Expense Compliance in the Age of AI: What SAP Concur Customers Are Saying

As organizations navigate evolving compliance requirements, growing expectations for efficiency, and new opportunities presented by artificial intelligence (AI), travel and expense (T&E) management continues to evolve. But how are businesses approaching these challenges today, and where are they focusing their efforts for improvement?

Through the SAP Concur Peer Pulse survey, we bring together insights from Concur customers to explore how organizations are managing their T&E programs and what their peers are prioritizing.

In our September 2026 customer survey, organizations from both the public and private sector, with 500 to 15,000+ employees, shared their perspectives on expense auditing, compliance risks, fraud prevention, AI adoption, and automation. The results reveal opportunities for strengthening compliance programs, differences in how organizations approach expense auditing, and growing interest in AI-powered solutions.

Here are some key takeaways by industry.

Strong compliance programs still have room to evolve

One of the most interesting findings from the survey is that organizations recognize opportunities to improve their expense compliance programs, even when they feel confident in their existing practices.

Among commercial organizations, 85% agreed their compliance programs have room for improvement, compared with 79% of respondents from regulated industries. At the same time, 79% of commercial respondents and 88% of regulated-industry respondents agreed they have strong compliance programs.

These findings suggest that many organizations see compliance as an ongoing process, with opportunities to strengthen controls, improve efficiency, and adapt to changing business needs.

How organizations identify non-compliant spending also varies:

• 31% of commercial respondents rely on internal audit teams, compared with 44% of regulated-industry respondents.
• 26% of commercial respondents use Concur audit solutions to identify non-compliant spend, compared with 14% of regulated-industry respondents.
• 22% of commercial respondents use automated audit solutions outside Concur, compared with 9% of regulated-industry respondents.

These differences highlight the range of approaches organizations are taking to manage compliance and identify potential risks.

Explore the full Peer Pulse findings for Commercial industries

Explore the full Peer Pulse findings for Regulated industries

AI is opening new possibilities for expense auditing and fraud prevention

As AI capabilities continue to evolve, organizations are considering how automation can support more effective expense management.

Our survey found that more than a third of commercial respondents are already using some AI capabilities in their T&E processes, while another 26% are evaluating AI use cases. Among regulated-industry respondents, 30% are already using AI capabilities, and 26% are evaluating potential applications.

But where do organizations see the greatest opportunity for AI?

Both commercial and regulated-industry respondents identified automatically flagging suspicious or non-compliant expenses as a leading opportunity, with more than a third of each group selecting this as the bottleneck they would most like AI to address.

Other priorities include reducing manual reviews and approvals, detecting duplicate or incorrect claims, and improving policy compliance.

These findings point to growing interest in using AI to support expense auditing, identify potential fraud, and reduce administrative workloads.

A closer look: What matters most across industries?

While compliance and automation are common themes, the Peer Pulse findings also reveal distinct priorities across industries.

Financial services: Exploring AI-powered fraud detection

Financial services organizations face ongoing demands to manage spending, maintain policy compliance, and identify potential risks.

Among financial services respondents, 77% agreed their compliance programs have room for improvement, while nearly half reported already using some AI capabilities in their T&E processes.

When asked which expense review bottleneck they would most like AI to address, 39% selected automatically flagging suspicious or non-compliant expenses.

These results highlight the interest in AI-powered expense monitoring and fraud prevention among financial services organizations.

Explore the full Financial Services Peer Pulse findings

Life sciences: Prioritizing automated expense monitoring

Life sciences respondents showed particularly strong interest in opportunities to improve compliance through AI.

92% agreed their compliance programs have room for improvement, and 69% reported either using some AI capabilities or evaluating AI use cases for expense management.

Perhaps most notably, nearly two thirds selected automatically flagging suspicious or non-compliant expenses as the bottleneck they would most like AI to address.

This finding highlights the potential role of automated monitoring in supporting life sciences expense compliance programs.

Explore the full Life Sciences Peer Pulse findings

Healthcare: Moving forward with AI adoption

Healthcare organizations are also exploring how AI can support more efficient expense management.

Among healthcare respondents, more than half reported already using some AI capabilities in their T&E processes, while another 23% are evaluating potential use cases.

Additionally, 87% agreed their compliance programs have room for improvement.

With respondents identifying opportunities in suspicious expense detection, faster processing, and reduced manual reviews, the findings illustrate how healthcare organizations are considering AI across several aspects of expense management.

Explore the full Healthcare Peer Pulse findings

Higher Education: Finding opportunities to improve efficiency

For colleges and universities, managing expense compliance often involves balancing institutional policies with the needs of faculty, staff, and administrators.

Among higher education respondents, 89% agreed their compliance programs have room for improvement, while about seven in ten reported using internal or manual methods to track compliance findings.

When asked where AI could help remove an expense review bottleneck, 35% selected improving policy compliance with fewer employee queries.

The findings highlight opportunities to simplify administrative processes while maintaining oversight of institutional spending.

Explore the full Higher Education Peer Pulse findings

Energy and Utilities: Evaluating the potential of AI

Energy and utilities respondents also expressed interest in improving their expense management processes.

57% reported evaluating AI use cases for expense management, while another 14% are already using some AI capabilities in their T&E processes.

When considering where AI could help remove bottlenecks, respondents identified both automatically flagging suspicious or non-compliant expenses and reducing manual reviews and approvals as priorities, each receiving 29% of responses.

These findings offer a snapshot of how participating energy and utilities organizations are exploring AI to support compliance and operational efficiency.

Explore the full Energy and Utilities Peer Pulse findings

What's next for expense compliance?

Across industries, the Peer Pulse survey highlights a common theme: organizations are continuing to evaluate how they manage expense compliance, identify potential fraud, and improve the efficiency of their T&E processes.

As AI and automation capabilities evolve, businesses have new opportunities to examine existing workflows, strengthen policy adherence, and identify areas where technology can support their teams. The findings also reinforce the value of learning from peers. Understanding how other organizations approach similar challenges can help T&E leaders evaluate their own programs, identify opportunities for improvement, and make more informed decisions.

Through the SAP Concur Peer Pulse survey, we'll continue sharing customer insights and industry perspectives to help organizations understand emerging priorities and evolving approaches to spend management.