pre-decision services

Cartus’ account management strategy and customer support philosophy are centered around exceptional customer service—our people are passionate about supporting your company and your relocating employees. We listen to your needs and partner with you to develop solutions that exceed your expectations. Since we take the time to understand your business strategies, objectives, and culture, we continually provide recommendations to support your relocation goals.

This same philosophy applies to customer support: our consultants are highly committed to customer service, understanding their impact on each relocating family. They listen and understand each employee’s relocation needs and help guide them through their relocation journey. Your employees can access innovative, intuitive technology tools to simplify necessary transactions. However, we never forget the importance of personalized attention, which is why the Cartus consultant is consistently there for guidance whenever the relocating employee needs it.

Seeking to provide more excellent value to our clients, we continually invest in our ability to serve you—expanding our capabilities, accessing new markets, and creating new technologies. We have the experience and capability to guide you through complex scenarios with confidence and high-touch service. Our top priorities are taking care of your people, eliminating surprises, simplifying your job, and bringing optimal efficiency to your program.

Our digital ecosystem boasts an extensive library of application programming interfaces (APIs), which we are continually expanding to include new partners, interfaces, and additional features and functions to ensure that we can seamlessly integrate with the software solutions our clients are already using. Our web services are constructed using a proven framework, which provides secure transmission, strong access controls, high data quality, and fast performance.

The consultant, working with our compensation analysts and your preferred cost-of-living supplier, coordinates cost projections for assignees who are considering or have accepted an assignment. Estimates include the calculation of assignment costs, hypothetical taxes, cost-of-living differentials, living accommodations (temporary housing, rentals, home, etc.), and all other related costs.

To help your organization and your candidates make an informed decision about the impact of relocation before an offer of employment, our Web management tool is customized to your policy benefits. The tool allows for the calculation of financial considerations, streamlines the process to convert candidates to employees, generates a candidate-specific benefits summary to accompany offer letters, and allows for customized third-party recruiter access to authorize candidate files.

This customized self-service tool reports on actual cost data per move versus the estimate. You can create a budget on a move to track the budget vs. actual costs. Estimates are prepared based on historical expenses for policy or move type.

Cartus reporting is secure yet accessible, easy to use, and flexible. We provide options for multiple delivery methods and formats, including setting up reports on your own schedule, every client has access to a year-over-year and month-YTD dashboard with key program statistics, and the ability to drill through to more detail. Each report has multiple options to select from such as date ranges, business divisions, move types, custom data items, and highly detailed outputs. Formats to choose from include HTML, PDF, and Excel. Reports can also be posted on CartusOnline or emailed to your mobility professionals.

The Cartus Executive Advantage offering is a fully customizable program for your VIPs supported by a dedicated team available 24/7. Cartus’ Premier Executive team is comprised of our most tenured and accomplished consultants. With an average of 20 years of relocation experience and focus on executive moves, this elite team manages every relocation consideration for your VIP while meticulously considering your culture and the executive’s one-of-a-kind needs and family situation. Because of their extensive experience solving complex relocation challenges, your executive’s consultant anticipates needs, proactively manages expectations, and has the autonomy to move things forward to keep your executive fully productive in their new role. This allows the consultant to review and determine the best course of action to ensure a smooth transition and the elimination of roadblocks.

Understanding the demands and busy schedule of your executive, the consultant works to alleviate administrative burdens by assisting with the completion of required documents and expense reports, working with the executive’s administrative assistant, as well as their spouse/partner, to manage critical elements of the move.

Behind the scenes, the executive consultant manages every level of detail and constantly communicates with internal teams and our supplier partners. They manage the flow of information through Cartus and significantly reduce multiple touchpoints for the executive.

The consultant is available 24/7/365 and, most importantly, at the convenience of your executive. This access is not limited to the consultant. Our internal support teams and supplier partners are also accessible 24/7/365, as everyone understands the urgency needed to support this level of move and the criticality of getting things done when the executive needs them completed.

Services include auditing expense reports and supplier invoices to client-specific policies, payment of benefits, U.S. tax calculations and wage reporting, tax firm reporting, and additional cost and management reporting on all captured data.

Cartus’ Expense Management services reduce client administrative burdens without reducing client financial or operational control. Cartus provides comprehensive expense administration, including compliance audits, tax reporting, and management reporting. Multiple oversight checkpoints within Cartus’ expense management and reporting system provide accurate and clean data.

Providing timely and efficient expense management services is a significant differentiator for Cartus. We ensure that your employees are paid quickly and correctly in accordance with your program’s guidelines.

Cartus has developed a fully integrated global relocation accounting system to serve hundreds of clients, processing between $2-4 billion in annual disbursements. Our staff can audit receipts in many languages and currencies and support your specific policies and exception management procedures.

Not only do we provide timely, accurate service, but we also work to make the process easy for your transferring employees. Your employees can submit expense reports in hard copy or via their device of choice for speedy payment within two business days.

Cartus has decades of experience supporting the unique compliance considerations for government agencies and contractors, including a thorough understanding of the requirements involved in identifying, segregating, and reporting unallowable relocation costs. Cartus will ensure the correct application of the FAR Part 31 Cost Principles on relocation expenses (FAR 31.205-35) and travel expenses (FAR 31.205-46)

Our Government Contract Cost Accounting Compliance Program includes:

• Independent audits by an outside audit firm to ensure our staff is applying proper coding to allowable expenses

• Clarification and interpretation of FAR

• Comprehensive employee training program for relocation accounting analysts

• Real-time support through the issuance of regulatory updates and allowability position papers

As a government contractor, Cartus understands the challenges of contract compliance and the importance of administering all programs according to the statement of work within the awarded contract. To manage adherence to compliance guidelines, the implementation contains a customized format that includes a thorough review for confirmation of processes, resources, policy interpretation, and required reporting parameters. Automated milestones, checkpoints, and transparent reporting are established to ensure procedures are adhered to and cross-referenced with current regulations. This is a standardized part of Cartus’ implementation and is customized specifically to the government-contracting needs of each client.

Cartus will prepare the Letter of Assignment and Compensation Balance Sheet for the relocating employee based on an agreed-upon policy-specific template using information provided on the initial authorization form. We then forward the documents to mobility managers for approval. Upon approval, we will counsel the relocating employee by reviewing the letter and the balance sheet and follow up to ensure all required parties sign that letter. The Letter of Assignment and Compensation Balance Sheet will be stored on CartusOnline to be accessible by your employee and your company. Cartus will prepare revisions to the compensation balance sheet as necessary throughout the assignment for changes of circumstances in accordance with the agreed-upon business rules.

Cartus helps our clients select the most efficient authorization process and form(s) that align with their business practices and meet their process, compliance, and reporting needs. The immediate benefit of an online authorization is the wealth of options available: A mobility manager can enter an authorization and approve it directly to Cartus, or your company can build a progressive pre-approval path aligned to how your workflow advances. Our workflow allows you to define who can view, contribute, and modify the authorization and see where it is in the process chain—all the way to the final approver.

By connecting with clients and suppliers through our secure Restful APIs, Cartus can both receive and provide real-time access to the vital enterprise data that drives your business—whether that’s integrating directly with clients to submit new authorizations, updating employee demographic data, or integrating with the down-line suppliers tasked with delivering services to your valued employees.

A Cartus consultant acts as the single point of coordination to provide an ongoing, comprehensive explanation and interpretation of the benefits offered to your employees defined by your policy. In addition, the consultant provides proactive guidance in coordinating all available provisions. We offer six months of telephone support through our local destination services providers (DSPs) to assist during settling-in—e.g., explaining bills, providing information on contractors, following up on move-in needs, etc.

A Cartus consultant acts as the single point of coordination to provide an ongoing, comprehensive explanation and interpretation of the benefits offered to your employees defined by your policy. In addition, the consultant provides proactive guidance in coordinating all available provisions. We offer six months of telephone support through our local destination services providers (DSPs) to assist during settling-in—e.g., explaining bills, providing information on contractors, following up on move-in needs, etc.

Placing the right employee in the right position is paramount in today’s business climate. A vital component in that placement is the pre-decision process, from both the corporate and job candidate perspective, for managing your strategic goals.

For assignees who have accepted or are considering an international assignment, Cartus offers familiarization tours to identify potential communities, examine schooling options, and provide preliminary home viewing in the new country. Throughout the program, assignees will receive guidance in making well-informed decisions, allowing them to feel empowered and be in charge of their moves.

For assignees who have accepted or are considering an international assignment, Cartus offers fully accompanied, pre-move familiarization tours to identify potential communities, examine schooling options, and provide preliminary home viewing in the new country.