A new comparison of 10 BCD life sciences customers shows how Transfer of Value (ToV) reporting is evolving, but complexity remains. ToV reporting is a well-established process in life sciences that tracks payments or transfers of value provided to healthcare professionals (HCPs), such as travel, meetings, or consulting fees. It’s a regulatory requirement in many markets and a critical part of demonstrating transparency and compliance. As travel and meetings grow more global, the challenge is no longer about whether ToV reporting is required. It’s about how effectively it is supported across systems, regions, and teams. While the requirements are clear, execution remains anything but simple. That’s where reporting risk, audit exposure, and manual effort accumulate.
A recent benchmark across 10 global life sciences organizations highlights clear progress in three areas:
- Clearer accountability for ToV ownership
- More structured governance
- Increased automation
It also reinforces a familiar reality: ToV reporting still relies on fragmented data, multiple systems or processes, and close coordination across functions.The direction of travel is toward consistency and confidence in a complex environment.
Compliance owns ToV. Execution is shared.
In today’s environment, governance is becoming clearer. Across the benchmark:
- 9 out of 10 organizations place ownership of ToV reporting within Compliance
- 1 out of 10 assign ownership to Procurement
Capturing the data required for ToV reporting spans multiple teams and systems: travel, meetings, expense and finance. Each owns part of the picture.
This is where complexity shows up most
When travel and meetings are managed across disconnected suppliers or platforms, compliance-leading organizations are shifting to partners who can support consistent data capture at the point of booking and execution. Because when data is structured early, reporting becomes less manual, less reactive, and more reliable.
Hybrid models and partial automation are the norm
Most organizations in the benchmark (6 of 10) operate through a hybrid model: global oversight with regional management. This reflects the reality of global regulations, local market nuances, and varying operational maturity. The same hybrid pattern shows up in technology, with 8 of 10 organizations reporting partially automated processes and 2 still relying on manual consolidation through spreadsheets and uploads.
Many programs are not forcing TOV into a single platform. Instead, they focus on making the ecosystem work together. Integrated travel and meetings solutions, designed specifically for life sciences, can help standardize data fields, align identifiers, and automate data flow between systems, reducing manual effort while allowing regional flexibility. The goal isn’t centralization, but consistent data standards across decentralized execution.
Data consistency remains a major reporting challenge
For travel-related spend, there is still no dominant system of record. Half of respondents said it varies by spend type, while others rely primarily on TMC invoicing, expense data, or a combination of sources. This results in continued variation in how data is captured and reported across organizations. These inconsistencies are compounded by the number of systems contributing to ToV reporting, including meetings platforms, travel systems, expense tools, and corporate card data. This increases reconciliation effort and reporting risk, especially when reporting deadlines are tight and regulatory scrutiny is high.
The biggest opportunity isn’t in reporting. It’s in data design upstream.
The most effective way to reduce reporting complexity is to improve data design earlier in the process. Programs that embed required data fields into booking and registration workflows, especially in travel and meetings, can reduce variability at the source. That’s where standardization has the most impact and where risk is easiest to control.
What’s next: smarter automation, not just more automation
Over the next 12–24 months, half of organizations plan to increase automation. Others expect no major changes in the near term, and very few are pursuing entirely new systems. Rather than large-scale transformation, organizations are prioritizing more consistent data capture, better integration across systems, and stronger visibility into program performance.
Progress is becoming more deliberate—and more realistic. It also includes benchmarking and analytics that help teams identify where gaps exist and where improvements will have the greatest impact.
Key takeaway
ToV reporting in life sciences is improving, but it’s still complex. Most organizations operate with shared ownership, multiple systems, and partial automation. The opportunity isn’t to simplify the landscape. It’s to bring more clarity, alignment, and consistency to how data moves through it. When travel and meetings programs are designed with compliance in mind, this can help:
- Reduce manual effort
- Improve data consistency
- Increase confidence in reporting
In ToV, progress isn’t about a single system. It’s about making the ecosystem work together, clearly, consistently, and compliantly.
How BCD supports life sciences organizations
At BCD Travel, our Life Sciences Center of Excellence works with organizations to align travel, meetings, and data ecosystems—helping ensure ToV reporting is supported at every step of the journey, through:
- Integrated travel and meetings solutions
- Structured data capture at the point of booking
- Consulting and benchmarking expertise
We help life sciences organizations move toward greater clarity, consistency, and confidence in their ToV programs. Because in a complex, regulated landscape, success doesn’t come from simplifying the environment.
It comes from making it work—together. Open by design.
Q&A: Transfer of Value reporting
ToV reporting tracks payments or transfers of value provided to healthcare professionals (HCPs), such as travel, meetings, or consulting fees. It’s a regulatory requirement in many markets and a critical part of demonstrating transparency and compliance in life sciences.
Because execution depends on multiple systems, teams, and data sources. Travel, meetings, expenses, and finance systems each capture part of the data. Without consistent structures and integration, organizations must manually consolidate and reconcile information—creating risk and inefficiency.
The biggest risk is inconsistent data. Variations in how HCP identifiers, financial attribution, and event details are captured can lead to:
- Reporting errors
- Increased reconciliation effort
- Greater exposure during audits
Not necessarily. Most organizations operate in hybrid environments, and replacing systems isn’t always practical. Leading programs focus instead on:
- Ensuring consistent data capture at the source
- Aligning data standards
- Integrating systems
Focus on data capture at the point of booking or registration. Embedding required fields (e.g., HCP identifiers, meeting IDs, cost centers) early in the process reduces downstream manual work and improves reporting accuracy.
It’s not just adding more automation—it’s connecting existing systems so data flows consistently between them. Effective automation reduces manual consolidation while still supporting regional flexibility.
By benchmarking their program against peers and evaluating:
- Visibility into reporting performance and gaps
- Data consistency across systems
- Level of manual intervention required
- Strength of integration across travel, meetings, and finance