a finance manager and an administrative assistant conspired to commit fraud against their employer, West Midlands CPS. The charges state that the two conspired together to commit fraud by false representation. This involved submitting to the Crown Prosecution Service false claims for witness care taxi services to the value of at least £1,000,000 when the services had not in fact been supplied.

Malcolm McHaffie, Deputy Head of Special Crime for the CPS, said: “Following a complaint by the Crown Prosecution Service and a subsequent investigation by West Midlands Police into two members of CPS staff, I have carefully considered available evidence… I have now concluded that it is appropriate to charge both… with conspiracy to commit fraud.”

No organisation is safe from employee fraud

This case proves that no organisation is safe from expense fraud. If the CPS can be a target of an employee fraud such as this, then any business may be targeted. When it comes to expense fraud, highly trusted individuals in high profile, high integrity organisations may be as susceptible to fraudulent behaviour as ordinary employees.

A robust expense management system like Expense On Demand provides the process and policy reinforcement to prevent fraudulent claims. Locking in the audit trail and providing compliance with financial regulations, Expense On Demand not only prevents fraudulent claims, but provides the capability to spot trends or unusual activity.

Click here to request a demonstration of Expense On Demand. A personal presentation gives a great illustration of the benefits of Expense On Demand.

Click here to see the press release relating to the case on the CPS website.

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‘Work smarter not harder’ and outsource your own job!

Posted on February 25, 2013 by ExpenseOnDemand

Taking employee fraud to a whole new level

Most of us are familiar with some of the scams by which employees are able to defraud their employers:

  • Expenses scams where employees cheat by falsifying or exaggerating business expenses
  • Payroll scams in large companies where fictitious employees appear on the payroll
  • Accounts payable scams where fake invoices from fictitious suppliers are submitted

Expenses fraud is seen as a lesser evil when compared with the last two, which are highly refined scams. Incidences like these are relatively rare, and generally organisations are vigilant to prevent such activity.

But last month saw the emergence of a story that takes the history of employee fraud to a new level, and is more than worthy of a place in ‘fraudster folklore’.

Forensic investigation

Checks of log files at an American technology company showed an employee, a software developer, logging in remotely despite being sat at his desk in the office. Baffled by the anomaly and worried about the security implications, security experts were called in. The remote login originated in China and used highly secure RSA key fob-based authentication, similar to the type provided to secure online banking services.

A forensic investigation of the employee’s computer revealed hundreds of invoices for software development work from a third-party in China and the internet browsing history provided insight into the habits of a typical workday:

  • 9 a.m. – Surf Reddit and watch cat videos…
  • 11.30 a.m. – Lunch…
  • 1 p.m. – Ebay…
  • 2 p.m-ish. – Facebook & LinkedIn…
  • 4.30 p.m. – Update email to management…
  • 5 p.m. – Go home…

It transpired that the login from China was from a consulting firm that the employee had sub-contracted to carry out and submit his work, but at a fraction of his salary. He had simply sent his RSA key fob via FedEx to enable the login fromChina. ‘Work smarter not harder’ is a common mantra these days; however, whoever coined it probably didn’t have outsourcing your job to a lower cost labour economy in mind!

Eradicate fraud with Expense On Demand

In the grand scheme of employee scams, a little expense account padding seems to come near the bottom of the scale of employee frauds; after all, compared to fictitious employees, fake invoices and sub-contracting jobs it is often for relatively petty amounts. However, cumulatively, over a large workforce, expenses fraud can equate to very significant amounts which means it must be eliminated. Organisations with manual expense claims processes are especially vulnerable to expenses fraud.

Catching employees making fraudulent expense claims can be a slow and painstaking business; it is easy to cause offence to the innocent and forensic examination of the paper chase is time consuming.

Expense On Demand eradicates  such scenarios and provides a solution that lets businesses manage expenditure, reduce expenses spend and squash processing costs. Deployed in conjunction with a robust policy, Expense On Demand provides a strategic opportunity to take control and proactively manage expenditure. Click here to download our FREE guide for finance departments on how to beat expenses fraud.

Click here to see the story at the nextweb.com

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Horsemeat contamination symptomatic of wider lack of integrity

Posted on February 19, 2013 by ExpenseOnDemand

Labelling or regulatory issue; market forces or fraud?

As the authorities try to uncover the sources, our understanding of the scale of horsemeat contamination of processed meat products grows daily. From frozen burgers and ready meals through to school dinners and food service supply, it seems that horse may be widely available to eat although it seldom appears on the menu.

Although latest tests show around one percent of samples contain horsemeat, across Europe governments are struggling to uncover the full extent to which Europe’s food supply chain has been adulterated. At stake is the intangible asset that drives the global economy – consumer confidence. There are a number of ‘takes’ on how the situation has arisen:

  • On one level it is a labelling issue – horse is not listed in the ingredients
  • On another it is a regulatory issue – why are there no safeguards to prevent this?
  • On another it is market forces in action – demand for cheaper food has led to the use of cheaper ingredients
  • And yet another is that it is fraud – the result of an alleged ‘criminal conspiracy’

As more is uncovered, more is revealed about the globalised nature of the food supply chain. This raises a series of wide ranging questions; how do we ensure food security; are supermarkets too powerful? Should we reduce ‘food miles’ with a strategic policy to promote local food production and sourcing?

Regulation or self-regulation?

Many believe it is a regulatory issue. Like so many other examples in banking, politics, media and corporate finance, compliance has been found wanting; it seems that regulation is always one step behind corruption; regulations only ever seem to be tightened after the rules have been totally flouted or loopholes exploited.

A cornerstone of capitalism is belief in the self correcting capability of the market. If we extend this concept to compliance, there are many that would like to see regulation left to market forces, reducing state interference in society and commerce.

The case for self-regulation is strong: As it provides an opportunity to reduce the influence of the state, it allows bureaucracy to shrink, enabling ‘small government’. A smaller state, so the theory goes, equates to a cheaper state, reducing the tax burden on citizens. Case closed…

However, there is one major problem here; unfortunately across society and commerce, self-regulation has proved wholly inadequate and this is symptomatic of a lack of integrity.

Expense On Demand works where self-regulation fails

If we transpose the principle of self-regulation to expense accounting it can be seen that a lack of integrity is a major factor which influences fraudulent behaviour. On the subject of allowing employees to self-regulate their expense accounts, most employers would love to adopt a simple hands-off policy: ‘My guys are all honest as the day is long and loyal to the company’; but this is wishful thinking, a desire for a ‘romantic age’ of business integrity.

Safeguards in the shape of regulatory processes simply have to be in place to protect organisations from fraud. Expense On Demand provides the regulatory framework to prevent expenses fraud. Deployed in conjunction with a robust policy, Expense On Demand provides a strategic opportunity to actively manage expenditure, reduce expenses spend and squash processing costs. See how you can overcome the failure of self-regulation with expense management. Click here for a FREE trial.

Posted in Expenses news, General, Integrity | Leave a comment

Any platform, anywhere: Better mobile functionality from Expense On Demand

Posted on February 6, 2013 by ExpenseOnDemand

More than ever before, mobile computing is changing the way we live and work. With updated apps and compatibility with Apple’s Safari web browser, Expense On Demand now offers even greater flexibility and value.

iPhone app updated

The iPhone app, updated at the app store on 22nd January, enables employees on the move to carry out important tasks which are essential in the claims process.

  • Create expense – Enter a new expense item onto the system and select its category, enter the amount and a description of the item
  • Upload expense – the app lets you upload photographs of receipts and invoices snapped on the iPhone to support each expense item
  • Expense list – view your expenses items as a list sorted by date of entry

Now access Expense On Demand on your iPad

Expense On Demand is now compatible with Apple’s Safari web browser. This is compatible with iOS, the operating system for iPhone and iPad, and Mac OS X for desktop and MacBook computers.

This enables access to the same slick functionality that is available on Windows laptops and desktop computers.

  • Claimants – create and submit expense claims in minutes and monitor the progress of each line item throughout the approval workflow
  • Approvers – line managers and other approvers may review, approve and query claims and receipts online in seconds

Blackberry and Android users

If you use Blackberry or Android mobile devices, that’s fine too. You can now download the latest versions of the Expense On Demand apps from Blackberry World or Google play.

So which ever device you prefer, online expense claims have never been easier!

Posted in General, Mobile, Software news | Leave a comment