One of the most fun things about business travel is seeing what you can get away with come expense report time. We’ve all taken liberties with our employer’s expense policy, although things I’ve put on expense reports would probably be considered lame: a pack of smokes, a four-pack of Surly Furious IPA, a bomber of Epic Big Bad Baptist imperial stout, Starbucks, tickets to a Columbus Blue Jackets game. Although I wouldn’t recommend trying to expense forged Uber receipts.
But people put some weird-ass stuff on their expense reports, which are summarized in this infographic from Robert Half:
However, the fun police at Bob Half (aka Tim Hird, an executive vice president with RH) said putting inappropriate things on your expense report can be “an expensive problem” for firms.
“Companies must have effective review systems, policies and processes in place, or they risk losses in profits and employee productivity.”
But c’mon, Tim, if accountants stopped trying to expense inappropriate things, like going to strip clubs or duplicated airfares, then you wouldn’t be able to do this survey every three years or put together an infographic for the benefit of dumb websites like ours.
Several years ago, Caleb asked you guys to share your most ridiculous interpretations of your firm’s expense policy. Feel free to share here how you successfully managed to bend the rules.
