Every year, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners reports on the annual cost of fraud. And every year, the number is astonishing, in the trillions.
Vehicle fueling is a prime breeding ground for fraud, because it can be so difficult to monitor. For some employees, the notion of filling up their personal vehicle on the company’s dime is too great a temptation to pass up.
For fleet managers, a fuel card program offers them a way to bring basic accountability to fuel purchases.
Fuel cards work the same way credit cards do, except they also capture fuel transaction information that you need to manage your fuel program. Fuel cards will let you set controls on what can be purchased. You can have a card that only allows drivers to purchase fuel (and not, say, food or lottery tickets). You can limit the card so that it only pays for diesel fuel, or set the number of transactions per day or gallons per transaction.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself about your fraud protection controls:
1. Have you taken advantage of all available security features? Does your fuel card allow you to restrict authorized purchases? Does it allow you to lock-out use after certain times of day or on weekends?
2. Is the company you’re working with willing to sit down with you and craft a program based on your needs? What kind of history do they have when it comes to stopping fraud?
3. Do you have a reporting system that can detect fraud or misuse? A good fuel card program will offer enhanced reporting that shows purchases by driver, vehicle, miles per gallon, and more. This way, managers are able to track odometer readings, and then analyze purchases and usage. It also grants the ability to generate exception reports that flag unauthorized purchasing and monitors after-hours purchases, daily transactions and daily dollar amounts in real time.
4. Is your fuel card flexible enough that you can give privileges to some users based on their purchasing needs?
How can Sokolis help prevent fraud?
As a fleet manager, your job requires you to juggle a lot of different tasks, but you always focus on everything. Sokolis is able help keep track of your fuel card program, to ensure card maintenance is handled the right way, possible theft is scrutinized and additional discounts are put in place for the biggest savings.
A fuel card system overseen by Sokolis gives you a number of advantages. You’ll be able to manage what your drivers are spending on fuel with timely and detailed reporting. You’ll gain a way to save money by eliminating fraudulent charges and cutting back on paperwork.
And you’ll be able to manage and restrict purchases, see transactions in real time, and locate places to fuel up with ease.
With Sokolis, you aren’t just hiring an extra person, but an entire team of experts with the tools you need for auditing, such as OPIS (Oil Price Information Services), as well as a roster of long-term relationships with fuel card companies such as WEX/FleetOne, Fuelman, EFS, and Comdata.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help find fuel savings for your business.
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