Based on a recent study by Natural Insight, there is a correlation between workers over-reporting mileage in expense reports with gasoline's increasing prices.

By using a statistically valid data sample from a six-month period, Natural Insight finds that mileage over-reporting jumped to 32 percent at the height of gas prices, and over-reporting continued at 18 percent during the lowest period. Natural Insight believes this correlation is an attempt by workers to recover rising gasoline costs via over-reporting of mileage in expense reports because the majority of corporate reimbursement policies are based on a fixed cost per mile.

"While businesses are supportive of proper worker expense compensation, over-reporting on expense reports is more common than we expected to see and certainly presents a large opportunity for cost reduction if properly identified," says Stefan Midford, president and CEO of Natural Insight. "Accuracy in reporting of mileage is the issue here. As actual fuel costs rise and fall, corporate reimbursement rates can work for and against the worker since guidelines are typically set on an annual basis. One of the benefits of our technology is that it can compute accurate mileage data automatically, making it a friend to company and worker alike."