Your company may require its employees to travel for business purposes. If so, any expenses your employees incur (airfare, hotel, car rental, dinner while entertaining clients, etc.) can be significant, and your company must help your employees manage those expenses.

Many companies have a reimbursement policy, meaning they will reimburse certain travel expenses incurred by their employees and take additional steps to help them manage their costs. We’re going to discuss that today.

Here are the top five ways that you will help out your employees manage their business travel expenses:

1 - Have A Clear and Transparent Policy

  • Develop a Comprehensive Policy Document: Outline all the travel-related expenses covered by the company, such as airfare, accommodation, meals, car rentals, and incidental expenses like laundry or internet usage. Specify spending limits for each category based on location and duration of the trip.
  • Define Approval Processes: Clarify how employees should get approval for trips, including steps for booking flights and accommodations, and whom they should contact for authorization.
  • Provide Regular Training: Ensure employees are familiar with the policy through orientation sessions, online training, and regular reminders. This will help them understand their entitlements and restrictions, avoiding misunderstandings.
  • Centralize Policy Access: Make the policy document easily accessible through the company’s intranet or a dedicated travel management system. Employees should be able to refer to it anytime for guidance.
First and foremost, your company policy on the travel business needs to be very clear and transparent, meaning that employees should easily find and understand it.

You should have a lawyer or an expert writer for you. The language within the policy should be clear, or else employees may genuinely think that they are in compliance with it when senior management believes otherwise.

If you revise your policy, email it to your employees and consider holding a meeting about it.

2 - Require Receipts As Proof of Expense

  • Set Clear Receipt Submission Guidelines: Employees should know the importance of receipts for all transactions, such as meals, transport, and lodging. Provide a list of acceptable forms of receipts (e.g., digital, printed) and ensure that these match company requirements.
  • Use Technology for Receipt Management: Introduce a mobile app or expense management software where employees can capture and upload receipts immediately after incurring an expense. This reduces the risk of losing receipts and streamlines the reimbursement process.
  • Implement a Standard Expense Report Format: Create a standardized template for expense reports that employees must fill out, linking receipts directly to individual expenses. This helps finance teams cross-reference entries efficiently.
A good rule is that for an employee to claim a business travel expense for reimbursement, they must display valid receipts as proof of that expense. Even if the cost is reasonable, the company won’t reimburse it without a permit.

Note that receipts do not need to be physical, as e-receipts are becoming increasingly common. It may be an old idea for your company to use an app that lets your employees upload receipts for the accounts payable team to view.

3 - Have A Solution For Expenses Without Receipts

  • Create a Small Expense Declaration Form: For expenses like taxi tips or small cash transactions where receipts may not be available, provide employees with a company-approved form to document such expenses. This form should include fields like date, amount, and purpose.
  • Set Limits on Unreceipted Expenses: Define a maximum allowable amount for expenses that do not require receipts, ensuring that employees do not misuse this provision. This limit should be reasonable and based on typical business travel scenarios.
  • Encourage Use of Corporate Credit Cards: Provide employees with company credit cards for business travel. These cards generate statements that can serve as backup proof for expenses, especially when receipts are unavailable.
  • Leverage Technology: Utilize expense management tools that integrate credit card transactions directly into expense reports, allowing employees to match these transactions with their entries, even if they lack physical receipts.
Having your employees turn in valid receipts as proof of expense is undoubtedly a wise idea, but what about the costs that don’t have tickets?

For example, many hotel rooms will no longer give receipts or e-receipts, instead of using a folio for about every charge from the hotel (nightly stay, fee, cleaning services, parking, taxes, food, etc.).

A folio can be much more confusing than a regular receipt, making it more difficult to break down expenses. This is why you can turn to a software solution that includes hotel folio itemization as a feature. It can then read and parse out the data on individual lines to make it easier to view the expenses.

4 - Partner With Corporate housing companies

  • Establish Relationships with Trusted Vendors: Form partnerships with reputable corporate housing providers or hotels to ensure your employees have access to quality accommodation options at discounted rates. This could include agreements for long-term stays or last-minute bookings.
  • Centralize the Booking Process: Create a dedicated platform or portal for employees to book their accommodation, pre-vetted and within policy limits. This simplifies the booking process and ensures compliance with company-approved standards.
  • Offer Flexible Housing Solutions: Consider options like serviced apartments for longer assignments, which often provide better amenities at lower costs than traditional hotels. This not only reduces costs but also enhances employee comfort during extended stays.
  • Negotiate Perks and Benefits: Work with partners to provide added benefits such as free Wi-Fi, breakfast, laundry services, or shuttle services. This can minimize incidental expenses that employees would otherwise need to claim separately.
You can secure cost-effective apartments or accommodations solutions by partnering with corporate housing in Birmingham al. These accommodations will be more flexible and comfortable than traditional hotel stays for the employees. But is that all? No, there are other options as well that can naturally ease the burden for your company while ensuring the employees stay hassle-free and convenient -- think short and long term rentals in your area. 

This will naturally ease the burden for your company while ensuring the employees stay hassle-free and convenient.

5 - Be Vigilant For Expense Fraud

  • Implement Automated Expense Monitoring Tools: Use AI-powered expense management software that can flag unusual spending patterns, duplicate claims, or expenses that exceed set limits. Automation ensures that anomalies are detected quickly and accurately.
  • Conduct Regular Audits: Establish periodic audits of expense reports to review patterns and identify potential fraudulent claims. Focus on areas with higher risk, such as mileage claims, meal expenses, and out-of-pocket reimbursements.
  • Create a Whistleblower System: Encourage a culture of transparency by providing an anonymous reporting mechanism for employees to raise concerns about suspicious or fraudulent behavior.
  • Educate Employees on Consequences: Make it clear that expense fraud is a serious offense with consequences such as suspension, termination, or legal action. Ensure this information is included in the travel policy and reiterated during training sessions.
  • Monitor High-Risk Transactions: Keep a close watch on categories that tend to have more fraudulent activity, such as cash withdrawals, luxury accommodations, and frequent changes in travel plans. Having preset thresholds for high-risk transactions can help flag these for further review.
Last but not least, watch out for expense fraud. Expense fraud is a severe issue that collectively costs large corporations and small businesses billions of dollars annually in the United States.

Expense fraud is when an employee deliberately and knowingly violates the terms of the company’s business travel policy to claim an expense for reimbursement. In reality,, that expense is not valid for reimbursement under the company’s policy.

For example, an employee may claim an expense for invalid reimbursement, claim the same payment twice on different invoices and try to hide it, or deliberately inflate a cost.

The best way to watch out for expense fraud will be to use automated software like Coupa's expense management solution that can detect anomalies excellently. Another way to watch out for it is to compare the suspected employee with other employees in the exact position. If that employee’s expense claims are unusually high, it’s a cause for concern at the very least.

Additional Tips for Effective Expense Management

  • Provide Training on Expense Management Tools: Equip employees with the skills to use company-provided apps or software to manage their travel expenses efficiently. Regular training sessions can reduce errors and improve adherence to policies.
  • Leverage Centralized Travel Platforms: Encourage the use of a single platform for all travel-related bookings and expenses. This ensures all bookings align with company policy and simplifies data tracking for both employees and finance teams.
  • Encourage the Use of Digital Payments: Promote the use of digital or mobile payments where receipts can be easily tracked and integrated into expense management systems, reducing the need for manual tracking.
  • Offer Rewards for Compliance: Consider incentivizing compliance with travel policies by offering rewards or recognition for employees who consistently submit accurate and timely expense reports.
By taking these steps, companies can create a streamlined, efficient process for managing business travel expenses that protects their financial interests while supporting employees.