Employees are getting smarter with committing expense fraud

from our UK office

84% of UK office workers have never had their expense claims challenged or declined

New global research carried out by Webexpenses has put expenses under the microscope and uncovered a staggering insight into the sophistication of methods that employees worldwide are using to submit fraudulent claims and committing expense fraud.

In many instances businesses may not be aware of the complex nature of expense fraud and the multitude of ways it could be hitting their organisation. However, 2017 research found that, 42% out of UK office workers surveyed, agreed that if they are sensible with fraudulent claims they are unlikely to be challenged.

With mileage being the most commonly claimed back form of transport (57%) it wasn’t a surprise to learn that nearly half of employees (47%) admitted to increasing the number of miles they travelled, with many respondents confessing to “only ever adding a couple of miles on”. The justification seemed to come from the 71% agreeing that ‘most people increase the miles they’ve travelled’ and a further 43% who agreed with the statement ‘everyone over claims so they don’t see an issue with it’.

What’s more, it appears fraud has become further excusable by over half (51%) of UK respondents thinking if they travel for work they deserve a treat. This is further supported by the 16% that confessed to treating themselves, a partner or child to a present while away on a business trip. The results indicate that an increasing amount of employees think that if they put the hours in they deserve a reward, a concept that if ignored could cumulatively have a detrimental impact on company finances.

Read the full article on HR Review.

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