Compliance as a Foundation: How CenTrak’s CFO Uses SAP Concur to Run a Tighter, Faster Finance Operation

Brian Vance is CFO at CenTrak, a healthcare technology company that has more than doubled in size over the past eight years. He came into the role and immediately saw an opportunity to do compliance better. SAP Concur was already in place. Intelligent Audit was not. 

CenTrak builds real-time location technology for hospitals, namely tags and badges that track assets, protect patients, and help nurses get help quickly when they need it. It’s a business focused on helping healthcare environments run more smoothly. Brian quickly saw an opportunity to apply a similar philosophy to Centrak’s internal finance function: find manual processes that are slowing things down and replace them with something more efficient and scalable. 

We spoke with Brian at Fusion 2026 about what he found when he arrived, what adding Intelligent Audit changed, and why compliance is, in his view, the only non-negotiable when evaluating a T&E platform.

How CenTrak achieved 100% expense report audit coverage with Intelligent Audit 

When Brian joined CenTrak, T&E compliance was running through one accounts payable clerk who was manually reviewing expense reports for policy compliance. Only 65 to 70 percent of expense reports could realistically be reviewed by one person. The rest moved through without a full review simply due to the limits of a fully manual process. 

Brian saw the opportunity to introduce Intelligent Audit, which was readily available within the Concur portfolio. The combination of AI-based review plus human oversight now covers every single expense report submitted at CenTrak, with no exceptions.

“You can never capture 100% of your expense reports in a manual process. It’s impossible. Now, with Intelligent Audit, 100% of our expense reports are reviewed. That means no leakage, nothing running under the radar.” 

- Brian Vance, CFO, CenTrak 

The impact goes beyond compliance. The move away from a fully manual process has freed up time on a small finance team. The AP clerk who was previously tied up in line-by-line reviews can now focus on higher-value accounting work, including the month-end close process. As a direct result of redirecting that capacity, CenTrak has reduced its close cycle from five days to three. 

The positive downstream effects compound. Faster close means faster financial reporting to leadership. And because the process is now automated and documented, external auditors have a clearer trail to review.   

Why a more detailed T&E policy reduces gray areas and improves cost control 

Before Intelligent Audit was in place, CenTrak’s T&E policy was about two pages long. It was intentionally broad, partly because enforcing a detailed policy manually creates as many problems as it solves: edge cases pile up, inconsistency creeps in between managers, and the AP team ends up making judgment calls that should not fall to them. 

Once every expense could be reviewed, CenTrak expanded the policy to eight pages. The added specificity covers questions employees actually have on the road: whether alcohol is allowed, which hotel tiers are acceptable, and what the rules are around entertainment and car rentals. A traveler who knows exactly what is in policy can make decisions without guessing. 

“When you have a two-page T&E policy, there is a lot of gray. When you are able to be very explicit with what will be accepted, it gives employees more confidence in what they can do when they are actually on a business trip.” 

- Brian Vance, CFO, CenTrak 

From a finance perspective, a more specific policy also means better cost management. Brian is clear that compliance is the goal, not cost reduction. But when employees know exactly what is in policy, the natural result is spending that stays closer to the lines the company has set. That has a real impact on cash flow, and that matters to a CFO who is running a relatively lean organization where every dollar of efficiency counts. 

How CenTrak manages the full T&E experience for a high-travel team 

CenTrak’s implementation teams and sales organization travel extensively, visiting hospital customer sites and building relationships across the healthcare sector. Getting the booking and expense process out of their way so they can focus on the work is a priority. 

Concur Travel handles booking within a policy-compliant framework so employees know at the point of selection which flights and hotels are within bounds. Because there’s less guesswork, CenTrak is not chasing out-of-policy bookings after the fact. Receipt capture through the mobile app means a photo taken at checkout is already in the expense report. Booked flights populate automatically. By the time a traveler is home, most of the expense report is complete.

“Because of the ease of it, we get expense reports filed much quicker. That lets us manage the close process and not deal with accruals piling up because T&E reports are not being filed on time.” 

- Brian Vance, CFO, CenTrak 

CenTrak also runs non-travel expenses through Concur, including P-card purchases. For Brian, the value is visibility. Smaller purchases add up quickly, and having everything in one system means he can see what’s happening in real time rather than learning about it long after the fact.

SAP Concur vs. alternatives: how CenTrak's CFO evaluates T&E platforms  

Brian has had conversations with other T&E vendors, including providers using the model where spend controls are applied at the point of purchase rather than after the fact. He sees the appeal. 

But when he evaluates what those alternatives actually deliver against what Concur provides, he says the comparison is not close on the dimensions that matter most to him: compliance and policy enforcement, a robust partner network, a quality booking experience, and auditability. 

“Concur is the most robust, the biggest solution, the one that provides you the most optionality, the biggest choice of TMCs, the best compliance solution. Because of that robust portfolio, you really have everything you need within the four walls of Concur.” 

- Brian Vance, CFO, CenTrak 

His single non-negotiable when evaluating any T&E solution is compliance. Brian sees compliance as the core capability that everything else depends on.  

“For us as a small organization, every bit of efficiency we can get is critical. Solutions like Concur allow us to operate more effectively, close our books quicker, and reduce manual processes. That is critically important to us.” 

- Brian Vance, CFO, CenTrak 

At CenTrak, travel and expense were already digitized. The major improvement came from strengthening the compliance layer with Intelligent Audit. 

That simple change eliminated blind spots in expense report reviews, freed up capacity that was being consumed by manual work, and gave the finance team the foundation it needed to move faster and report with more confidence.

FAQs

What is Intelligent Audit and how does it work? 

Intelligent Audit combines AI-based review with human oversight to audit every expense report submitted. At CenTrak, it replaced a manual process where one AP clerk could only review 65–70% of reports, and now covers 100% of submissions with no exceptions. 

How did CenTrak reduce its financial close cycle from 5 days to 3? 

By automating expense report review with Intelligent Audit, CenTrak's AP clerk was freed from manual line-by-line reviews and redirected to higher-value work, including the month-end close. That capacity shift directly reduced the close cycle from five days to three. 

How do Concur solutions help employees file expense reports faster? 

Concur Travel pre-populates booked flights into expense reports automatically, and the mobile app lets employees capture receipts at the point of purchase. By the time a traveler returns home, most of the expense report is already complete. 

What should a CFO prioritize when evaluating a T&E platform? 

According to CenTrak CFO Brian Vance, compliance is the single non-negotiable. He also looks for a robust partner network, strong auditability, and a quality booking experience — dimensions where he says Concur solutions outperform alternatives he evaluated.