You manage a Travel and Expense program within a large organization. You already have tools, a travel policy, and established processes. But do you really know where your program stands compared to market standards? What are your risk areas? Which optimization opportunities are you still missing?
A structured Travel and Expense audit is the starting point of any serious T&E transformation. Not a technical review of your tools, but an objective assessment of your program’s maturity across all the dimensions that drive performance.
This is why SD Global Consulting has developed a free online assessment tool specifically designed for T&E decision-makers in large organizations. In just 20 minutes, you obtain a comprehensive snapshot of your program and actionable recommendations to move forward.
What is a Travel and Expense maturity audit?
A Travel and Expense audit goes far beyond checking whether expense reports are compliant or whether your OBT is properly configured. It evaluates the overall consistency of your T&E program across the dimensions that directly impact financial, operational, and regulatory performance. The SD Global Consulting T&E maturity assessment evaluates your organization across eight key dimensions:- Governance: Is your T&E policy formalized, up to date, and actually enforced? Is there a clearly identified owner at the CFO, CPO, or HR leadership level?
- Expense management: Which expense management solution do you use, at what scale, and with what level of automation? What is your actual cost per transaction?
- Travel management: What is the effective coverage of your OBT and TMC? Is your setup fragmented across multiple entities or regions?
- IT maturity: ERP integration, virtual cards, automation capabilities, and your ability to calculate the total cost of ownership of your T&E ecosystem.
- Compliance and fraud: What is your actual leakage rate? Do you have a VAT recovery process? Is your expense audit framework sufficient?
- ESG and carbon: Are you subject to CSRD requirements? Are business travel emissions included in your Scope 3 reporting?
- Employee experience: What is the actual adoption rate of your T&E tools? How do employees perceive the process on a daily basis?
- Reporting and analytics: Can you produce a complete TCO view of your T&E ecosystem? Are your analytics descriptive or predictive?
Who is this Travel and Expense assessment designed for?
This T&E assessment tool was created for decision-makers managing complex travel and expense programs, including CFOs, Procurement Directors, CPOs, Travel Managers, and leaders within large enterprises, mid-sized organizations, and multi-entity structures. It is particularly valuable in three situations:- You have never conducted a structured Travel and Expense audit and do not know where to start your transformation journey.
- You are seeing warning signs such as high leakage, compliance issues, or rising costs, but lack a comprehensive view to prioritize actions.
- You are preparing a T&E transformation initiative and need an objective baseline to build your roadmap.
How does the SD Global Consulting T&E maturity assessment work?
A structured questionnaire completed in 20 minutes
The assessment covers all the dimensions of a mature T&E program: governance and strategy, expense management, travel management, IT maturity, compliance and fraud, ESG, employee experience, reporting and analytics, and external advisory support. Each section takes approximately two to four minutes to complete. A personalized report with an overall score and prioritized recommendations Once the questionnaire is completed, you immediately receive a comprehensive report available online and downloadable as a seven-page PDF. The report includes an overall score out of 100, benchmarked against three maturity levels:- Transformed (70/100 and above): Strong governance, advanced automation, and predictive analytics. The focus shifts toward continuous improvement and proactive cost management.
- Optimized (45 to 69/100): Solid practices are in place, but specific areas remain under-optimized. High-ROI quick wins are available.
- Reactive (below 45/100): Significant structural challenges remain. Policies may be informal or unenforced, manual processes dominate, and compliance risks are elevated.
Why conduct a Travel and Expense audit now?
Three realities make this assessment particularly relevant today:- Regulatory pressure is increasing. The CSRD directive requires large organizations to incorporate business travel into their Scope 3 reporting. An unstructured T&E program directly increases compliance risk.
- External pricing shocks are becoming more frequent. Rising jet fuel prices, new travel taxes in key destinations, and hotel inflation are impacting budgets. Organizations without data-driven T&E programs are left reacting rather than managing.
- AI is transforming T&E technology. As we often remind our clients, AI amplifies what already exists. A T&E program built on strong foundations will benefit exponentially from AI. A weak program will simply expose its weaknesses faster.
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