The best unquantifiable goal for 2016.

December 28, 2015 Lynn Larson

I avoid making a New Year’s resolution because it feels like a commitment to be perfect—to suddenly change something on January 1 and maintain the change without failure. Instead, I find that year-end reflections help me identify ways to be better in the year ahead. While I appreciate quantifiable goals, especially in the work place, I think there is a place for pursuits less concrete, like “being better” through mindfulness. It is an ongoing practice. My favorite yoga instructor says, “Be interested in where your practice takes you today, not judging or comparing today to past days.” This philosophy has broad applicability beyond yoga.

The reason I consider mindfulness the best unquantifiable goal is due to its stress reduction benefits. It leads to a calmer mind, enabling more positive experiences. Following are two key activities that contribute to a mindful state.

“Mindfulness means being aware of how you’re deploying your attention and making decisions about it, and not letting the tweet or the buzzing of your BlackBerry call your attention.”

— Howard Rheingold

Focusing on the Present

Thoughts of everything I need or want to do tend to surface at inopportune times, like right before going to bed. For me, doing a brain dump by creating a prioritized “to do” list is useful. However, we all know other things routinely prevent us from tackling our lists. These are the times when I have to remind myself that right now I am doing “X” and cannot worry about anything else.

When we are finally in a position to address our respective lists, the trick is consciously staying with one thing rather than trying to multitask. Refer to my blog post from a year ago that reveals what has worsened the multitasking epidemic and what we can do about it, based on insight from Daniel J. Levitin, author of the book The Organized Mind—Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload.

Redirecting Negative Reactions

My alternative labels for this are “think differently” and “do not be mad in the moment.” I do not find any value in being irritated, so I have sought different outlets, although not always successfully. My strategies include trying to:

Accept uncontrollable situations (e.g., long lines at retail stores, the post office, etc. and rush hour traffic). For instance, I try to view being stuck in traffic as the chance to enjoy a good radio station.
Be grateful for wherever I am or whatever I have to do because there is always something worse. As an example, I may not like every work task that I have to do, but at least I am able to work. Not everyone has this luxury.

This week, I chose to write about mindfulness (versus commercial payments) because the holiday season can be such a hectic period. I believe in the power of pausing to rejuvenate the mind, including our attitude toward work. One of my ongoing sources of inspiration is the magazine Experience Life.

About the Author

Blog post author Lynn Larson, CPCP, is the founder of Recharged Education. With more than 15 years of Commercial Card experience, her mission is to make industry education readily accessible to all. Learn more…

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Smartphone business challenges and trends.

December 14, 2015 Lynn Larson

Mobile/smartphones have come a long way in the business world since the early days when they primarily served as mini email devices. Expanded functionality and usage mean new opportunities for efficiencies, but also new challenges. Mary Schaeffer of AP Now writes about one headache below, while I explore some mobile trends. With increased awareness, your organization can determine what, if any, steps it should take to harness the benefits of smartphones while guarding against the risks.

Smartphones, Receipts and a New Expense Report Auditing Headache

by Mary S. Schaeffer, AP Now

Most employees have smartphones, taking them wherever they go. The phones are especially handy for travelers, who can snap pictures of their meal receipts for their expense reports. It’s a lot easier and cleaner than keeping all those little pieces of paper together. However, all is not rosy in receipt land.

The New Issue

Some employees are submitting the same electronic receipt for the same meal on multiple expense reports. Whether this is being done inadvertently or the employee is actively trying to defraud the employer of a few dollars is a separate issue and one that is difficult to pinpoint definitively. However, from an expense report audit standpoint, it is critical that these duplicate submissions be weeded out and not paid a second time.

Smartphones can play a role in reducing office paperwork, but organizations also need to implement related controls and policies.

The Solution

Insist on employees using a company credit card to prevent them from playing certain games with their expense reports. For those who don’t go this route, using automated expense reporting software will address the problem. When combined with a company card, the information can be automatically loaded into the expense report. Then the employee doesn’t have the opportunity to submit the expense twice.

Organizations who do not use automated software have two primary lines of defense for uncovering duplicates:

The traveling employee’s manager who approves the expense report. Although it is incumbent on them to check everything first, it is a well-known fact that only a few actually check the expense report before approving it. Making managers responsible for what they sign is a good first step.
The group who audits expense reports. For starters, anything that is submitted more than a month or two after the meal should be double checked to ensure it wasn’t included on a prior report. Best-practice companies use data analytics to identify potential duplicate payments of all types, not just those on expense reports.

Concluding Thoughts

Technology is wonderful. It certainly makes many tasks in the business world a lot easier. Expense reporting is no exception. The sneaky thing about technology is that it also introduces problems we didn’t have in the past. This is one such example. By identifying the problem early on, you can create solutions to make sure extra dollars don’t drift out the door on your watch.

2015 Smartphone Studies and News

by Lynn Larson, CPCP

We know mobile payments have entered the Commercial Card world (e.g., American Express and Apple Pay), but this year’s mobile news is even broader. Following are tidbits on four other topics.

Business Travel

Intriguing 2015 research by Business Travel News (BTN) reveals business travelers have embraced mobile technology, but organizations are slow to respond in terms of mobile policies and understanding what travelers use and want. For example, mobile policies, when they exist, tend to be created in reaction to a certain situation, problem, etc. They often fail to address many aspects of mobile usage, including expense filing, roaming charges and social itinerary sharing. If you are a travel manager, this research is a must-read.

BYOD

Mobile policies are not limited to travel management. They should include a stance on BYOD (bring your own device); specifically, whether employees should use their personal devices for work functions. The debate becomes more heated if the work entails accessing sensitive data or financial records. A 2015 study by CompTIA, Building Digital Organizations, found that 53% of respondents’ organizations allowed no BYOD, compared to 34% in 2013. Security could be one factor. For various considerations, see ComputerWorld’s article on other findings from the study.

Data Breaches

With ongoing news about data breaches, it is natural to wonder if there is a mobile path. Per the Verizon 2015 Data Breach Investigations Report, mobile devices are not a preferred vector in data breaches. However, the report also notes mobile devices have clearly demonstrated their ability to be vulnerable. Download the report to learn more about data breaches overall.

Regulatory Involvement

The U.S. Congress is taking an interest. Earlier this month, the House Energy & Commerce Committee held a hearing to explore mobile payments security and data privacy. Industry experts described security features (e.g., tokenization and biometrics), as well as challenges like having multiple parties involved in the payments process. A key question is whether specific regulatory oversight is needed, such as laws covering mobile payments fraud protection. An article by BankInfoSecurity provides more insight into the hearing.

Final Thoughts

Mobile usage for business purposes will continue to evolve. How can your organization take greater advantage of the benefits? If/when you do so, be thoughtful about your policies to ensure they keep pace.

About the Authors

Mary S. Schaeffer, a nationally-recognized accounts payable consultant, is the creator of the AP Now website. She speaks regularly at live and online events; has written 18 business books, most focused on accounts payable issues; and has created many CPE courses for CPAs. Additional information can be found at www.ap-now.com.

Lynn Larson, CPCP, is the founder of Recharged Education. With more than 15 years of Commercial Card experience, her mission is to make industry education readily accessible to all. Learn more…

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Six myths about tax compliance.

December 1, 2015 Lynn Larson

Hindsight can be 20/20 regarding Purchasing Card programs and tax compliance. Many organizations overlook tax or unknowingly place their trust in myths. Either way, a big crash at the end of a tax audit is likely. Tax veteran Greg Anderson, Application Design Resource LLP, wants to spare organizations such pain, so he shared common myths with me, based on his 20+ years of experience in this field.

Myths

Our P-Card program is too small to worry about.
The card program should never be swept aside. Even when a program starts small, it usually grows, becoming a bigger headache when tax audits end with poor results, such as assessments and penalties.

The tax department handles this.
This is often said by procurement or accounts payable (depending on who manages the card program), but nothing could be further from the truth if the tax department was never consulted. Unfortunately, most of the time, the card program management team does not have any relationship with the tax folks and tax compliance slips through the cracks.

Our bank/issuer sends us tax reports.
There is a kernel of truth here, but... Issuers typically provide reporting related to Level II data, but such reports are not relevant to tax auditors since the data represents tax paid versus tax that should have been paid.

The remaining three myths stem from management hopefulness or lack of awareness about actual purchasing activity by cardholders:

Merchants pass a tax amount on all of our transactions.
We only buy from local merchants.
Our cardholders only buy items for which merchants collect tax.

An organization’s situation is seldom this rosy, so just assume none of these things apply.

Organizations often accelerate P-Card usage without considering tax compliance, but the issue will catch up with a program.

Taking Action

Having an effective tax strategy begins with communication. Ensure you have clear answers to:

Who is responsible for our P-Card tax compliance?
What is our tax strategy for the P-Card program
What have tax audits revealed?
How can we improve?

See a previous blog post that summarizes key tax points and includes links to additional tax content. If you are seeking a more automated solution to tax management, Recharged Education can provide guidance; please submit a contact form.

“You can’t help but... with 20/20 hindsight, go back and say, ‘Look, had we done something different, we probably wouldn’t be facing what we are facing today.’”

— Norman Schwarzkopf