88% of finance leaders believe blocking employees from spending company money stifles business growth
The majority (88%) of UK senior finance leaders have reported missed growth opportunities over the past year because employees lack direct access to their own budgets, according to new data from the spend management provider, Soldo.
Despite 78% of senior finance leaders saying they’d trust employees with company funds, many are still hesitant to grant direct access, resulting in a productivity bottleneck. One of the primary reasons for this is a perceived lack of employee understanding around finance policies (35%), resulting in over half of UK employees (54%) admitting to bending the rules to gain access to company funds.
Impact on business growth
The research, conducted amongst employees and finance leaders, highlights the critical impact that restricting budget access can have on hindering growth potential:
- Missed revenue opportunities: Of the 88% of senior finance leaders that reported missed opportunities in the past 12 months, many note substantial financial consequences, including financial losses (39%), loss of existing customers (38%), and delayed product or service launches (39%).
- Project delays and frustration: Nearly half of employees (48%) say interactions with finance have slowed projects, with 31% pointing to slow response times from finance, and 21% noting a focus on cost-cutting at the expense of growth.
- High administrative burden: One in six finance leaders spend six or more hours a week managing admin related to decentralised spending, with 59% admitting that adjusting budgets as business priorities shift remains a significant challenge.
Meanwhile, almost three quarters (73%) of finance leaders report that overly complex financial processes slow down or prevent them helping employees in the pursuit of new business opportunities. They additionally revealed that finance teams are frequently facing surprises at month-end (60%), which pull focus from growth strategies.
Brandon Till, head of transformation at Soldo, says: “Everything in a business needs money, and when you don’t empower employees by putting it in their hands then, put simply, things don’t happen. The cost? Growth. This is demonstrated plain and clear by our findings.
“By empowering employees to make responsible decisions with their own budgets and freeing up financial leaders with the tools to proactively manage decentralised spending , organisations can quickly operate with greater efficiency and confidence.”
A path forward – productivity boost with budget access
Empowering employees by improving their access to company funds could reshape business growth strategies through increased productivity. According to employees and finance leaders, primary benefits included:
- Increased employee motivation and proactivity: 39% of senior leaders say motivation would improve, while 35% predict a rise in proactivity and agility and 36% believe it would increase job satisfaction for employees.
- Enhanced productivity: 40% of employees believe their productivity would increase with easier budget access.
- Strengthened finance-business relationship: Greater budget flexibility could bridge gaps in finance collaboration with the wider business, with 36% of finance leaders and 22% of employees predicting relationship improvements through better access.
When company spend is decentralised – i.e. not funnelled through a centralised procurement process – finance teams lack timely and real-time visibility into what spending has occurred and must deal with increased administrative burdens for the entire finance team at month-end, as well as a higher risk of overspending or financial surprises.
Brandon concludes: “After all, controlling costs, increasing productivity and sustaining growth aren’t just important, they’re critical survival factors. With a progressive approach to spend governance, businesses can spot inefficiencies, eliminate waste and accomplish more.”