Over the last few years, we have all been shocked and disturbed at the extent of the politician expense scandals. However, it’s not just these high power, high profile individual’s that have been known to abuse the system; it’s reported that 14.5% of business expense reimbursement schemes are abused. In fact, over 4 years The Royal Academy of Music was defrauded of £200,000 by a director.
Employee expenses are often politely described as a ‘headache’ – headache? Let’s try migraine inducing. In all seriousness, they can present themselves as one of the biggest challenges that owners will face.
It’s a fine line, in this era of trust and transparency, where the business hierarchy is removed and employees are all treated with equal respect and responsibility – you may feel pressured to supply your team with company credit cards with revolving credit limits. The bottom line is, don’t succumb to this if you are cautious, especially if you are still in the early days; but with this in mind the process needs to be addressed and formulated into one that is clear and fair; employees are within their rights to claim for genuine business expenses.
Dispatches From The Front 