In late 2007, CFO Research Services (a unit of CFO Publishing Corp.) launched a research program, in collaboration with American Express, on indirect expense management at mid-size companies —the sixth of its annual reports on expense management. Through a survey and interview program, this study explores executives’ views on spending data, vendor relationships, corporate card programs, and other topics.

CFO Research distributed a survey among senior finance executives at North American companies with $10 million to $1 billion in annual revenue.

This report presents the findings from our survey of 402 senior finance executives and our in-depth interview program with executives at the following companies:

• Ashland Community Hospital
• CTL Distribution Logistics LLC
• Given Imaging, Inc.
• Kraft Construction
• Mineral Technologies, Inc.
• PBI/Gordon Corporation
• Skip Barber Racing School LLC
• TDC, LLC
• Thresholds
• TM Forum
• Transit Television Network
• Unique Vacations

CFO Research interviewed executives at several other companies who asked not to be cited by name in this report.

Visit Getting the Most for Every Dollar Download Page

Getting the Most for Every Dollar
Tools and Strategies for Expense Management at Mid-Size Companies

A report prepared by CFO Research Services in collaboration with American Express

Download 2008 CFO Research Report: Getting the Most for Every Dollar

PDF format, 650KB, 25Pages.

Contents:
About this report 2
Key findings 3
Two balancing acts 4
An uncertain economy 5
Setting conditions for growth: Expense-management 8
automation at Given Imaging
Closing the information gap 9
Pursuing greater savings 12
Getting the most for every dollar 16
Making a case for preferred treatment: 16
Transit Television Network
It’s not just the money: Balancing price 17
and service at Kraft Construction
Getting the best for what you’re spending: Balancing 18
price, quality, and service at mid-size companies
What we’ve learned—Best practices 19
When the company’s money really is your own: 20
Spending policies at PBI/Gordon
Sponsor’s perspective 21

Sponsor’s Perspective
Mid-size companies seek to strike a balance in price, service, and quality to manage indirect expenses

American Express is delighted to join CFO Research Services for the sixth consecutive year in 2008 to assess mid-size company expense management practices, challenges, and best practices. We sincerely thank the 402 senior financial executive survey respondents and the interview program participants who took the time to share their diverse perspectives.

Getting the Most for Every Dollar uncovers for the second year in a row that the majority of senior finance executives are optimistic in terms of their respective companies’ continued growth acceleration; however, they anticipate slower growth in the overall economic environment when compared to the past three years. That being said, we found that finance executives have a heightened desire to control costs including indirect expenses. This year, we see a particular interest on behalf of senior finance executives to gain insights and best practices in management of day-today expenses, and categories of expense that directly relate to enabling employees to do their jobs well—ultimately translating to increased efficiencies and bottom-line dollar savings.

Despite annual revenue size distinctions in the mid-size segment (between $10 million to $1 billion), this year’s report articulates the challenges mid-size companies across the board face in order to strike the appropriate balance in price, service, and quality in their vendor relationships. In the series of case studies included in this research, finance executives share how their companies identified their primary business needs and found creative ways to solve them through effective vendor negotiations and partnerships, ongoing spend analysis and appropriate business-specific controls, among others.

As always, at American Express, we are committed to providing products, services, and added value through our consultative expertise to help companies manage expenses effectively while optimizing their resources at every turn. We continually seek to better understand the diverse challenges and goals of mid-size companies in order to ensure our products meet and exceed the expense management objectives of this important market segment.

As a result of our experience and deep understanding of mid-size companies and their changing needs, our Corporate Card product offers a wide range of benefits, innovatively designed to meet our clients’ short- and long-term expense management objectives: Quick, simple access to spending information: Information @ Work® from American Express provides a single source of management information reporting. Reports provide the insights and spend visibility to help you utilize company data to meet your business objectives. Intuitive report design and flexible formats make it easy to read and analyze data, reducing time needed to extract and interpret reporting. Consolidated information helps you monitor compliance and analyze spend trends to identify savings opportunities.

Spending controls: Customizable spending limits and liability options enable companies to maximize control over employee business expenses and contain costs.

Automatic supplier savings: Company-level savings on everyday business expenses at preferred suppliers through programs such as Savings at WorkSM and the American Express®/Business ExtrAA® Corporate Card. These programs provide point-of-sale or cash back on spending with preferred partners.* Savings at Work requires no fees and carries no obligations, just hard-dollar savings to help improve your company’s bottom line.

Essential Cardmember benefits and services: World-class Cardmember benefits and services increase employee compliance, security, convenience, and satisfaction.

This study is only one of the many ways we continue to support and partner with companies to explore their ongoing needs and respond effectively with our products, services, and consulting expertise. We encourage you to leverage the best practices in Getting the Most for Every Dollar and look forward to partnering with you to achieve your expense management goals.

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