New American Express Reports drive Cost Saving and Compliance

American Express today launched its “Card and Travel Variance” reports in Asia Pacific which the company believes will help businesses save thousands of dollars each year through supplier negotiations and by identifying out-of-policy travel and entertainment (T&E) spend.

The new Card and Travel Variance reports feature consolidated Business Travel and Corporate Card data which enable customers to pinpoint the gap between the T&E an employee books and what they actually pay via company Corporate Cards. 

According to Pierric Beckert, Senior Vice President Global Corporate Services for the Japan, Asia-Pacific and Australia region at American Express, these new reports have been launched in response to growing demand from customers to understand exactly what and where their employees spend on T&E.

“The variance between booking and spend data can be turned into substantial savings,” said Mr Beckert. “These reports provide an easier method of identifying out-of-policy T&E spend by employees and highlight where spend with a supplier is higher than the bookings that are reported.

“If the Card and Travel Variance was 15% for a company that spends $3 million each year on a particular airline, it could be that $450,000 of spend is not being taken into account when negotiating with that airline, or up to $450,000 is excessively spent by employees outside of the company’s travel policy.”

“With the consolidated report, travel managers can easily identify any gaps that might suggest out-of-policy activity. Not only will it help companies identify the total cost of an airline ticket, it will be easier to identify employees who either don’t use the approved travel management company or book economy but then charge an upgrade to business or first class onto their Card at the airport.

“These reports will also help companies negotiate contracts and ensure purchases made are at the negotiated rates.” Mr Beckert said.

Card and Travel Variance reports will be available to American Express clients who have both the American Express Card program and book through American Express Business Travel. The reports will be available at no additional charge to clients on American Express @ Work, a hosted, web-based platform where customers can manage their programs.

The reports provide both summary and transaction level data for both air and car hire spend, and access to global Card and Travel Variance data.

Travel Card and Variance launched in North American and Canada in May 2005.

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