SAP recently announced that they will be releasing a new feature, called Verify, for their expense management software SAP Concur. This new feature will use machine learning and AI technology to automatically approve expense reports while identifying possible anomalies for auditors to review. 

SAP bought Concur back in 2014 to expand their expense and travel management portfolio and has since scaled the platform to a wider audience.

SAP uses its own spend data to create modules

SAP has used analysis and scenarios from over $1 trillion in spend, and tens of millions of expenses and receipts within its platform to build its AI and machine learning modules. Verify uses these modules to locate hard-to-find spend issues or expense reports that don’t comply with a company's spend policy. 

Expense report fraud has increased since the pandemic started

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ December 2020 Fraud in the Wake of COVID-19: Benchmarking Report, 79% of respondents reported an increase in employee fraud, with 90% of these respondents expecting this number to rise in the next 12 months. 

Source: Fraud in the Wake of COVID-19

In most cases, expense report errors are probably honest mistakes, but this study shows that the need for expense report audits is vital when most employees are working remotely to ensure they are adhering to company spend guidelines. Automated detection of spend issues and out-of-compliance expense reports saves time and money by allowing auditors to only focus on potential problems. It also increases efficiency and minimizes waste and leakage.

G2's Expense Management category sees a dramatic increase in traffic

Traffic to G2’s Expense Management Software category has increased over 96% since March 2020, possibly due to the shift to remote work during the same time period, and the increased ROI offered by this software due to improved automation leading to increased productivity.

Employers rely on this software not only to manage employee-initiated expenses, but to monitor, automate, and modernize the audit process. SAP hopes that their new Verify feature will enhance these processes for companies of all sizes. Verify will be offered as an add-on to SAP Concur and is set to go live in Q3 2021.