Expense reports are a habit for 80% of French executives. But its management is increasingly problematic, according to a study* by Ifop for Mooncard.
In fact, between rising expenses (especially fuel) and delays in reimbursement, some employees find themselves in financial difficulties, or even bank overdrafts.
In concrete terms, a third of executives (of those who compile expense reports) say they have already found themselves “in financial difficulties” because of their expense reports (13% “several times”). This rises to 37% for those under 35 years of age and 57% for executives of households with three or more children.
Among those who have experienced financial difficulties due to expense reports, 58% have already been in a bank overdraft situation, that is, 14% of the total executive population (1 in 7).
The larger the company, the longer the repayment periods.
In addition to the increase in expenses, it is the reimbursement processes that are pointed out by the executives. Only 18% of companies reimburse in less than a week, compared to 47% in two weeks or more.
The larger the company, the greater the delays: 37% of executives at very small companies (10-19 employees) have to wait more than two weeks, compared to 53% of those at large companies with more than 5,000 employees .
In fact, 31% of managers fear not being reimbursed after an advance payment of expenses (35% in 2021), while 60% fear losing receipts for their expenses.
“We knew that expense reports weighed on executives’ finances, but not that much. The results of this survey should alarm us because inflation could quickly aggravate the situation. They also invite us to reconsider the cause of the very concept of expense reports: is it still normal to ask employees to advance money to their employer? Although we have all the tools to eliminate advance payments, it would be a true social achievement”, says Pierre-Yves Roizot, CEO of Mooncard.
4% of executives declare more than 1,000 euros in expense reports per month
Not to mention the often messy refund policies. The study cites one example among others: “A colleague who was entitled to eat during a trip, was not hungry and had settled for a Perrier, and had been denied reimbursement on the pretext that we reimburse restaurants, but we don’t the bars.
As a result, satisfaction with expense reporting systems has decreased compared to the last survey, with 71% of executives satisfied, compared to 75% in 2021.
Consequently, in a difficult context, certain cadres were “refaireed” by two of the company’s education: 66% of ceux who ont left it in difficult finances also had to pass on personal expenses in notes of frais, against 18 % of mean.
Expense Report Portrait
80% of executives regularly write expense reports; 28% at least once a month.
On average, they make 7.8 per year, with large disparities in particular depending on the size of the company. Thus, it is in the VSE (10 to 19 employees) where the average is higher (17.1).
Executives in Ile-de-France are the lowest achievers (77%), compared to 80% in the Northeast, 81% in the Northwest, 82% in the Southeast and 83% in the Southwest.
82% of executives who telecommute at least one day a week report expenses.
51% of managers declare an amount less than 100 euros, 38% between 100 and 500 euros, and 1 manager out of 25 the exorbitant sum of more than 1,000 euros (4%).
Gender influences expense reports: men spend more. Thus, 26% of women declare a monthly amount between 0 and 50 euros compared to 21% of men; while at the other extreme, 5% of men declare more than 1,000 euros per month compared to only 1% of women.
They also generate far fewer expense reports than their male counterparts (5.7/year vs. 8.8/year)
*: The survey was conducted through a self-administered online questionnaire from June 22 to July 8, 2022, with a sample of 1,001 executives working in structures with 10 or more employees. Representativeness was ensured by the quota method (sex, age, activity sector, qualification level) after stratification by region.
Source: BFM TV
