Seems like this would be a way to invite questions.

Hey...check this guy out...he keeps submitting these $24.95 dinners, and they always correspond to nights when he is flying. Odd... :)

Resourceful. I like that. ;)

Let's face it, many of us that travel extensively do many things in the grey area. I think there is a line and you know when you crossed it. Its easy to tracks employees' expenses over a long period and the leaders in expenses are usually the bad actors. You can dig into their receipts and quickly find what is up. I was a traveling consultant and know all the tricks. If someone's expenses are inline, I dont see a reason to question them especially if they are a good employee that I trust. I know they probably expense some grey area stuff, but I am ok with that if they are not going overboard.

The tricky one for me was trying to justify the upgrades. I tend to use "Airline Fee" or "Change Fee". Both are technically correct and not a lie, but intentionally deceptive. This year I am EXP on AA, so its not as much a problem. :)

Now I am the boss and the accounting people work for me, but I do have investors to answer to so I cannot get away with everything. However, I do not want to since the money I spend is comes off the bottom line, which is my money!

These examples make me think of a story I heard about a new employee who took his first trip ever on the company dime, to visit a customer in Puerto Rico. Like most of us, he ate and stayed at moderate places that he felt were in-line with what he would spend if it was his own money, but when he got back and filled out his expense report and took it to his boss for approval, the boss actually stated "You couldn't have traveled this cheaply! here; I'm going to add about $100 for dinners and such... and then did go on to add fraudulent expensed to the new employees' report...

As it turns out the boss had been padding his expense reports when he was filling in and going to Puerto Rico and didn't want accounting to see the difference

EXACTLY!!! Bosses are typically all about efficiency and they are going to hate useless, pointless, beligerent questions from whomever (accounting, travel, HR, payroll, whomever hands it touches). I've had bosses suggest things to "avoid questions" and, as a boss, I've likely done the same thing.

The types of questions I'm trying to avoid are the ones that come from 2nd year dweebs that just know that everyone who travels is ripping off the company by eating caviar and getting personal escorts every night!

Personally, I'm a strong believer in Per Diems. I don't even care about how much it is - give me $25, $35, $45 / day for meals and incidentals and I'll easily live within that budget - and probably make a little tax-free income from it. Its simple, easy and prevents any temptation to disguise legitmate expenses in an expense report. Even the 2nd year dweebs can't screw up $35 for 5 days... yep, $175 again this week!

As a result of too many people at our company doing things that weren't (by the definition here) "really fraud", we now have a ridiculously oppressive travel and expense policy that is designed to catch chronic abusers.

A few examples:

* If I select an airfare that is even $5 more expensive than another that our travel department finds (and mine could be a nonstop with reasonable times and theirs a three-stop on three carriers arriving at 1 am), my boss gets an e-mail flagging the refusal. If the airfare is over $500, even if it is the lowest available, I have to get someone over me (in my case, executive committee level) to sign off on it. $500, people... and its client billable!

* Receipts aren't enough... I need a DETAIL receipt showing location, time, date, and exactly what I ordered. If there is anything alcoholic on there, I have to deduct and RECALCULATE tax and tip. If something SOUNDS alcoholic and I don't cross it off, they will call the restaurant to ask if it is a menu item. If I don't provide a detail along WITH my charge receipt, they will call the restaurant on random expense reports to match them up. In a pinch, I've had to supplement with takeout menus, etc. but they will always try to request one if I don't turn it in.

* Hotels have to be booked through our travel department... so no more submitting the Starwood that is within policy if there is something comparable available that is $10 less... and their definition of comparable and mine are not the same. Westins and Holiday Inns are not the same no matter what "Travelocity says".

* Calling card bills are hand-audited each month and numbers that are repeatedly dialed (i.e. home, S.O.'s cell) get checked. Woe be unto the married gentleman who calls his mistress from the hotel on the company calling card... I've seen folks fired for this.

* Anything "odd" for a meal gets subjected to notes and scrutiny. I've been told more than once that a beverage from Starbucks and a pastry is NOT lunch, it is a snack... and snacks aren't covered.

I could go on and on. We pull our hair out in frustration every time we get a new rule... and yet having been a controller for one of our companies years ago, I know the stories of abuse that prompt this.

Do your employer AND your fellow employees a favor... just be honest!

A little story about doctored meal receipts...

Back in the early 80's I was part of a team of financial auditors working for a large division, of a real large, Washington State based insurance company. An ex-employee "dropped a dime" about some expense account abuses that were occurring out of a Southern California office. However, we had little to go on, outside of the accusation.

My boss sent eight of us auditors to camp out at the office, and scrutinize every expense account for the previous two years. We were there for four weeks, before we knew what had gone down.

The sales staff of sixteen would submit credit card expenses for legit client meals (and in the type of business being done, two business meals a day was not extraordinary) on their expense account, in the month following the purchase. Also on this expense account, there were cash receipts for some of the meals. Usually these would be tear-offs, from the bottom of the bill (remember this was the 80's, and most restaurants had hand-written order systems). As these were better restaurants generally, the tear-off slip usually had the restaurant name pre-printed, along with a receipt number.

What we ultimately saw was the tear-off receipts were from the same restaurant that three or four months earlier, a credit card receipt had been sent through the expense account system. By creating a spreadsheet of all the restaurant expenses of these sixteen people over the two years, some patterns appeared.

After the fourth week of "auditing", we broke up into four groups of two auditors and started driving around to the restaurants which we had the cash, tear-off receipts. We would go into the restaurant and ask for the manager, and tell them we were auditors for "XXXXXX Insurance Company" and were investigating expenses. Maybe the restaurant managers were a bit deaf, or couldn't exactly comprehend who we were, but in 90% of the visits, they gave us complete assistance. We were joking amongst ourselves, that some of these people must have thought we were from the IRS.

By asking the restaurant manager to tie the tear-off receipt number to an actual food order, it became very clear that the tear-off's number was chronologically from a day that one of the company's sales staff had submitted a credit card receipt for that restaurant. While a number of restaurants' record keeping was lousy, those that kept decent records reflected a consistent practice of expense account abuse. We had the sales staff cold.

What wasn't clear was why this abuse was so wide-spread. Ultimately by confronting a couple of salespeople who we thought would "turn state's evidence", we learned that the sales manager set this scheme up to create a slush fund for expenses that the parent company would never agree to. These were such things as parties, trips, and Christmas gifts for clients. In reality, when the whole thing came out in the open, it did not appear as if any of the sales staff actually pocketed any of the extra reimbursement money. It all went into the slush fund (which was a checking account at a local credit union, we eventually found).

When the dust cleared 14 people (including high local management level) were terminated. While many of the sales people were just doing what was ordered by local management, they violated the corporations clear written policy on the subject, and lied to us auditors during initial interviews.

Lesson learned... don't assume your company accounting people are dense...

The little things...
 

[QUOTE=
Of course, there's the little things that hotels sometimes do for you without even asking. A couple of bottles of beer orderd to my room after a hard days travel get itemised as "room service breakfast" and time stampted at 06:00 the following day at one place I've stayed at.[/QUOTE]



For some reason that post reminded me of when I was a young sailor in San Diego in the mid-70s. A guy on my ship was dating a young lady who worked in a massage parlor (The Rub Club - I loved that name). Anyway, the owner of the massage parlor had a brother who owned a Texaco station and the parlor took Visa, MC and Texaco credit cards! Probably a lot of "Miscellaneous Services" on those receipts... :D

How much money did they clear?

On a related note....
 

PS I just took the red eye from LAX last night to FLL. I was in FC in a window and the 3 seats across my isle were occupied by 3 rather intoxicated middle aged men traveling to the Orange Bowl. They were making fun of coach passengers that boarded after us and complained loudly about not getting pre-flight drinks. One fellow even spit his gum in the aisle and his buddy stepped on it with his sock and then whipped it on the bulkhead. They also started making noise at about an hour and half before landing waking up most of FC.

I spoke briefly to to my seat partner and he said the other two obnxious gentlemen with him were his "customers". He also said to them at one point, "You better buy that piece of equipment I am trying to sell you.".

So that is a 3 F tickets and a trip to Miami with game tickets and hotel. Hmmmm. Hope he gets the sale to justify that exepense! LOL

Not a chance!
 

The company I work for ranks the sales staff every quarter. Of course, sales is the leading indicator in where you are sitting in the team. However, INTEGRITY is also a big one - and people are fired from my company for far less than fudging an expense account item. I wouldn't risk my career on something like this.

Never, not worth it, my job reputation/integrity is more important.......

OK, you all can stop laughing now :mad:

Really, never do it, I always been know for being a frugal/smart traveler ;)

I want to say the slush fund was in the range of $30,000, annual receipts.

Again, don't forget this was 1983.

Why do you have to "bury" expense items for Internet access? I submit them for exactly what they are- even if it's in an airport. My Internet access is a mix of business and personal, but I also tend to stay in touch with my husband by e-mail when on the road more than by phone, so that's a savings to the company. (And if I'm traveling domestically, calls are on my personal cell phone nayway.) Never had a problem.

I've done only a couple of "mattress runs" and was working for a small consulting firm at the time. I just told them what I was doing. One of the hotels was more expensive than the corporate rate at our usual place and I just ate the difference. Now I work for a very large company. Everything is submitted and approved by computer and I'm not sure if my boss even looks at the detal. I still keep it honest.

See, that's what bugs me and causes me to bury the non-routine stuff in my reports from time to time. I look at my self as a frugal/smart traveler as well; I'd imagine there are many FTers in the same boat.

But, the 2 dinners each week at Taco Bell for $5.38 never get noticed for their frugality. However, red flags rise, alarm bells sound, emails travel around the world and the entire HR department comes to attention when someone dares to try to sneak a $9.95 one day T-mobile pass through on their expense report. The idea that it might be a very well spent $9.95 for someone who was delayed in CVG for 6 hours just doesn't cross the minds of these nimrods.

Sure, I could put it down as internet access and wait for the call / email from HR. Then I could spend 3-5 minutes on the phone with them explaining the details - and then probably have to provide them with some sort of evidence of my flight delay and necessity for internet access. Ultimately, the expense would be paid because its legitimate. But by just putting down dinner at $15.33 that night - I don't lose all my productivity time 5 days later with needless correspondence with HR.

I guess I'm just so pro-PerDiem that I basically work my expense report with my own per diem meter. If I decide that I'd like to go out for a nice dinner and drop $50 one night, I keep it cheaper the rest of the week. If I want to drive a Lincoln some week, maybe I'll stay at the Comfort Inn rather than the Courtyard. If I want to have internet access while I eat my Ben & Jerry's for dinner.... well then that internet access is just part of the meal cost.

Bottom Line: Someone who never travels for business really ought not be in charge of establishing, nor enforcing, the company's travel policies.

Who said it was for that night.... :)