Where I used to work, this *would* get noticed. I would occasionally get an inquiry from my boss or someone in accounting that I must have made a mistake, or had missing meals (sometimes if I ate on the plane or something like that, I would have a "hole" in the breakfast/lunch/dinner matrix on the expense report). Especially 10 years ago, some places had older register systems that didn't print the name of the company on it, and they simply didn't believe that I had had a $5.38 dinner - they thought it was a mistake, or that I was trying to hide another expense. After explaining my eating habits, I was once actually told that I should "live it up a bit" while on the road. I wasn't eating cheap to save the company money, it's just that that's what I wanted that night. This was in contrast to some of the travelers that made it a point to live high on the hog while on the company dime.

We had few rules about anything (other than common-sense rules), but there were a couple of things that we set in stone. And once a rule gets set in stone, you can be sure that accounting will enforce it. For example, we were prohibited from expensing in-room movies, although almost anything else for dining/entertainment was permitted. Some people were adamant that they felt the company should pay for their expenses while on the road, and would get bored just sitting in their room at night. So instead of a $9.95 movie, they'd go to the hotel bar and run up a $30 tab, which was expensed.

Speaking of corporate policies, this reminds me of a policy we had regarding new computers. Well into the 90's there was a corporate prohibition against buying a computer with a sound card. It was felt that these were used only to mess around and not for legitimate business reasons, and early on, they were expensive additions. But it got to the point about 10 years ago where they were more or less standard equipment. But purchasing stuck by their rule, and actually had to have Dell do a custom build of machines to not include the sound card (although Dell custom builds every machine to order, they have limits on what combination of things you can get. At some point, they removed the option to order the machines we used without a sound card, so we had to have something special done to make it happen. This was obviously before sound support became integrated into the motherboard). Then, those of us with legitimate need for sound had to buy after-market sound cards, which purchasing allowed if it was manager-approved.

I suppose that with any set of rules, there are going to be situations that weren't envisioned when the rule was made. It's when there's no leeway for this (even with a manager's approval) that it really becomes a problem. Oh, the joys of the corporate world. This is why Dilbert is so funny to anyone that's worked in such an environment. I think that a lot of people that have never done so may laugh at Dilbert, but not get the full impact of just how true it is.

Actually, where I worked was a great place to be, and nonsense like this really was kept to a minimum. There were just a few quirks like I mentioned that stood out. It was interesting to see that stuff like this tended to expand and take on a life of its own as the company got larger. You really need to make a special effort make sure that these rules DON'T become a problem.

How about Room Service
 

Does Room Service or PPV movies count?Not that I would try to cheat the company.So what if they question me I would much rather tell the truth. If I am some rich guy I might use some of my own money for upgrades etc,and let the company pay for some. So I can travel in luxury. But hey why do you want to cheat the company? Yea I know the questions can be tedious but wouldn't you feel better you are telling the truth. I sure hope I won't be your boss becuse if I know your cheating I will more than likely fire you. Yea when you change the HTML code people can find out and it can be traced. Sorry. But this is my two cents.

Just a couple of points to add to everything above. I've been on both sides of this issue much of my career - i.e. as a manager setting policies and reviewing/ approving T&E expenses, and as a frequent business traveller submitting my own expenses.

1. To the OP - as several others have pointed out, the only good policy is NEVER to falsify ANYTHING - creating fake/doctored receipts, intentionally "burying" or misclassifying expenses, etc. Bottom line if this is found out - which it likely will be eventually - it's virtually certain you'll lose your job. Dishonesty and creating false corporate books and records should be, and are, a terminable offense in any company or country I'm aware of.

At my last firm, my response to out-of-policy expenses was just to haircut the reimbursement amount by whatever ineligible sums were claimed, and put a note on the expense report for the employee to see what wasn't kosher.

2. Totally agree that individuals who are not themselves frequent travellers should not be setting micro-managing policies for those that are. In any job that entails moderate to heavy travel, the travel and expense policies are a major determinant of quality-of-work-life; they should be reasonable under the company's circumstances, not designed to eke out minor budget improvements at the expense of major discomfort / inconvenience to those actually doing the road work. techgirl I can't believe the picayune-ness of some of your firm's policieis, especially if it's billable to clients!

3. Per diem meal reimbursements are the way to go IMHO. Who cares if the person orders a latte, pastry, Taco Bell, room service, six beers, or whatever with the money? (Obviously if the organization has values-based rules against paying for alcohol - e.g., say you work for the State Alcoholic Beverage Commission or the Mormon Church - that's different.) But I don't think any normal company has any business trying to dictate everything you eat and drink while travelling, provided you stay within the spend guidelines and don't violate other salient policies such as getting plastered on company business or driving while drunk.

If every expense on the report is a 100% legitimate business reimbursable expense, how is it cheating?

That's the problem with companyies: They create some arcane policies that are not based in the realities of the workplace situations; then, when real workplace situations arise that require a "work around" of the policies, those that create the work-around's are chastised (or worse) for "violating company policy" rather than chastising those that created, and enforced, the arcane policies in the first place.

To me, this is no different than having an IT policy that says only the IT department can install new software on a computer. Then, you need some software installed to meet a customer demand by tomorrow. But, "the policy" is for IT to get software installed within 3 days - and they just can't bother to get to your request until the day after tomorrow. So, you check to make sure the company is properly licensed for the software, make sure everything is kosher, and then install the software yourself - Oops, violation of company policy! Grounds for Dismissal!

Whether it is creating efficiencies by installing your own software, or creating efficiencies by avoiding hours of correspondence exchanges with HR dolts, those efficienies help, not hurt, your company!

Perhaps those with views like the quoted poster should consider whether termination of the efficiency-creator is really a better course of action than a re-evaluation of the arcane policies that created the inefficiencies in the first place.

Well, I've always fantasized on how glamorous it would be to be making money on my expense account! But, I couldn't fudge if I wanted to. I always fly either F or full-fare Y (meaning, of course, always YUP).

My meal and hotel expenses are set by government per diem rates (even though in a great deal of the country you only get $31/day for meals - not bad if you always eat at Wendy's or Denny's, but most places I've been start at $16.99 for dinner!). You get that $31 (or whatever - in Kuwait it's $86) whether or not you actually spend it.

Any equipment I may need for a trip is fully paid, whether bought before I leave or on site.

Cabs are paid in full to/from the airport.

Am I missing ways to get more money??

Yeah, really. Having all of these silly policies probably ends up costing the firm more than it's saving. Because then your time jerking around with stupid policies is getting billed to the office, rather than billed out to a client. :rolleyes:

A common misconception held by many accountants and managers is that only they can save the company's money. The truth of the matter is that the best people at saving the company's money are the people actually doing the spending.

I never get noticed for eating cheap, staying cheap, saving litterally hundred on phone calls while travelling (for example, by using a local pre paid phone), or using public transport. Of course, I carry on doing all this because I'm also a share holder.

Salespeople...integrity...if this were OMNI, I'd have to queue up a wisecrack or two here... ;) :D

Interesting story --

Back in the early 1980s, my friend had his first job out of college, as a salesperson for a small computer company. He was scheduled to go on his first business trip to meet a client, and the company fronted him $500 cash for incidentals.

So, he stays at a nice hotel, wines and dines the client, takes him to a baseball game, etc. And he still has $200 left over when he comes back to the office. What to do? Since he did not need to supply receipts for that fronted money, he decides to pocket half and turn back $100. He goes to the accounting office and gives back the $100.

The accounting person says, 'What's this?' He says, "This is what is left over from the cash you fronted me for expenses." Accounting says, "Oh! I don't know what to do with it. No one ever brings money back."

My friend says he went back to his office and banged his head on his desk and muttered, "Stupid, stupid, stupid . . . "

Not cheating, but a question from accoutning:

Some years ago, 5 weeks into a six month stint in Tokyo, the company moved me from a hotel to an apartment, and changed my meal limits from 7000Y/day to 35Y/week. This was actually fine, since I could buy groceries and cook a few days a week, saving money, and then do something nicer when I did go out.

Expenses were paid directly by the Japanese office.

So one day, needing a break from Japanese food, I go to KFC. I order something like a 12 piece, to go, so I'll have leftovers for a couple of other meals. Well, the girls in accounting couldn't understand that - maybe leftover reheated chicken isn't something the Japanese would eat? Anyway, they paid it, but spread the word, and for a week the office was snickering about the crazy American who ate 12 pieces of chicken at once. :D

Something tells me that most companies won't see it this way. A manager would assume that if someone is going to fudge expense reports here and there, that person is more likely to fudge other things, like financial reports or sales data (Enron?).

Again, I think most companies would see things differently here. You may be able to install your own software with no problems. But imagine if someone installed software that ended up infecting the company network with a virus, or that was incompatible with other systems and caused data loss or system crashes. Just because you're able to do something without consequences once or several times doesn't mean the policy is a bad one. Likewise, imagine if others fudged expenses in other ways or to a greater degree. While your actions might not result in a net difference in the total expense amount, what about tax consequences? Certain things are tax deductible and others are not. If everyone did this all the time, in a large company it could impact the bottom line. And it could lead to trouble with financial auditors and maybe even the government. The point here is that, although you may not see any serious consequences from your actions alone, lots of little indiscretions often lead to very big problems. The policies are in place to minimize the little indiscretions and thus prevent the big problems.

I'm one of the Accounting trolls who looks at travel expenses, and being in a small company, I also help set the HR policies. Here is a little background from where I stand.

We have people only to travel a couple times a year, therefore it is not a big issue. We didn't even have a travel policy a couple years ago but handled each one as it came in.

Then we hired a new Quality Manager. We sent him on a business trip within 3 months of being hired. This was a 4 night domestic trip to a mid size midwestern city -- Cincinnati I think. We did what we normally do.... we advanced him a few hundred dollars and asked him to bring back receipts and any change he didn't spend. We always expected people to be reasonable in their spending.

He brought back receipts all right.... $75 to $100 per meal.... including lots of alcohol. Even though he has a personal cell phone, he didn't use it. He called at $2.00 a minute from the hotel phone. In short, he blew it all away on frivolous spending. His actions were a DIRECT result in the company establishing a Travel policy. We established a per diem, and a new rule that said you couldn't drink alcohol while on the company dime.... liability reasons.

While I get blamed for creating the policy (I did in fact sit at my computer and type it up, then get it approved), it was not me who precipitated the policy. It was mister $75-per-meal that did that. Now I look at expense reports closer.

Yes, it is the spender that has the opportunity to save the company money. However, its rediculous to think that all spenders take advantage of the opportunity.

About fudging receipts.... if I ever caught someone changing HTML or getting illegitimate receipts, while it's only a couple dollars, it makes me question the integrity of the person. I would question not only how legit their expense reports are, but also how much integrity they had. You only need a slip up like that to make someone doubt your integrity or get fired.

For me, its not worth it.

:(

$75 is reasonable for dinner. I don't know where you eat, but an appitizer, entree, desert from even room service is $75.

IMHO, if that's the same way you eat when you're at home; or even when you travelling on vacation and are paying for it out of your own pocket, you're in the right. If not. Not.

Sure $75 is reasonable, when you work for Enron ;)

$75 is not bad if you are in sales/marketing, and are taking someone out for dinner, or if you are the big boss

Me, a small consultant, most of our clients give us a $25-$35 per day budget

:(