Small expense claims may not seem worth the time it takes to investigate them. But letting questionable reimbursements slide can send a message to employees that dishonest behavior is acceptable, Medius CFO Chris Wilmot said in an interview.
Wilmot said he was surprised by findings in Medius’ 2026 Financial Census, published in August, which found that 87% of more than 2,000 senior finance professionals surveyed had ignored an expense, reimbursement or other claim they suspected was fraudulent.
“If I saw a claim I thought was fraudulent, I would be all over it,” Wilmot said, adding that the amounts claimed should not determine whether finance teams act on suspected misconduct.
“Even if the fraud is quite minor,” he said, “it’s still bad behavior.” Allowing such claims to go unchallenged, he said, can increase the likelihood that others will try similar behavior.
Medius, a finance software provider, used the term “shallowfakes” in its report to describe relatively minor forms of expense dishonesty, such as overstating mileage or submitting expenses that are not entirely business-related.
The findings come as finance teams contend with a range of fraud threats, including fraudulent supplier invoices and artificial intelligence-generated “deepfakes” that can be used to impersonate executives or business partners.
In the Medius survey, 93% of respondents said they were concerned about AI-generated fraud over the next 12 months. U.S. organizations reported average annual losses of roughly $168,000 from invoice fraud, according to the study.
Against that backdrop, individual expense claims involving small sums may seem like a comparatively minor financial risk. But Wilmot argues that overlooking questionable reimbursements can normalize dishonest behavior and encourage others to follow suit.
The survey found that 74% of respondents said minor workplace fraud was common. Another 67% said they would be likely to submit a minor dishonest expense claim themselves if such behavior were common among coworkers.
Wilmot warned that seemingly minor acts of expense dishonesty can add up to substantial losses over time, although the report did not quantify the financial impact.
“If it’s not addressed — both the wrong claim and also finance teams not challenging — I think it just increases,” Wilmot said.
