Concur Expense data shows increased spending in 2024

A look at Concur Expense data shows higher spending on business travel in 2024 than in the previous year. SAP Concur looked at domestic and international air travel bookings in the United Kingdom (UK) in Concur Travel for 2024 and compared them to those in 2023. It found that international travel volume increased by 5% while there was a slight decline in domestic travel.

After looking at volume, the return to business travel made SAP Concur curious about spending on corporate travel programmes. Its 2024 Global Business Travel Survey found that nearly a third of business travellers said their company was focused on cutting back on travel costs. 

Despite this, Concur Expense data collected in 2023 and 2024 indicates that the total number of expense transactions in the UK increased 14% year over year, with the average expense transaction costing £73. While the 2025 economic outlook might be uncertain, Concur observed more stable spending in 2024.

₁Miscellaneous refers to expenses that don’t fit within a company’s defined expense categories 

₂Other refers to non-standard expense categories  

₃Telecom includes wired and wireless telephone fees as well as the costs of phone and communication devices 

₄Gas refers to fuel expenses 

₅Mileage refers to reimbursement based on miles driven

Transactions increased across the board between 2023 and 2024. Looking at the total number of expense transactions in each spend category, trains, ground transportation, and meals saw the highest percentage increases, with train purchases up 19%, meals up 17% and ground transportation up 15%. This aligns with Concur Travel data showing an increase in business travel in 2024. 

On the other hand, categories such as telecom (4%) and gas-related transactions (2%) saw smaller changes. Gas expenses are often tied to driving personal vehicles, while telecom-related expenses include telephone fees or the cost of mobile devices. 

The company also saw modest growth in mileage (11%) and parking related transactions (11%). Employees may have opted for alternative transportation methods, with car rentals up 9%, and ground transportation (including taxi and ride share) up 15%. 

The average expense transaction amount per category remained largely flat year over year. Categories such as parking, office, and telecom saw minor cost increases. Gas was the only expense that saw a decrease from £46 to £45 per transaction, which could be due to employees utilising public transport options such as trains or airfares rather than their own private vehicles. 

Conversely, some categories experienced modest increases, such as air travel-related transactions (rising from £503 to £539) and train travel (£57 to £61). These changes likely stem from inflation, increased demand for travel, or shifts toward premium travel options.

“Concur Expense data showed a more ideal year for corporate spending in 2024—one where we saw increased spending yet fairly flat average costs per transaction,” according to Chris Juneau, senior vice president and head of product marketing for SAP Concur. 

Cost Control and Compliance

Organisations rely on expense policies and automated expense management tools to rein in employee spending. These methods are important because on average, 15-20% of expense reports contain non-compliant spend. Most stem from errors and wasteful spending—such as duplicate transactions, not providing itemised receipts, or excessive spending against expense report benchmarks—rather than employees acting with malicious intent. 

SAP Concur offers Intelligent Audit and Concur Verify to identify non-compliant spend and potential fraud. Both solutions use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology to process more than 80 million compliance checks per month. 

“The expense management process should be as accurate, painless, and compliant as possible because businesses spending more on employee expenses translates to stronger business outcomes, greater innovation, and deeper customer connections,” says Juneau.

Methodology: SAP Concur analysed aggregate expense transactions in Concur Expense between January 1, 2024, through December 31, 2024, and equivalent time periods from 2023. Expenses for this analysis were tagged as “airfare,” “car rental,” “entertainment,” “gas,” “ground transportation,” “lodging,” “meals,” “mileage,” “miscellaneous,” “office, “other,” “parking,” “telecom,” and “train.” Averages in the charts above include the cost of ancillary and other related charges. 

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