Today In Data: Domestic Business, Veteran-Owned SMBs And SDA Are On-The-Rise

Today in PYMNTS data, domestic business trips are rising to record highs, veteran-owned small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are boosting the economy, a staggering number of companies aren’t authenticating their vendors (despite rising fraud concerns), same-day ACH (SDA) is seeing firms increase their usage and some fraud requires victims be contacted by a debt collector for them to even notice they’ve been victimized.

Here are the numbers:

483 million | Number of domestic business trips the U.S. will see in the next two years, according to Audrey Hendley, senior vice president of global products at American Express. She recently spoke at a corporate travel event held in New York, put on in conjunction with Hilton, to explore some of the latest trends in corporate travel and entertainment (T&E), and the experts agree: Corporate travel is changing.

2.5 million | Number of the roughly 28 million U.S. SMBs — 9.1 percent — that are owned by veterans of the United States Armed Forces, according to the Small Business Association. According to the report, those firms had an annual payroll of $195 billion and receipts of $1.14 trillion. And, because vet-owned firms employ about five people each, they are responsible for creating approximately 12.5 million jobs.

65 percent | Percentage of companies that admit they don’t authenticate their vendors, according to an analysis published last year by APEX Analytix. The analysis also found that 79 percent said employee records aren’t cross-checked against supplier information. APEX’s senior vice president, Phil Beane, told PYMNTS that when they “look at [accounts payable (AP)] fraud specifically, the risks that these companies are facing is only increasing.”

59 percent | Portion of corporations that plan to increase their use of SDA credits in 2018, according to findings from a recent Corporate Survey, a National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) collaboration. The survey asked 500 corporates and government agencies about their current and planned SDA credit and debit usage. Based on their reasons, SDA is bound to transform payments in a wide range of verticals, including manufacturing, transportation, health care, professional services and more.

13 percent | Percentage of new account fraud victims who discover they are victims when they are contacted by a debt collector. That’s a long runway of fraud before accounts get to the collections stage, according to David Barnhardt, executive vice president of product at GIACT, in a recent interview with PYMNTS’ Karen Webster. It can be viewed as a worst-case scenario for a consumer, offering a strong case for credit report monitoring.