Corpay Payments Research: Spend Management Needs an Upgrade

Corpay conducted a survey on 300 CFOs to explore how organisations with a turnover above £20m (US$27.2m) manage spend, with the results pointing toward a familiar source. 

It’s no secret that administrative tasks take up a huge amount of time. The research reinforces this, as 86% of respondents note that finance teams are spending six or more hours per person on supplier payment admin, expenses and invoices. 

Transforming spend is no easy task; especially with finance chiefs facing pressure to strengthen areas of the business such as liquidity management and financial visibility, according to the report. 

Speaking exclusively to Finance Chief, Piero Macari, VP Product Corporate Payments at Corpay notes: “Every summer, finance teams plan for fewer people in the office, but very few stop to think about how much unnecessary work remains when everyone comes back. The challenge for finance teams today is clearly not motivation or capability but capacity. Capacity has quietly become one of finance's most valuable resources.

“Our data tells a consistent story, with research among 300 UK CFOs finding that 86% of UK finance teams spend six or more hours per person, per week on manual administration. That is a working day, every week. Absorbed by processes that, in many cases, have simply never been redesigned.”

The organisation in organisational spend 

Corpay, who have partnered with names such Cirque de Soleil and Yamaha WorldSBK, surveyed CFOs on how they would improve their workflow if administration workload was cut by 25-50%. 

Piero continues: “When CFOs were asked what they would do with that time if it were returned to them, the answer was not fewer meetings or an earlier finish to the working day – it was forecasting and strategic planning, a proper commercial partnership with the rest of the business.

“That gap between where finance teams spend their time and where they want to spend it does not close by itself. The summer slowdown is a useful moment to look at where the hours actually go. Not to add more to the list, but to go into September with a clearer picture of what could be done differently.”

Modernising the Office of the CFO 

Out of those surveyed, the report also notes that 84% of their organisation has been slow to modernise. 

This, coupled with the 83% of respondents who say that spend management is “more manual than it should be” paints a modern picture of what CFOs want: less time spent on administration. 

Manual workflows are taking up valuable time in the CFO diary, as a reduced administrative workload is positioned to be in demand.

The research suggests that modernising spend management could begin with card-led payments, which are no longer being seen as a niche payment method. 

Corpay global S&P500 corporate payments company that aims to bring simplicity to payments through modern fintech. It aims to improve cash flow visibility, empowering customers to save time and ultimately spend less.

The range of sectors it provides solutions to covers automotive, construction, education, hospitality, government and manufacturing. It is based in Atlanta, Georgia in the US, and has been under CEO Ron Clarke for 26 years.