Expenses and Company business trips

[MATTBIN]

Lst week I went up North on Company business, Darlington to be precise. I had to book the travel myself as it was short notice and we didnt have time to get it booked via Darlington and get the tickets posted to me. So I booked it in good faith, as it happens I picked up the train tickets at a mainline Stn, which I could have done had the Company booked it. I bought the cheapest ticket I could, about £80 rtn with the promise I'd get the money back via an expense form during my visit. I didnt get the money back on the day. I filled out the expense form as best I could on Friday last week, after my return to base office. However I needed a Project number to book to, I called the Darlington office, they promised to let me know by close of business Friday. I mailed them on Monday asking again for the Project number. I got it today, Tuesday. I filled in the remaining questions, I asked the Darlington office who should sign it, apparently my boss in London. I called him, he said it was his boss and his Boss's boss that would sign it, the Big Boss just happens to be away for 3 weeks, no-one can sign it in his absence.
So after being promised I'd get the money on the day it now looks like I will have to wait at least 3 weeks, by which time I will have left to work at another Company. Bear in mind the mob I work for do £100Million pound contracts, so not a small Company of 10 peopel or anything but a massive multi-national. Why do they make it so difficult, do they not realise that this bureacracy means people just will not go on trips once they have received this sort of treatment. Why dont Companies just pay up front. Every Company I have ever worked for treats its employees this way.

Matt

[Jim Shaw]

I would have thought that larger companies are worse for this kind of thing, as they have so many levels of stuff to go through, at a small company you speak to the finanial director, and he writes you a cheque, end of problem,

and they may just be messing around because they know that you are leaving, and it's a going away present in reverse, you give them something rather than the other way round.

[Finless]

Matt,

Go see your immediate manager and explain you are not happy, should not be out of pocket for a business expense and ask them to pay it out of petty cash. Plead the old poverty ploy and put some pressure on them.

There are always lines of resposibility for who can and can't sign things off but for £80!!! FFS.

Rgds
Bryan

[Allan Carr]

I had a problem some years ago on a business trip to India. The day I was supposed to fly back, they closed Bombay airport because of disturbances associated with the Indian elections which were that day. All the flights out in economy for the next two weeks for fully booked with full wait-lists as well. I managed to get out the next day by upgrading to Business Class, which wasn't a huge amount because I was travelling on a full-fare economy ticket. However, when I got back, I was told that the upgrade was unauthorised since only the Chief Executive could authorise Business Class travel so I had to carry the cost of the upgrade myself. If I had simply waited for the next economy class flight, I could have claimed hotel and subsistence costs which would have been many times the cost of the upgrade!

Far too many companies are run by accountants who think that travel is a perk. They don't have to suffer it. I was doing anything up to 30 overseas trips a year. Even long haul we had to travel economy. The worst trip I had was running a management training course in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. I was wait-listed on 15 flights to get out there. One finally came up - the 10.15 Singapore airlines flight to Sydney. I travelled non-stop on a completely full plane, arrived in Sydney at 7.30am and was on my feet lecturing at 10.00am. When that one-day session was over, it was straight off to the airport again to fly to Brisbane. On that trip, I stayed in 18 different hotels on 23 days, only one hotel did I have a two night stay and 4 nights of sleeping on overnight flights.

Other 'fun' trips, 5 continents in 18 days and 11 different countries in two and a half weeks. Oh, the joys of business travel.

[chrisch]

Originally Posted by MATTBIN

Lst week I went up North on Company business, Darlington to be precise.

Huh alright for some eh....

Originally Posted by MATTBIN

Every Company I have ever worked for treats its employees this way.

Well I've worked for many many companies and never, ever been sent to Darlington.

Chris

[principia]

I got sent to Hartlepool and Bradford once. Never been right since....

[jackadam]

steady about the Darlington comments,

[MATTBIN]

Originally Posted by Finless

Matt,

Go see your immediate manager and explain you are not happy, should not be out of pocket for a business expense and ask them to pay it out of petty cash. Plead the old poverty ploy and put some pressure on them.

There are always lines of resposibility for who can and can't sign things off but for £80!!! FFS.

Rgds
Bryan

Believe it or not, the Company doesnt do petty cash, I'm lucky the MD doesnt have to sign it, anything over a £100 apparently.

Matt

[jackadam]

On a serious note try to demand a float for Expenses in advance, a couple of companies I worked for did it, when I pressured them into a Company Credit Card - the only problem is paying the ba$5rd back when you leave.

[Pigpen]

Can't believe that there is nobody able to sign in the boss's absence? If they are that large a company, they should have some contingencies in place.