Survey: 55% of CFOs Trust AI Over Humans to Catch Expense Errors

The SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey is in its seventh year, and this time, we decided to change things up a little. Our survey typically focuses on travel managers, business travelers, and the topics most pertinent to them. However, economic uncertainty continues to factor into organizations’ travel and expense (T&E) decisions, so we decided to capture the perspectives of an additional group of decision-makers: finance leaders.

Below is what we learned by surveying 600 CFOs across six markets between April 30 and May 12 earlier this year.

Factors Impacting Company Health

According to CFOs globally, the top factors more likely to impact the health of their company this year included geopolitical conflicts and tensions (45%), employee reluctance or refusal to travel (45%), new or changing sustainability regulations (40%), and reduced corporate spending (40%).

Responses were similar across markets, but there were a couple of key differences. The only country with significant variation in the top four was Germany, where CFOs chose tax regulations (46%) over the other choices:  geopolitical conflicts and tensions (44%), employee reluctance or refusal to travel (41%), and new or anticipated tariffs (41%).

The top four among U.S. CFOs were employee reluctance or refusal to travel (48%), geopolitical conflicts and tensions (45%), reduced corporate spending (37%), and new or anticipated tariffs (36%)—an interesting depiction of what many companies are experiencing in the U.S.

Just as compelling is what CFOs didn’t pick: in every country except Japan, inflation was the least selected factor among those included in the survey.

Limitations of Travel Budgets

In our survey, 94% of business travelers said that business travel is helpful (39%) or even essential (55%) for them to be successful in their role. However, 81% of CFOs globally agreed that budget limitations at their company mean employees are unable to travel as much as needed to effectively perform their jobs.

There’s intriguing variation in responses across markets, though. More CFOs in the UK (90%) and fewer in Japan (69%) agree with that statement than average.

Additionally, when their company makes cuts to the travel budget, 59% of CFOs said that they typically show up as small changes to all trips, although a sizeable minority (41%) said that larger, policy-level changes are typical. Comparable percentages of travel managers (59%) and business travelers (60%) said that small changes are more typical at their companies as well.

Perspectives on Technology and T&E

CFOs were split on whether technology or their team would be more effective if AI was used to automate approvals of their company’s expense reports. Fifty-five percent expected that AI would catch more errors and potential fraud than their team currently does, while 45% said they would be concerned about more errors and undiscovered fraud slipping through undetected.

On the topic of fraud, 9% of CFOs said that they know employees at their company are using AI to attempt to falsify travel expenses or receipts, and 67% said it’s at least somewhat likely. Curiously, 17% of CFOs in Australia and New Zealand said that they know this is happening—an outlier among the markets.

Lastly, although four in five CFOs globally considered their company’s travel budget insufficient for employees to be effective, nearly all CFOs (99%) said that at least some business travel at their company could be replaced by teleconferences or other non-travel means of connecting.

Changes to Travel Programs

All CFOs (100%) said that travel managers at their company could improve in some way to better support company success. Top opportunities included increasing the use of sustainable travel options (53%), ensuring traveler safety (53%), more communication or training on travel policy changes (51%), and keeping travelers happy (51%)—of note, many of these ladder up to the top four factors CFOs identified as likely to impact the health of their company this year.

And when it comes to making changes to their company’s travel program, CFOs overwhelmingly believed that they have the most influence (69%), followed by travel managers (21%) and business travelers (9%). These average percentages might be slightly misleading though, as there is a wide range of perspectives by country.

In Australia and New Zealand, for instance, 83% of CFOs said they have the most influence, followed by travel managers (12%) and business travelers (5%). Compare that with responses in Japan, where only 55% of CFOs said that they do, followed by travel managers (34%) and business travelers (11%).

Now Available: 7^th Annual Global Business Travel Survey Report

For more findings from this year’s Global Business Travel Survey, download the white paper here

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The SAP Concur Global Business Traveler Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research between April 30 and May 12, 2025, among 3,750 business travelers in 24 markets: U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Italy, Spain, ANZ (Australia, New Zealand), Middle East (UAE, Saudi Arabia), Japan, Korea, India, Mexico, Brazil, SEA (Singapore, Malaysia), South Africa, Portugal, Switzerland, and Austria.

The SAP Concur Global Travel Manager Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research between April 30 and May 12, 2025, among 700 travel managers, defined as those who direct or administer travel programs for businesses, across seven markets: Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, ANZ (Australia, New Zealand), UK, and U.S.

The SAP Concur Global CFO Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research between April 30 and May 12, 2025, among 600 CFOs across six markets: Germany, Canada, Japan, ANZ (Australia, New Zealand), UK, and U.S.