Wednesday 18 September 2013

Many people are required to travel for business and, thus, are required to account for their travel expenses. While traveling on the company dime can be fun, it also must be justified. Companies must be able to see a paper trail of where you ate, when you ate and how much the final bill was so they can ensure that their travel funds are being appropriately used. This is why it's best to begin planning your travel expenses ahead of time, which includes researching company policies, local restaurants and any other travel expenses you think you might incur.

Instructions

    1

    Read your company's policies on expenses accrued while traveling on business. Take note of any per diem caps, which may include limits on how much employees can spend on accommodations, meals, incidentals and entertainment. Write these policies down and take them with you when you travel.

    2

    Use your company credit card or petty cash to pay for all company travel expenses. If you don't have access to these items, use one debit card or credit card for everything. This makes it easier to reimburse yourself for these expenses later.

    3

    Keep all your receipts from accommodations, meals, incidentals and entertainment in a designated wallet, pouch or envelope. If required to do so, ask cashiers for itemized receipts. Keep a running tally of your per diem spending, as well as a tally of any caps you have to ensure that you don't go over your daily expenses limit.

    4

    Create a spreadsheet that contains the dates of travel, and how much your expenses were on each day of travel. You may have to break down your expenses into categories, such as meals and entertainment or even into sub-categories, such as lunch or dinner, if you have maximum caps on every meal or outing. Note that some companies have pre-existing expense reports that they may want you to use. They should contain these same categories.

    5

    Check and double check your expense report to make sure that the numbers you're reporting match your receipts. You also want to ensure that you've stayed within your allotted, per diem expenses by checking your numbers and receipts against company policy.

    6

    Photo copy all of your travel receipts. Place them in the order in which you obtained them, starting with your first expense of the trip and ending with your last. If you can, try to fit an entire day's worth of receipts on one or two pieces of paper. This will make it easier for accounting to review your per diem expenses.

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