Introduction

Before the move to Shared Services, when it was typical for each physical location to have staff with responsibilities for paying employees and paying vendors, the process for managing the compliance and reimbursement portion of the Travel process was commonly included as a part of the Accounts Payable organization.  Today, with the consolidation of work processes to a few global locations, and with continued advances in technology to streamline and automate end-to-end processes, the human effort required to process travel expense reports is a very different job than the work requirements to process vendor invoices.    

iPolling^TM Results Review

To better understand the reporting structure used for the Travel Expense team, the iPolling^TM technology was used to get real-time results on the current approaches at member companies.  The results suggest that three different categories are used – reporting into a process area, reporting to an end-to-end process or a function, and reporting directly to the Shared Services leader.   Almost half of the member companies have Travel Expense reporting into a process, with 36% selecting Accounts Payable, and 10% selecting Payroll.  For companies that have Travel Expenses reporting to an end-to-end process or function, 17% selected the Purchase-to-Pay process, 7% selected Travel Services, and 7% selected Human Resources.  The remaining 23% of member companies have the Travel Expense team reporting directly to Shared Services.  Here are the details: 

Here are a few of the comments from Peeriosity members related to this poll:

• Travel Expense reports direct to the Shared Services leader at a regional level (e.g. North America).
  

• Travel Expense reports directly to Shared Services. The T&E expense team is global and is regionally split to match BU’s geography.

• Concur is the T&E solution. However, Travel is managed by the Procurement group while Expense Reporting is managed by the Administrator in the Accounts Payable group.
  

• We have a team in Shared Services called Employee Services. Both Payroll and T&E are on this team. P-Card remains in AP.
  

• Previously, T&E was within the P2P structure. This has recently changed and now it’s part of the HR process reported in H2R.
  

• AP and T&E are both parts of the Purchase-to-Pay process for us.
  

• Technically into Accounts Payable, however, Business Expense and AP are considered equal and report to the same manager, who directly reports to the leader of Shared Services
  

Closing Summary

As companies have consolidated work activities and implemented the latest technology solutions, many have taken a closer look at reporting relationships for the Travel Expense team, with changes implemented to better reflect the new work environment.  While many companies continue to have Travel Expense report into Accounts Payable and, to a lesser extent, Payroll, the majority of companies take a broader view by having Travel Expense report either into an end-to-end process, directly to a function, or to Shared Services.  

Where does the Travel Expense team report at your company?  Does the selected reporting structure optimize career development, reward systems, and staffing opportunities for Travel Expense team members?

Who are your peers and how are you collaborating with them?

 “iPolling^TM” is available exclusively to Peeriosity member company employees, with consultants or vendors prohibited from participating or accessing content. Members have full visibility of all respondents and their comments. Using Peeriosity’s integrated email system, Peer Mail^TM, members can easily communicate at any time with others who participated in iPolling.