Preface.
Acknowledgements.
1 Travel and Entertainment Expense Policy and Reimbursement Process: Not What It Was a Few Short Years Ago.
Trends Affecting T&E Expense Reporting.
Other Issues Affecting the T&E Expense Process.
Other Bad Practices That Plague T&E.
Outsider’s View.
Worst-Case Scenario.
Best-Case Scenario.
Reality.
Who Handles T&E?
2 How Corporate Travel Is Booked.
Pre-Trip Authorizations.
Role of the Travel Agent.
Corporate Travel Offices.
Corporate Intranet Portals.
Online Corporate Booking Services.
Third-Party Corporate Booking Portals.
Making the Selection: Third-Party Travel Service Provider.
Bare-Bones Approach: Employee Self-Booking.
Demise of the Saturday-Night Stay and Other Costly Issues.
Other Booking Issues.
3 T&E Expense Report Approval Process.
Who’s Watching the Store?
Approval Process in a Paper World.
Traveler or Supervisor: Who Should Return the Approved Form?
Approvals in an Electronic Process.
Electronic Processing without Immediate Approval.
Electronic Processing with Immediate Approval.
Approvals: Paper versus Electronic.
Something to Consider.
What about the Receipts?
Inquisitive Managers and Receipts.
4 The T&E Review and Reimbursement Process.
Cash Advances.
Other Cash Advance Problem.
How Common Are Cash Advances?
Expense Reimbursement.
Last-Minute Reimbursements: The Demanding Employee.
Reviewing and Checking T&E Expense Reports.
Spot Checking.
Checking: An Important Consideration.
Recommended Best Practice: Checking Reports.
If Management Won’t Agree to Spot Checking.
When Spot Checking May Not Be Appropriate.
Policy Compliance.
Policy Compliance Exceptions.
5 Accountable or Not: The Tax Implications of Your T&E Plan.
An Accountable Plan.
Reasonable Amount of Time.
Tax Implications of an Accountable Plan.
A Nonaccountable Plan.
Advantages of an Accountable Plan.
Tax Carrot/Stick.
Receipts under Accountable Plans.
T&E in a Paperless World.
Pertinent IRS Publications.
Another Reason to Eliminate Cash Advances.
6 Paying for Corporate Travel: T&E Cards.
Employee Use of Own Credit Card.
Company Card with Employee Paying the Bill.
Company Card, Employee Payment, Corporate Guarantee.
Company Paying the T&E Card Bill.
One Card Approach.
Hybrid Approach.
Which Approach Is Best?
Issuance of Company T&E Cards.
7 Receipts, Documentation, and Other Issues.
Per Diems.
Receipts.
What about Electronic Receipts?
Disaster Recovery: Lessons Learned from Charlie and Katrina.
Other Delicate Issues.
8 Communicating Requirements: The T&E Policy and Manual.
What Kind of Policy Do You Want?
Your T&E Policy, Internal Controls, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Access to the Policy.
A Two-Minute Assessment of Your T&E Process.
T&E Policy: Good News and Bad.
Administering the Policy.
T&E Policy Best Practices.
Policy Synopsis.
Creating Your Own T&E Policy.
Keeping the Policy Current.
Enforcing the Policy.
9 Sample T&E Policy Manual.
Section 1: Policy Approval.
Section 2: T&E Policy Statement.
Section 3: Policy Purpose.
Section 4: Exceptions to the Policy.
Section 5: Employee Responsibilities Related to T&E.
Section 6: Preferred Method of Payment.
Section 7: Supervisor Responsibilities Related to T&E.
Section 8: Accounts Payable Responsibilities Related to T&E.
Section 9: Receipts.
Section 10: Who Pays When More than One Employee Is Involved.
Section 11: What’s Covered.
Section 12: What’s Not Covered.
Section 13: Cash Advances.
Section 14: Airline Service.
Section 15: Denied Boarding Compensation.
Section 16: Unused/Voided Ticket.
Section 17: Rental Cars 94
Section 18: Ground Transportation.
Section 19: Use of Personal Automobile.
Section 20: Preferred Hotels.
Section 21: Lodging Receipts.
Section 22: Meals and Incidentals: For Employee Only.
Section 23: Expenses for Meals for Others.
Section 24: Travel Expenses of Spouse/Personal Guest.
Section 25: Entertainment.
Section 26: Non-Travel Business Expense Reimbursement.
Section 27: Whom to Call with Questions.
Section 28: Other.
10 Solutions to Day-to-Day T&E Operational Problems.
Uneven Policy Enforcement.
Tough Tactics to Get T&E Reports Submitted On Time!
Less Harsh Methods of Getting the Laggards to Turn in Reports On Time.
The Rush Check Issue: Is It the Employee or the Supervisor?
Approvals: Dealing with the Foot-Dragging Manager.
Where Do I Sign?: Managers Who Approve Anything.
One-Size Policy for All: Dealing with Noncompliance Issues.
Fraud Or an Honest Mistake?
Unused Tickets.
The Reservation Game.
Rogue Travelers.
When an Employee Departs.
When an Employee Is Fired.
11 T&E Fraud: How to Prevent It.
Review of Occupational Fraud.
Is Expense Reimbursement Really a Problem for the Average Company?.
Scanning Fraud and Receipts.
Where Employees Learn How to Steal.
Dealing with Fraud: Two Extremes.
T&E Fraud Prevention Best Practices.
Detecting Expense Reimbursement Fraud.
What to Do When Expense Reimbursement Fraud.
Last-Ditch Collection Efforts.
Gift Card Problem.
Not-Pretty Gift Card Solution.
Alternative to Gift Cards.
12 Automation: Third-Party and Home-Grown Systems.
How T&E Expenses Are Reported.
Excel-Based Models.
Why Automate?
How Automated Systems Work: Overview.
Automated Systems: Design Requirements.
Receipts in an Automated Environment.
Reimbursement Payments in an Automated Environment.
Companies Offering T&E Automated Services.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Outsourced Operations.
SAS 70.
13 Pertinent Issues for International Travelers.
Bribes.
Foreign Exchange.
Foreign Exchange Tips.
International Travel Advisories.
Value-Added Tax.
Paperless T&E World.
Maximizing Your Returns.
Sarbanes-Oxley.
Outsourcers.
Do-It-Yourself VAT Recovery.
14 Negotiating the Best Rate from Suppliers.
The Basics.
A Matter of Policy.
Where Do Your Travel Dollars Go?
All Travel on a Company Card.
Focus on Your Biggest Savings.
Don’t Overlook International Travel.
The Contract Is Not Set in Stone.
Don’t Promise All Your Business.
Overlooked T&E Savings Opportunity.
Other Savings Associated with Your T&E Card.
15 Best Practices for the Entire T&E Process.
Appendix A GSA Per Diems.
Appendix B VAT Rates for Selected Countries.
Index.
