How to Control Government Employee Spend
Everyone who works in the public sector understands the unique responsibility that comes with managing taxpayer dollars. With access to public funds comes an elevated sense of obligation — not to mention a higher level of fiscal responsibility and greater public scrutiny on spending decisions.
With so much change to the world in recent months, state and local leaders have even more to consider when it comes to meeting these high expectations. For starters, supporting an almost entirely remote workforce and controlling spend requires a total re-evaluation of current processes and systems. One specific, and perhaps less-obvious, action that leaders can take to save money and satisfy taxpayers’ demands is to combat government employee fraud.
Automate it, for the people
Generally speaking, people are honest and want to comply with spending policies. That said, even the best-intended employees can go astray when faced with the triple threat of decentralized spending, manual processes, and poor or nonexistent data integration. These factors, either alone or in combination, add layers of complexity to financial systems and make it far more likely that employees will either see an opportunity to commit fraud or, more likely, make an honest mistake that leads to fraudulent spending.
Automating spend processes allows agencies to create customized, built-in policies that map to the ways in which state and local government staff work. By implementing a system that automatically flags inappropriate expenses, you can catch mistakes and potential fraud before reimbursements occur.
Additionally, finding ways to evolve your spend solution is bigger than shifting technologies. By offering a system that aligns with the ways in which employees spend money, you’re signaling a willingness to meet employees where they are in terms of spend preferences.
A simple and powerful solution
SAP Concur solutions integrate and automate expense, invoice, and travel data into a single solution that helps employees accurately and efficiently manage spend. Our products and services also make it easy for staff to comply with relevant rules and regulations — without bogging them down in extra steps or arcane knowledge of spend policies.
When you fold compliance into your spend processes, everyone benefits. And by empowering employees to use a system that leverages preset criteria, automatically gathers data, receipts, and other key information, you can streamline the expense reporting process and put an end to fraud.