Asian firms cutting down on travel, entertainment spend

MANILA, Philippines - Major corporations in Asia admit that a major reduction in travel and entertainment expenses would most effectively reduce their operational costs, according to a survey conducted by Citi and Visa International.

The survey captured the business travel practices of over 90 large and multinational companies operating in these countries.

The majority of respondents confirmed that the use of corporate credit cards for travel expenditures is not widely adopted.

Less than half of those surveyed in the Philippines relied on this payment method, while respondents from Hong Kong and Taiwan, tend to rely on personal cards (38 percent) and electronic funds transfers (35 percent).

“The reliance on such decentralized payment methods raises red flags on operational inefficiencies, as well as a lack of transparency and accountability on business travel expenditure,” it revealed.

It further stressed that the difficulties are compounded since almost 80 percent of organizations in the Philippines do not have parameters and policies in place to provide guidance on business travel and entertainment expenses to employees.

Meanwhile, 60 percent of respondents in Hong Kong and Taiwan said that insufficient information or data prevents them from successfully trimming operational overheads. The lack of an end-to-end visibility and control solution for complete traceability of travel expenses highlights a missing link to promoting good governance.