Creating an Effective and Efficient Travel and Entertainment Expense Reimbursement Policy

Just as the rest of the business world is evolving, so is business travel. There are services available today (and your travelers are already using them) that weren’t on the landscape five years ago. Does your travel policy address those issues? Do your employees know when and if they can use them?

Thinking that all your employees have good common sense and therefore you don’t really need a detailed travel and entertainment expense reimbursement policy can get your organization in trouble on two fronts. First, inevitably, there will be a few employees who have a very-skewed idea of what is reasonable when the company is paying. And secondly, if you don’t hold them accountable for their behavior and actions, the company could run afoul of the IRS by endangering the accountable plan status.

• Identify how to create a plan that protects the organization while providing reasonable travel and entertainment accommodations for their employees
• Describe best practices for sharing the travel policy
• Differentiate best practices and how they apply to various policies
• Recognize who sets the per diem rates
• Identify what the travel policy should do regarding cash expenditures
• Describe examples of worst practices for a Travel & Expense Policy
• Recognize how to make your policy more user-friendly
• Identify the most common approach to the number of expense reports employees should submit
• Recognize the best practice for reimbursing employees for out-of-pocket expenses
• Describe uniform enforcement of travel policy pay offs with a lower rate of problems
• Identify the main reason most companies permit the use of Uber, Lyft and other ride hailing services

• Overview- Why T&E Expenses Matter
• Basics of a Strong Policy
• The Policy Framework
• Hotels, Meals and Travel
• Effecting the Policy
• Behind the Scenes (checking etc.)
• Best Practice Approach
   

In this session, attendees will learn how to create a plan that protects the organization while providing reasonable travel and entertainment accommodations for their employees. 

Schaeffer will also discuss the newest challenge facing every organization: Reimbursement requests for working-from-home expenses. Some of them will be very reasonable, but others (like travel expenses) will stretch the imagination.

• Accountants
• Controllers
• Accounting Managers
• Auditors (internal and external)
• Treasurers
• CFOs
• CEOs
• Accounts Payable Professionals
• Expense Reimbursement Staff
• Payroll Professionals
• Procure-to-pay Professionals
• Travel Managers
   

Mary S. Schaeffer is the founder of AP Now, a B2B organization focused on creating business intelligence around the accounts payable and payment functions. She has written 18 business books and is a frequent and popular speaker at both online and live events. Schaeffer has created a number of CPE self-study courses, customized training and online training events. She is the developer of the Accounts Payable Best Practice Certificate program. Previously she held positions as an Assistant Treasurer for the Equitable Life Assurance Society, a Financial Risk Manager for O&Y and a Corporate Cash Manager for Continental Grain. She has an MBA in Finance from NYU and a BS in Mathematics from York College (CUNY).