New expense data from Concur helps Finance Departments Brace for a manic Monday
Mumbai, India, December 18, 2014: Concur the world’s leading provider of spend management solutions and services, today released a new analysis that shows the third Monday of December has consistently been the busiest expense (claims) day. The analysis identified December 16 as the busiest day for expense claims in 2013, based on data from the 23,000 companies and 27 million users in 150 countries using Concur travel and expense management solutions. This year, accountants and finance departments worldwide can expect an unusually large volume in expense transactions starting Monday, December 15.
“Knowing what lies ahead is the first step to streamlining expense processes,” said Neil Charney, vice president for Concur. “Our data shows this is a critical time of the year for employees to tackle the back-log of expenses and there’s an increasing number of users taking advantage of mobile tools and services to submit their reports. For those who’ve replaced ineffective and manual methods with automated solutions, reports can be created and approved in time for the holidays and before the end of the quarter.”
The latest analysis reveals key trends in expensing, especially how web and mobile technologies are shaping the way businesses manage expenses. News highlights include:
- Businesses are making big “digital” strides:
Businesses are increasingly adopting web and mobile technologies to manage their expenses. Last year, the daily averages for web-submitted and mobile-submitted expense reports hit a record-high. At its peak on December 16, overall submitted reports saw a 221 percent jump from the daily average since the previous year.
- Mobility is where the future is headed:
Two-thirds of Americans now have smartphones and more time is currently spent on mobile apps than on the web. The shift toward mobile has given business users a preference for converting paper receipts into digital records. Photo capture is, by far, the Concur mobile app’s most popular feature. On December 16 last year, Concur mobile users uploaded over half a million receipts, registering a 259 percent increase over the daily average.
- Apple is preferred:
Apple’s mobile operating system continues to dominate as the platform of choice for U.S. businesses. Overall, 88 percent of mobile customers used iOS-powered devices while just 11 percent used Android. This is an interesting contrast to worldwide trends for smartphones where, according to IDC, Android had nearly 84 percent of smartphone OS market share in Q3 2014, compared to just 12 percent for iOS.
- Most expensed items:
Lodging and airfare were the most commonly expensed items on December 16, 2013, accounting for more than $110 million. Meal and phone expenses rounded out the top four.
- Top expensing industries (via mobile):
Four business industries accounted for more than 37 percent of all mobile expenses submitted in 2013. These industries are:
- Healthcare – 10.8 percent
- Pharmaceutical –10.3 percent
- Retail – 8.8 percent
- Industrial Manufacturing – 7.7 percent
“The mind shift and rise of mobile moments in our day are just getting started. By 2017, 2.5 billion people will own smartphones and 905 million people will use tablets at home and work — nearly three times as many as in 2013.”
