Yesterday was the busiest expenses day of the year, with finance teams facing a 139% rise in the number of claims submitted.
According to claims management software provider Concur, staff rushing to recover the coming cost of Christmas placed huge pressure on finance teams to complete last-minute submissions before the break. The expenses rush added even more stress to finance teams working hard to hit their 31 December year-end accounts deadline.
Based on trends from thousands of companies using Concur’s technology, the firm cited customer and employee entertainment as well as a backlog of receipts as significant factors in staff filing their expenses late.
Isabel Montesdeoca, Concur’s senior vice president and general manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said: “As wallets feel the strain of the festive period, claiming expenses suddenly springs to the forefront of minds. Due to the volume, accountants often have a very tough job getting everything processed before the Christmas break."
As a result, it was essential that employers supported their finance staff by looking at ways of making expense processes quicker and easier to reduce the need for them to put in late nights in the run up to Christmas. Introducing a proper contingency plan for the busy period could also help, she added.
