Is Your Company Suffering From Asset Misappropriation? Outpave Can Help

When we think of fraud, many imagine elaborate financial schemes or high-level corruption. But for most organizations—especially small businesses—the most common and costly threat is far more mundane: asset misappropriation.

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Asset misappropriation refers to the theft or misuse of a company’s resources, often perpetrated by employees with access to cash, inventory, or payment systems. It includes acts like falsifying expense reports, stealing cash, or misusing company credit cards. While these schemes may seem minor on the surface, they account for nearly 90% of all occupational fraud cases, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) in its 2024 Report to the Nations.

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While the financial loss due to asset misappropriation can be significant, the most frustrating aspect of this type of fraud is that it can remain undetected for months or even years.  Preventing this type of financial fraud before it starts is one of the most important things businesses can do to protect their budgets.

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Why is Asset Misappropriation so difficult to Detect?

For many small and mid-sized businesses, expense management still happens in spreadsheets, email threads, or even physical forms. While this approach might feel “good enough” when teams are small, it creates the perfect environment for asset misappropriation to go undetected.

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Manual systems lack the guardrails and visibility necessary to catch fraud early—or at all. Receipts can be easily falsified or altered. Duplicate submissions may slip past an overworked approver. And without automated checks, even the most well-meaning managers may miss red flags buried in a stack of reports.

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Traditional finance management programs also lack real-time reports or in-the-moment spending controls. So by the time anyone realizes something is wrong, the money has already gone out the door.  And depending on the size of your business, you may not be able to recoup your losses. 

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The Solution is Simple: Stop the Fraud Before it Happens

Implementing an expense management system, like Outpave, is the easiest thing a small or midsized business can do to prevent financial fraud. These platforms offer more oversight and more accountability than even the most dedicated accounting team.  Here’s how it works.

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Set Spending controls

When you issue a company debit card with Outpave - whether it is a physical card or a virtual one - you can assign specific spending limits.  You can set the daily limit, assign spending categories (so no more energy drinks on fleet cards), and even approve certain vendors.  Once those limits are set, the employee will not be able to use the card beyond those limits. If anything suspicious occurs, you will get an alert to approve or deny the expense.

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Digitally Capture Receipts

Outpave digitally stores and organizes expense receipts.  When an employee uses their corporate card, they can snap a picture of the receipt and upload it into the Outpave app. The system will automatically match it to the transaction.  If the transaction doesn’t match, it will send an alert. So you know the receipts you have reflect the correct expenses.

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Stop the Reimbursement Cycle

When you work with Outpave, you can say farewell to the reimbursement cycle. Outpave gives you the ability to instantly issue virtual debit cards to your employees. So if they’re ever in a pinch and need to make an unplanned purchase, they can just request a new card and have access to company money within a few minutes.  (And you can assign all the spending controls as you would any other card.)

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Get Started Today

Don’t wait another second. Start protecting your business against misappropriation of assets and the misuse of corporate funds today.  Contact us to set up a time for a product demonstration.

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