UK businesses are paying for thousands of personal calls made from company mobiles, at a cost of £1m a day, it has been claimed.
Research conducted by telecoms firm Aurora Kendrick James has found that workers in the UK are making a staggering £400m worth of personal calls on more than three million company mobiles each year, all at business’ expense.
Following 10 years of analysis of telecommunications habits, the analysts have concluded that personal calls account for an alarming 20-25% of calls made on company phones.
Not only is this cost eating into businesses’ profitability, it also implies that tax regulations are inadvertently being broken by businesses reclaiming VAT on personal expenses, at an estimated cost to the Treasury of £150,000 a day, the company claimed.
The study also found that few businesses are actually monitoring and managing personal usage of mobile phones.
“Education and visibility of costs to users are pivotal in successful mobile expense management,” said Matt Atkinson, managing director at Aurora Kendrick James.
He added: “By having a company policy in place and introducing employees to it, staff can be made accountable for their costs against sensible guidelines.
“Implementing a mobile expense management policy will control and reduce personal usage but will also help with VAT compliance, validating invoices, tariff negotiation, management and inventory reporting; all of which will mean a more cost effective and controlled mobile estate.”
According to Aurora Kendrick James, businesses could save around £80 per user per year by managing this expense more effectively.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2007
