Businesses worldwide spend $1.25 trillion on travel each year, studies show. In fact, travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses account for more than 10 percent of the average company's overall budget, and are the second-largest corporate expense behind payroll, JP Morgan Chase reports.
With T&E expenses representing such a large part of the corporate budget, it is no surprise that companies are thinking more strategically about their expense management processes. Forty-one percent of companies see expense management as a critical function, while 39 percent of companies report the function is rising in prominence, per Aberdeen Group. Expense management has joined the ranks of strategic sourcing, operations, sales and finance in driving corporate performance.