Reminder to businesses with employees or anyone who has contracted out more than $600 in work to a freelancer or subcontractor: you have until Jan. 31, 2012, to provide the appropriate wage and income reporting form – a W-2 or 1099-MISC – to all recipients. 

Concur (Nasdaq: CNQR), a leading provider of integrated travel and expense management services, has identified December 20^th as the busiest day for submitting expense claims in the U.S. Based on an analysis of its clients’ expense transaction volume, the number of claims made in the U.S. on this day is 167 percent above the daily average, as staff rush to recoup costs ahead of the holiday season – adding to the pressure faced by accounting teams expected to process all the last minute submissions.

With more than 10,000 clients globally, Concur has unprecedented insight into corporate T&E spend. Similar to the results Concur saw last year, expense reporting volume tends to spike as companies near the end of the year. A key factor contributing to the dramatic increase in claims during the holidays is a surge in client and staff entertainment. Another cause is the backlog of receipts and expenses incurred by employees in previous months and reconciled by the end of the calendar year as a way of recouping extra dollars for holiday travels and entertainment.

“As year-end approaches, many employees rush to submit expense reports, putting increased pressure on accounting teams responsible for processing everything before the holiday break,” said Mike Hilton, executive vice president of worldwide marketing for Concur. “Automated expense systems that directly import credit card charges and take digital images of receipts using a smartphone can help significantly, eliminating frustrating and time-consuming practices like stapling all of the right receipts together and filling out reams of paperwork.”

Advancements in travel and expense management technology mean organizations can now gain complete visibility and control over the entire expense claims process. Companies like Concur make it easy for employees to submit and track expenses online or from their mobile devices and convert paper receipts into digital records. Employees can even take photos of receipts with a smartphone, automatically attach the receipt image to an expense claim, and get reports approved much faster than filing expenses by hand.

“There are three spikes for expense submissions in our business – one around the time of our trade fairs, one at year-end and one just prior to the Christmas season,” Stratis Tsapoitis,treasury/controller at Pentax Canada said. “I remember life before Concur when we used to have piles of expense reports traveling around internal departments and receipts would become detached or lost. Today, we have an automated, scalable solution. Our staff submits expenses while travelling using Concur mobile on their smartphones and regularly do their expenses on the move making it less onerous for everyone involved. It’s also helpful being able to reference expenses from a year ago and track the audit trail.”

Methodology

Data is based on expense claims submissions inserted into Concur’s automated expense management tools, used by thousands of businesses across the world. Results are based on expenses submitted between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010.

According to Chicago Now, four bills designed to help small businesses get capital, have passed the House of Representatives.

One of the most important decisions you can make for your company's long term success is choosing a lending institution that can meet the needs of your business both today and in the future. There are many good reasons to consider a community bank for your business instead of a large institution. With so much focus on the disastrous effects of irresponsible lending on the economy, more businesses are moving away from large, national banks to smaller community banks.