The High Cost of Improper Payments: How Agencies Can Mitigate Risks Effectively and Efficiently

In fiscal year 2023, the federal government reported an eye-popping $162 billion in improper payments. A significant portion of these missteps is tied to travel and expense (T&E) management, where missing receipts, poor documentation and outdated systems resulted in wasted taxpayer dollars. Improper payments aren’t just a budgetary nuisance, they erode public trust and create administrative bottlenecks that hinder agencies from focusing on their mission.

Government agencies at all levels continue to struggle with balancing compliance, efficiency and employee experience when it comes to managing travel and expenses.

“Travel and expense is one of the few areas that impacts almost every employee across an organization,” said Marques Tibbs-Brewer, head of product marketing for public services at SAP Concur. “It’s an enterprise-wide opportunity to create a consistent experience”

Despite its universality, T&E often flies under the radar in public sector reform efforts. Tibbs-Brewer attributes much of the problem to fragmented systems, manual processes and a lack of visibility. Employees frequently face challenges understanding what they’re authorized to spend, how to capture receipts or get reimbursed quickly. And for the agency? It can be a visibility nightmare.

“There’s an expectation for an individual to be able to log in, book the travel easily and move on,” he said. “But there’s all the data and all the transactions that occur in the middle while the person is on travel that you have to make sure are collected and processed appropriately.”

The result is a system riddled with inefficiencies. From collecting paper receipts to manually entering expense data, these friction points can result in poor user experience and delay reimbursements, but also open the door to fraud and financial mismanagement.

Moreover, improper payments affect more than just accounting; they have a tangible impact on agency operations and budgeting. According to Tibbs-Brewer, most public sector organizations obligate funds in advance, but faulty estimates and delayed reimbursements can lead to inaccurate statements or worse, increased overspending. That kind of financial misstep also increases the risk of violating the Antideficiency Act, a federal law designed to prevent agencies from spending beyond what Congress has authorized. Auditing errors post-payment wastes time and money, and the longer it takes to correct mistakes, the more administrative dollars go to waste.

“If you don’t have time to do it once, you definitely don’t have time to do it twice,” Tibbs-Brewer said. “We assist government employees in ensuring their expense reports are highly accurate with minimal effort, allowing them to concentrate on their mission rather than a business process.”

Learn more about how SAP Concur can help your organization modernize spend management.