I had the same issue, with the same flags. If we refused the lowest fare provided to us, then the ops manager got an e-mail the following day.

Prime example: I had to go DEN-PIT. UA had a direct flight for IIRC $800. The HP flight, changing in Phoenix with a 2 hour layover was $500. All in all, I would spend four more hours on the HP flight. In addition, I would have to leave the office earlier (non-productive), would not have the opportunity to get an upgrade, thus not being able to work on the plane. (non-productive) I would arrive in PIT and get to my hotel at 11pm instead of 7pm for a 7am meeting the next day.

But we saved $300. :rolleyes:

After that, I would send an e-mail to our travel coordinator every time I found a fare that was better than the one they gave me. For some reason, my efficiency was not recognized.

I have openly expensed airport club visits since they give you free food in the club.

I think that there is a difference between cheating and using your discretion.

I have worked in some 3rd world countries where you have to bribe people to get stuff done. I would NEVER bribe someone to win a contract but I have had to bribe to have electricity switched on, items delivered etc.

You can't put 'bribes' on an expense form and those people never give a receipt :)

In that case I will mention this to the accountants and ask them. If you are upfront about it, most will see sense but in some organisations perception is more important than money or even honesty.

A classic money saving perk is the helicopter from Nice to Monaco. It is cheaper for one person than a taxi for the same journey but the accountants don't like it. Even when you can prove that you have saved the company money. It is because they are stuck in a office and we are having a 'glamorous' life.

Proof?
 

Our accountants have started requesting not only the full hotel/restaurant receipt (with itemized stuff) - but the corresponding credit card bill too. (thank goodness MBNA got their web working!)

What kind of 'proof' is standard or required by law, or?? :confused:

It's interesting you say this as our company has required the same as well--itemized receipts are to be included with the final cc copy. It had some folks complaining at first that it was "big brother watching" and how dare they see that I had 6 heinekens at dinner :D

But seeing posts like yours makes me think the company doesn't care about what we drink, moreso what the IRS thinks.

Very much the same here. Our expenses policy explains in great detail the tax implication of what we do. For example, I understand an alcoholic drink with a meal is seen as a benefit in the UK and (if the accounts dept was do extra super diligent), some tax would have to come out of my wages for that drink.

Generally speaking, UK and European employers are officially prohibitionist (for highly complex tax reasons) when it comes to a beer or a glass with one's evening meal. However, custom is one drink (or a bottle of wine between two or three) at the end of a long day tends to go unnoticed (source: a chat with a few friends who work for various companies of various sizes around the UK and Europe).

My small company adopted a formal travel expenses policy in part simply because we're growing in size and in part of because of some abusers. Here's an example of a policy being "penny wise pound foolish" which fortunately was resolved reasonably due to common sense prevailing. On business trips exceeding 5 days, the policy says that laundry expenses are deemed expenseable. Now, most of my long trips have been abroad to Europe, and I usually find a self-service coin-operated laundromat (just look for the neighborhood near the central train station where all the youth hostels are to find one) rather than use hotel laundry service. In part, hotel laundry service has the problem that if they take an extra day to return my clothes, I may have to leave for my next destination without my laundry. But mostly I just can't bring myself to spend approx. 10 euros for each day's worth of underwear to be laundered, even if that would make for the simplest expense reporting. European self-service laundries are relatively expensive compared to the US, but typically I spend less than 10 euros to launder a week's worth of clothing. I've done this a half dozen times with no problems, and I usually plan the timing so that I can grab a meal in the neighborhood during the wait.

The one time I had a problem, somebody before me had left the washing machine full of full-strength bleach (they poured it in and then decided to use a different washer perhaps?), and with a cold killing my sense of smell, I didn't notice anything odd as I loaded my clothes. 30 minutes later, I discover that most of my clothes are now hopelessly splotchy and discolored. Being in Paris, there are of course any number of expensive clothiers, but I replaced my underwear from the the immigrant-run inexpensive stores and my collared shirts from C&A (8 euros per shirt on sale, a pretty good price anywhere). I expense those items, and sure enough, it's the only reason my expense report comes back to me for review. I had spent a mere 40 euros on buying new clothes and 10 euros on laundry; but I had to justify such spending (vs. no justification that would have been needed for the approx. 70 euros if I had let the hotel do my laundry). On the other hand, the office manager who processes expense reports understands that what I do has saved the company several hundred euros of hotel laundry charges over this calendar year alone, so on the whole, she trusts that I generally do the right thing for the company.

Another example where a traveler can make a decision that saves the company money even if it's not nominally covered in the travel policy -- earlier this year, I expensed a good quality well designed Costco 22" roll-on luggage with built in garment bag which allows me to travel for >2 weeks in Europe with a suit and yet be able to easily get around. This means I often don't spend money on taxis for airport/train station transfers, taking public transportation instead, and when the savings justify the effort, I'll book a hotel which is very convenient to the partner that I'm visiting during the weekdays, but relocate to a cheaper hotel for Friday and Saturday nights. This past trip, I did that just once and that alone saved the company 100 euros per night vs. the US $110 that I invested on the luggage in the first place.

I wonder why they would do this, as it doesn't seem to add any new information? The only exception would be where the expenses incurred are in another currency -- the credit card shows the actual rate of exchange, eliminating the possibility of over/underpayment of the expenses.

Also, thery could make sure that the total amount on the restaurant receipt (including tip) matches what is on the credit card statement. Most restaurants I dine at do NOT use carbon copy credit card slips, so I have to write the tip and total twice (one copy goes to the restaurant, I keep the other for my expense report). It is possible to give a low tip (say, 10%), but put a higher tip (20%) on the receipt that is submitted to Accounting. The credit card statement would show the actual amount that was piad to the restaurant.

Talk about nickle and diming...
 

Submitting 20% and tipping 10%... that's just incredibly cheesy. So is having so little trust in your employees that you would require that much extra documentation.

RWW

I don't know if it classifies as fraud, but previously my company didn't like people leaving for a business trip the previous evening because of additional per diem. So instead of leavin directly from work at 630pm the previous evening they wanted me to leave eg. at 525am from my home. Since I'm bad at waking up before 600 (would prefer 730 actually), I would just leave the evening before, arrange cheap accomodation at own cost and make the expense report as if I had left at 525am. Sometimes that would lead to receipts like taxi receipts for the previous day which I would invoice (there's a limit to everything!) Nobody ever questioned this. After ownership changed, our company is not that strict anymore. (Unfortunately schedules sometimes require me to leave at 525am anyways)

Ummmm.. corporate travel consultant for 14 years here.. There haven't been any commissions in over 5 years on most airlines and they were slashed significantly going back as far as 1995. So, we don't work for the airlines. We work for the client. I know there are some really really really bad travel consultants out there. Some are just plain awful and lazy. But those of us that thrive in this industry are proud to work really hard for our clients. If I don't provide a service that is better than what a person can get directly from an airline or through a website, I lose the business and simply put, I do not lose business.
But as for the topic of this thread, I've often fudged on client's invoices. I will gladly print them an invoice for coach travel if I can book them in F class for a similar fare (YUP, QUP, etc).. Also works well when they need to buy upgrade certs. I can print an MCO which is exchangeable at the airport for EUA's. I just print an invoice with some flights on there and manipulate the price to reflect the cost of the EUA's. Do I ever feel bad? Hellllll no!! I have flown tons and I simply wouldn't want to sit in back even if I was paid to. Forget that! If my clients are spending their time away from family and home, then the least I can do is make sure they get sit up front.

When I want to travel in a way that differs from the company's policy, I just do it and pay any extra cost myself. Any cost that would have been incurred anyway, like a taxi when I actually arrived instead of when I would have arrived if following the company's rules, I just expense anyway, with an explanation of why this expense is here even though it's in time I was paying for myself. I've never seen anyone have a problem with this. If it costs the company no more than if I followed the rules, and I'm happier, what's the harm?

Last week I had a meeting at the Hyatt SFO starting at 8 a.m. I would have had to get up before 6 a.m. and been sleepy all day. So I stayed the night before at my own expense (got the HYCARD promo--thank you FT!--and finished requalifying for Diamond for 2006). I expensed the amount of parking charge I would have had had I arrived at 7:30 a.m., even though the receipt that supported it was a hotel folio. No problem.

Assuming the client is the corporation, not the individual traveler--How can you keep these contradictory ideas in your head at the same time? Your client is paying you to follow their policy, not to substitute your own ideas.

It isn't paranoia. Type in your handle or other distinctive (or identifying) information into Google and you'll find some of your FlyerTalk postings. If you use any information in your posts that identifies you (e.g., putting your name or email address in your posting or handle), your postings may be readily findable by non-FTers. For example, if I'm interviewing job candidates, I always try a Google search as a part of the selection process.