National Magazine

The problem

• Time-consuming and inaccurate paper-based expense tracking system
• Lack of control and visibility of expenses being reported
• No corporate travel policy
• Limited access to business intelligence
• Lengthy reimbursement process

The solution

• Fully automated T&E expense tracking service
• Transparent expense data and reporting capabilities
• System collates useful trend information to formulate policy
• Pre-population of expense data from employees' Company Barclaycard
• Minimal IT involvement in deployment
• Upgrade with minimum disruption and no cost

The benefits

• 50% reduction in expense report processing times
• Corresponding reduction in staff required for processing expense reports
• Corporate travel policy formulated through service data
• Over £100,000 saved through the introduction of the expense tracking service
• Potential for improved VAT recovery

The National Magazine Company is one of the UK's market leading publishers of lifestyle magazines, producing some of the best known titles including Cosmopolitan, Harpers & Queens and Esquire. With high-profile international titles to create and promote, a large number of its editorial and sales staff staff travel regularly and incur expenses. Whether it's a features editor interviewing a famous film star in France, or the fashion director organising a shoot in Fiji, business expenses are a significant part of the publisher's costs. In fact, The National Magazine Company spends approximately £600,000 a year on travel and entertainment (T&E).

In contrast to this glamour, the method for managing and processing those expenses was far more mundane. Cash advances were common and the paper forms employees used to record their expenses often did not tally with the cash advance.

Often receipts were not submitted, adherence to company policy was poor and statistical information on expense data was practically non-existent. As a result, the company was losing money on expenses, and it took a great deal of time to identify who owed what, and to chase it up.

"Our magazines led the market because of their innovative and creative content. That means expenses can occur in the most unlikely places, so we needed a system that could check and validate expense reports," says Paul Saunders, Credit Manager at The National Magazine Company. "The expense report culture we had was outdated, costly and in need of streamlining. I had a good idea of what I wanted the system to be like, and of the three companies that we approached, Concur was the most professional. In addition to this, our parent company The Hearst Corporation, uses a Concur solution in North America."

"The National Magazine Company chose to implement Concur® Expense Service Pro because we needed a solution that was quick and easy to deploy with low upfront costs." Paul Saunders explains, "It was important that the service needs minimal IT input and that upgrades are made with the minimum of disruption and at no extra cost. That way we can focus on what we do best – publish magazines."

Another benefit is that because the service is available as a web-based application, it means that the staff can access the system wherever they are. For a company like The National Magazine Company that has such an internationally mobile workforce, this was very important. "The editor can now sort out his or her expenses while waiting in the airport – or at their hotel – rather than handing in a paper form once back at the office," says Paul. "It is a very efficient model for us."

Spend that employees make on their corporate card is automatically pre-populated into Concur Expense Service Pro. This means that staff do not need to enter these manually – they only need to add any out-of-pocket expenses such as taxi fares.

"It's a user-friendly system that's easy to navigate without any fuss, making it relatively painless for everyone to adopt," explains Paul Saunders.

Rules regarding The National Magazine Company's T&E expense tracking policy are built into the system. Now that these rules are transparent to employees, compliance rates have risen sharply. Previously, travel and accommodation were booked by individuals themselves, and because it was impossible to monitor this effectively, the costs were considerable. For example, business-class flights would be booked despite the fact that the company policy was to fly economy class.

Concur Expense Service Pro provides the company with detailed reports to assist in the control of actual spend, and has enabled The National Magazine Company to develop and implement its own audit rules. Before using the service, expenses were often submitted without a corresponding receipt – now expenses will only be paid with a receipt. Capturing these receipts will make it easier to reclaim VAT.

During their first year of using Concur Expense Service Pro, The National Magazine Company has saved over £100,000. Saunders attributes this to having T&E rules in place that staff adhere to. For example, travellers now travel economy rather than business class. Furthermore, the company has negotiated preferred rates at restaurants, hotels and bars, which has substantially cut entertainment costs.

"As well as these huge improvements in company policy, and massive savings, we have streamlined our accountancy processes," says Paul Saunders. He estimates that it took the company's back office on average two minutes to enter each expense report using the manual system. But now with Concur Expense Service Pro, this has been halved. "With a paper-based system, we had four people inputting expenses. Now we have only two, and a corresponding 50% reduction in processing time," he explains.

Following this initial success using Concur Expense Service Pro, The National Magazine Company is planning to use the new system to help on VAT reclaiming, which Paul estimates will save the company a further £60,000 annually. "Having Concur managing our T&E expenses has been enormously beneficial," he says. "The savings and benefits that we have seen so far have been fantastic."