In a positive sign for business travel, a global survey by Corporate Traveller, the flagship SME division of Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG), has revealed that almost half (49%) of Australian and New Zealand businesses intend to increase their travel budgets this financial year. Yet 48 per cent believe automated expense tracking would be single most transformative tool in their travel program, suggesting that poor expense tracking, delayed reporting and inefficiencies are a real problem.

The survey of 562 business decision-makers, travel managers and authorised travel bookers across the Americas, EMEA and ANZ found that just 9 per cent of ANZ businesses were considering reducing their budgets this financial year. The trend towards greater spend and intention to travel is reflected globally, with the survey revealing 46 per cent of businesses in the Americas and 50 per cent in EMEA have increased their travel spend. 

However, more ANZ businesses indicated they are most in need of automated expense tracking tools than those that assess travel risks and monitor traveller safety (chosen by 23% of ANZ respondents), or tools that offer predictive analytics to optimise travel budgets and identify cost-saving opportunities (45%), and virtual travel assistants (34%). 

The comparisons are similar for businesses in the Americans and EMEA, where 46 and 53 per cent also need automated expense tracking more than automated risk assessments, predictive analytics and virtual assistants. 

Tom Walley, Australian-based Global Managing Director at Corporate Traveller, says: “Business travel may be back in full swing, but our findings suggest that many businesses are losing value and efficiencies through poor expense tracking and delayed reporting.

“As a travel management company for SMEs across nearly all industries, we know manual expense reporting is one of their biggest challenges. This is time consuming, prone to error, risks lost receipts and leads to delays in reconciliation and reporting. Without an automated expense system, tracking international expenses across multiple currencies is also difficult. Lastly, the lack of a clear and comprehensive travel policy without audits can lead to unauthorised travel claims. These issues lead to budget overruns, missed tax deductions, and costly inefficiencies that are identified months after the fact.”

Tom recommends booking all components of a trip in the initial booking process, to capture as much of the trip spend beforehand and to minimise on-trip expenses. “Around one third of travel expenses can be removed by booking all components of travel together with your travel management company or online booking tool. Your travel management company will ensure those expenses are in line with your travel cost policies and approval processes.” 
Corporate Traveller can also assign a corporate credit card to each traveller profile, to help control expenses and simplify reconciliation. 

“We can support customers with an on on-account credit solution that streamlines all travel expenses booked through Corporate Traveller, simplifying invoicing and reconciliation for travellers, finance teams and the business,” he said. 

“Where customers use corporate credit cards we work hand in hand with their card provider to provide rich enhanced data and provide invoice hand off to their expense provider in order to reconcile transactions.

“With business travel ramping up, companies need real-time visibility over their expenses. By having the right tools to manage every dollar spent along the way, and clear pre-approval processes within a comprehensive travel policy, businesses can take control of their travel budgets, reduce waste and eliminate the frustration of hidden costs.”

Corporate Traveller’s 6 tips to help businesses better control their business travel spending:

About Flight Centre Travel Group

The Flight Centre Travel Group is one of the world’s largest travel retailers and corporate travel managers. The company, which is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, has company-owned leisure and corporate travel business in dozens of countries, spanning Australia, New Zealand, the Americas, Europe, the United Kingdom, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and Asia. ASX listed Flight Centre Travel Group (FLT) also operates the global FCM corporate travel management network, which extends to more than 100 countries through company-owned businesses and independent licensees, along with Corporate Traveller, the flagship business specific to the small-to-medium-sized enterprise sector. For more information, visit fctgl.com.