Financial executives are set to keep a much closer eye on purchasing processes and T&E expenses in 2006, a survey of US companies has revealed.
The American Express 2006 Expense Management Benchmark Survey found that many of the 255 companies polled planned to make compliance a priority next year while 30% said it was a "burning issue."
Part of the concern comes from the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act which, passed in the wake of financial scandals like Enron, requires a more accurate disclosure of company information with criminal penalties for executives and directors who fail to do so.
But the Amex poll also found that 47% of the companies thought their spending on T&E would rise by up to 10% in 2006 while 9% said it would rise by more than that.
A majority forecast that by 2010 the level of business travel would be higher - with 10% noting it would be "dramatically" greater and 51% saying it would be "somewhat" greater.
One third polled said their business travel would remain the same, while only 6% said travel activity would decline.
The vast majority (92%) of companies felt "confident" that employees followed travel policy and 49% felt they had a "high" degree of control over spending processes.
But when it came to business travel, almost two thirds (63%) said that their companies scrutinize employee T&E spending reports "much more" or "somewhat more" carefully than in the past.
Anre Williams, executive vp for Amex's US Commercial Card, said: "Focusing on spending policies supports good corporate governance and drives bottom-line savings. CFOs realise that it's not enough to make rules; they also need to enforce them."
The survey found that 22% of companies said that within the past year they had taken punitive actions against employees for expense-reporting abuse.
"A few years ago, mid-sized companies began implementing corporate card programmes to provide convenience to traveling employees," Mr Williams said.
"Now, in contrast, firms are seeking corporate card programmes as a way to monitor out-of-policy spending and drive savings."