Almost one in thirty SME employees falsely claims expenses
Posted: 09/03/2010
Workers in finance sector are worst offenders
London, 9th March 2010 - Almost one in thirty SME employees has falsely claimed expenses according to research commissioned by fuelGenie, the first ever business fuel card exclusively for use at multiple supermarket forecourts. At a time when business profits are under immense pressure, small businesses need to have robust expense practices in place – failure to do so will have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line.
Sarah Keane at fuelGenie said: "The fact that UK SME employers are allowing any employees to falsely claim expenses is astounding given the current economic situation. SME owners need to clamp down on staff dishonesty – their number one objective right now should be to control costs and conserve cash to prevent profits being further eroded – false expense claims undermine this goal."
Worryingly, the research found that workers in the finance sector are the most likely to lie about their expenses with nearly one in five (18.2%) admitting to having falsely claimed expenses. This means that for a finance SME with 200 staff, around 36 employees could be dishonestly submitting expenses. The figure for finance SME employees was significantly higher than for any other industry sector.
Younger employees, in the 16-24 yr old age bracket, are also the worst offenders when it comes to lying about their expenses, with 8.3% having falsely claimed an expense. Older employees (45-54 yr olds) are the most honest – 98.2% submit honest claims.
Sarah Keane says: "There are a number of measures employers can take to prevent employees from falsely claiming expenses. For example, managers should never accept expenses without a valid receipt and those who authorise expense payments should be trained so they know when to challenge a claim. Companies should also ensure that they have sound, up-to-date expense practices and that all staff are fully aware of them."
Keane continues: "One way for SMEs to control expense submissions is to provide staff with an expenses card and a clear set of usage guidelines. For example, managers can offer staff a fuel card for business-related petrol, such as the fuelGenie card, which provides an easy way for businesses to carefully track, measure and control fuel usage and expenditure."
Accepted at around 1,000 conveniently-located Morrisons and Tesco stores, fuelGenie provides an easy way for businesses of all sizes to pay less for fuel. With fuelGenie, the more vehicles a company has, the higher the cost saving.
The research, commissioned by fuelGenie and undertaken by Opinion Matters, was carried out amongst 549 adults who work in UK Micro and SMEs and who are able to claim expenses.
About fuelGenie
fuelGenie is the first ever business fuel card exclusively for use at multiple supermarket forecourts providing an easy way for businesses of all sizes to pay less for fuel. Today, it is accepted at around 1,000 Morrisons and Tesco stores across the country. fuelGenie has been designed, built and will be run by Atos Origin, an international IT services company. For more information and to apply for a card, visit www.fuelGenie.co.uk
Opinion Matters / Tickbox.net
Opinion Matters / Tickbox.net is a leading market research organisation, carrying out consumer, corporate and niche market surveys online amongst a 55,000+ UK member panel. Opinion Matters / Tickbox.net follow the codes of the MRS (Market Research Society) and are fully registered and compliant with the Data Protection Registrar.
SMEs lose £1.18bn of possible VAT reclaims each year
Posted: 07/12/2009
Bad expense practices costing businesses valuable money
London, 6th December 2009 – UK VAT registred SMEs are missing out on 1/4 of potential VAT reclaims due to sloppy expense practices, according to research commissioned by fuelGenie, the first ever business fuel card exclusively for use at multiple supermarket forecourts. Professor Stephen Roper, Centre for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, Warwick Business School, estimates that this equates to £1.18bn in lost fuel VAT reclaim potential.
Sarah Keane at fuelGenie said: “Petrol is the most common expense claimed by UK SME employees (60.5%) yet one in four fuel expenses are submitted without a receipt. SME owners need to clamp down on lax attitudes to expenses or risk losing much needed cash at a time when profits are under extreme pressure. Ensuring corporate expense policies are followed is something that can have a big effect on a company's bottom line.”
fuelGenie’s calculations show that on average, a VAT-registered company with five vehicles could reclaim around £1,000 for petrol per year, meaning that they are losing out on at least £250 of that.
Breaking the data down by region, the research found that when it comes to fuel-related expenses, SME employees in Scotland are the worst, with 40% never submitting a receipt, so 2 in 5 fuel VAT reclaim opportunities are lost in Scotland. Scottish employees were closely followed by SME employees in the South West (32.4%) and the South East (31.9%).
Employees working for SMEs in Northern Ireland came out on top, with a surprising100% always submitting a receipt. SME employees in Wales followed close behind, with only 6.35% admitting to never submitting a receipt.
When it comes to fuel expenses, older SME employees (45-54yr olds) are the worst offenders with nearly one third (31.2%) never submitting a fuel expense receipt. Employees in the 16–24 age bracket exercised the most robust expense practises with 84.2% always or sometimes submitting fuel expense receipts.
Surprisingly, SME employees working in the legal sector are the worst offenders across all the industries, with 60% never submitting a receipt with fuel expenses.
Stephen Roper, Professor of Enterprise at the Centre for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, Warwick Business School, said: “The fuelGenie research highlights just how important it is for SMEs to have strong financial management. During times of economic difficulty, one of the main reasons why SMEs go under is because they run out of cash. However sound a business is in other ways, successful cash flow management should be a key priority as it is crucial to success.”
Sarah Keane at fuelGenie continued: “When it comes to fuel expenditure, one way in which managers can better control cashflow is by offering staff a fuel card, which provides an easy way for businesses to carefully track, measure and control fuel usage and expenditure. The employer pays the overall bill centrally (removing the need to collate, process and store masses of receipts) and also receives detailed management information about usage.”
Sarah Keane continues: “fuelGenie is all about saving businesses time and money whilst making the process of petrol purchase and expense tracking hassle-free. fuelGenie users benefit from one monthly bill with a VAT breakdown to make it simple to reclaim VAT.”
Accepted at conveniently-located Morrisons and Tesco stores, fuelGenie provides an easy way for businesses of all sizes to pay less for fuel. With fuelGenie, the more vehicles a company has, the higher the cost saving – average annual savings (based on the number of vehicles) are:
5 vehicles = £200
50 vehicles = £2,000
100 vehicles = £4,000
250 vehicles = £10,000
Notes to editors:
The lost VAT reclaim potential figure was calculated through a combination of fuelGenie research, publicly available information and survey data owned by Warwick Business School.
The survey, commissioned by fuelGenie and undertaken by Opinion Matters, was carried out between 16th – 22nd October 2009 amongst adults who work in UK SMEs and who are able to claim expenses.
About fuelGenie
fuelGenie is the first ever business fuel card exclusively for use at multiple supermarket forecourts providing an easy way for businesses of all sizes to pay less for fuel. Today, it is accepted at around 1,000 Morrisons and Tesco stores across the country. fuelGenie has been designed, built and will be run by Atos Origin, an international IT services company. For more information and to apply for a card, visit www.fuelGenie.co.uk
Opinion Matters / Tickbox.net
Opinion Matters / Tickbox.net is a leading market research organisation, carrying out consumer, corporate and niche market surveys online amongst a 55,000+ UK member panel. Opinion Matters / Tickbox.net follow the codes of the MRS (Market Research Society) and are fully registered and compliant with the Data Protection Registrar.