Recent research from GlobalExpense, an expenses management provider, suggests that many employees say they will exaggerate their expenses claims from their employer if they get into financial difficulties, while nearly a third of all adults think exaggerating claims can be acceptable.
The research (based on a representative sample of nearly 2,000 adults) suggests that a fifth of expense-claiming staff admit to having exaggerated them. The average amount added to their most recent exaggerated expense claim was £13.81.
Exaggerating expense claims is seen as acceptable by 30 percent of all adults, especially in the following circumstances:
when the mileage rate paid by the employer doesn’t cover the actual car and fuel costs (76 percent);
when pay has not risen in line with inflation (40 percent);
when the employer is slow at paying back expenses (29 percent); and
when an employee feels they are not paid a fair salary (28 percent).
GlobalExpense conservatively estimates that about 3,750,000 UK employees claim expenses. Some 13 percent of expense-claiming employees say that it is likely or very likely that they will exaggerate their expenses if they find themselves in economic difficulties as a result of a recession, and think they can get away with it.
David Vine, managing director of GlobalExpense, said: “The writing is on the wall. The further the country falls into recession and people feel the pinch, the more employees are being tempted to fiddle their expenses.
“Adding around £14 to an expense claim may not sound much, but with over 3.7million employees in the UK who claim expenses, the amount of money that businesses are losing every day through fraudulent claims will be tens of millions of pounds. At a time when many businesses are battling with banks over their borrowings, every penny counts.
“Worryingly, 95 percent of people say that their employer has never queried or rejected an expense claim for being too high. Companies and organisations need to take this issue more seriously and put more effective controls in place. For example, if a business makes a net profit of 10 percent, then cutting expenses by £100,000 is the equivalent of making an addition £1m of sales – not small beer.”
Sainsbury’s in February renewed its contract with GlobalExpense. Clients include large and smaller businesses, including: Alcatel-Lucent Telecom; Brakes; Sainsburys; Global Radio Services; ASDA; and WHSmith plc. Business mileage is the most likely expense claim to be exaggerated, 60 per cent of claim-cheats exaggerated it. Followed by subsistence costs, such as food whilst away from home on business. Under 35s are more likely to think that exaggerating expenses is acceptable. GlobalExpense enables organisations to outsource their entire expense process to an expert third party and benefit it is claimed from increased accuracy and reduced administration costs.
