Why Client Trust Lives and Dies in Your Expense Reports

Every flight taken, every hour billed, and every receipt submitted tells the story of how consultants deliver value. Yet behind the scenes, many consulting organizations still rely on fragmented processes that drain productivity, create compliance risks, and erode visibility.

IDC notes that manual travel and expense (T&E) oversight not only slows consultants down but can cost firms up to 30% of their time in non-billable admin tasks; time that could be invested on clients, not paperwork.

And that loss of time isn’t just operational — it's reputational.

The Reality We’re Hearing from the Market

When expense data is inconsistent or audit trails are incomplete, clients can start questioning the accuracy, transparency, and control. For firms that operate on trust, every report submitted either reinforces that confidence or undermines it. Midmarket firms are recognizing this too. That’s why more consultancies are embracing AI-enabled T&E solutions.

Consultants are expected to deliver client outcomes, not chase receipts or wrestle with manual systems:

• Practitioners are burning time on admin. Many still spend evenings or weekends catching up on expense reports. Those lost hours cut into billable time, employee satisfaction, and ultimately revenue.
• Global scale is harder than it looks. Firms operating across dozens of countries are bogged down by a patchwork of local regulations, regional vendors, and siloed processes. Visibility suffers.
• Compliance has never been more critical. Clients demand audit-ready transparency, but manual checks and fragmented systems leave firms vulnerable to risk, disputes, and reputational damage.
• AI is moving faster than firms are. The promise of AI-powered efficiency and proactive compliance is real, but many consultancies haven’t yet tapped into the potential.

These pain points aren’t isolated — they’re systemic. Manual expense reporting is a bottleneck, and it’s only intensifying as consultancies scale, diversify, and take on more complex global work.

Empowering Global Consultancies: AI-Powered Time & Expense to Protect Hours, Margins, and Trust

Learn how AI-powered automation turns every billable hour into a competitive advantage.

Download Now

Why This Matters Now

The consulting industry is at a crossroads. Evolve now or risk falling behind. Forward-looking firms are rethinking travel and expense as drivers of efficiency, accuracy, and trust. IDC’s latest MarketScape report highlights the impact of this shift:

• Generative AI in T&E doesn’t just automate; it transforms the function into a strategic advantage, delivering optimization and insight that manual oversight can’t achieve.
• AI assistants can pre-populate receipts, anticipate cost-efficient bookings, and proactively manage disruptions, helping firms boost productivity while maintaining compliance.
• The SAP Concur connected ecosystem — integrating ERP, HR, accounting, and travel systems — delivers the visibility and control needed to manage spend confidently around the world.

For CFOs, the opportunity goes beyond automation. AI-enabled insights provide a single, trusted view of spend, helping leaders anticipate risk, optimize resources, and guide growth with precision.

The Bottom Line: Reclaim Time, Protect Margins, Strengthen Trust

For consulting firms, every non-billable hour spent wrestling with admin is one less invested in clients, innovation, or growth. Modern firms are shifting that equation, using automation and AI-driven insights to give practitioners back their time, protect margins, and strengthen trust across global engagements.

If your team is still managing travel, time, and expense data in silos, it’s time to see what leaders are doing differently:

• Get more strategies, benchmarks, and insights built specifically for consulting leaders. Download eBook
• Join the live discussion with our experts and hear how consultancies are transforming T&E with AI. Register now

Can’t make it? Register anyway to get the on-demand recording!