New SAP Concur Solutions Help Businesses Meet Regulatory Compliance and Conserve Cash

Today, we announced two new solution extensions that will help organisations in Asia Pacific (APAC) meet broad compliance requirements and save cash during the challenging Covid-19 period – Concur® Tax Assurance by VATBox and Concur® Detect by Oversight. 

Concur Tax Assurance by VATBox 

As a result of COVID-19 and as a form of relief to businesses and individuals, many countries around the world have introduced new or temporary changes to value-added tax (VAT) regulations. In APAC, these countries include Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.[1]

Since these regulations vary per country and may change frequently, finance teams often find it challenging to get a full grasp of them through manual tracking. They are hence unable to maximise their VAT reclaim or even comply with the countries’ latest requirements. The pressure to digitise and automate also comes from another front – more governments are demanding increasingly detailed, structured data from taxpayers, often in real-time or near real-time.

With 17 countries[2] in APAC and more than 160 countries globally applying VAT on goods and services, all with varying policies, compliance with VAT regulations can be confusing and complex for many businesses and their employees. SAP Concur has found that, globally, 42 per cent of employee expense transactions do not meet compliance requirements for VAT or GST reclaim due to incorrect information and missing data.[3]

Using a solution that automates businesses’ VAT reclaim process can save much time and cash,and minimise compliance issues.

VATBox, a technological leader in AI and Value Added Tax (VAT)/Goods and Services Tax (GST) compliance, offers a new approach to solving complex challenges around tax compliance and VAT recovery. Concur Tax Assurance by VATBox helps organisations comply with global tax regulations by confirming data integrity and offering collection and enhancement tools to increase reclaim potential. A dynamically updated financial platform designed with sophisticated AI algorithms and embedded with intricate tax knowledge digitises the compliance process and maximises recovery.  

Domestic and foreign compliance rules and regulations are embedded in the solution, eliminating the need for manual updates and ongoing intervention. At a time when many governments are contemplating raising VAT rates to generate revenue, it has become more important for firms to be able to handle the complexity of different tax regulations with accuracy and speed.

Concur Detect by Oversight 

Concur Detect by Oversight brings together Oversight’s spend management and risk mitigation expertise with SAP Concur data and technology, simplifying an organisation’s expense audit and compliance programme with embedded intelligence and automation. Unlike many approaches, Concur Detect by Oversight analyses expenses both before and after payment to mitigate immediate risks, spot suspicious spend patterns across time, and prioritise risk to drive greater audit efficiency. 

Finance teams face constant pressure to increase spend compliance and reduce errors and fraud. However, manual processes and the lack of business context needed to make decisions about financial transactions make approving expense reports with accuracy an almost impossible task.

In the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ (ACFE) 2020 “Report to the Nations”, the median loss to a company from expense report fraud is US$33,000. The report also found that a lack of internal controls contributed to nearly one out of three frauds, underscoring the need for anti-fraud controls that increase visibility and control over spend.  

“Covid-19 has made visibility and control of expenses a priority for many organisations. Given the complexity and volume of their data, automation is the only way they can feasibly achieve this,” said Laura Houldsworth, senior vice president and general manager, SAP Concur Asia Pacific Japan and Greater China. “Improving compliance, reducing risk and optimising cash flow can protect the firm’s reputation and boost their resilience, helping them weather the pandemic better and emerge stronger to succeed for the future.”

[1] Deloitte. (29 April 2020). Indirect Tax and Customs Alert: COVID-19; Expanding Perspectives and Possibilities.