Let’s face it: the folks in accounts payable don’t always have the best reputation with other employees, especially if they handle travel and entertainment reimbursements. Let me go on the record by saying that rarely do I believe the reputation is deserved - but that ranting is for another posting.

Recently, the every-perceptive Dilbert focused on the reimbursement issue in a Sunday morning cartoon. My husband, Mr. Charm, couldn’t wait to show it to me. (He had to because I don’t read the comics). He could not resist his glee. “Here’s something for your ezine,” he chuckled.

“I don’t think so,” I replied after reading it. “This is not the image we like to portray.”

Then I received a note from a reader which said, “I thought you would like this since I was told from one of my salesman that this reminded him of me.”

She seemed pleased. So, in case you haven’t seen the cartoon, here’s the link.
http://www.dilbert.com/2010-01-10/

Did someone you know send it to you also?

I guess the story that follows - the one I intended to write when I signed on - shouldn’t surprise me too much given the following. Two things of note happened today. President Obama won the Noble Peace Prize and apparently Marge Simpson is on the cover of Playboy magazine. Which do you think generated more Internet interest - at least according to the Internet? Yup - that’s right, it was Marge by a mile!

Anyway, here’s what I originally got on to rant about.

 I got a note last week from a reader (thanks, David) alerting me to a Web site that will generate phony restaurant receipts for anyone who wants one. The site apparently was posted by a posh steak house in New York, apparently its idea of humor. Exactly why they thought this would generate more business eludes me. To my way of thinking, it would lead to a decrease in business—unless they thought they’d get some publicity from the site.

But back to the story. When I was first alerted to the site’s existence last week, I visited it. In addition to receipts from the steak house, a visitor could generate receipts from about half a dozen well known restaurants, mostly chains. I went back this morning as I was preparing to write this and the ability to generate receipts from anyone other than the eatery in question had been removed. I’m speculating that the Web site owner finally heard from legal counsel.

The reason I am not including the link in this piece is twofold. First I don’t want to give publicity to the duplicitous and, more importantly, I hope the site will be taken down by the time you read this.

That being said, there is a valuable lesson to be learned from this escapade. Most receipts are easily altered by those with even a modicum of computer skills and access to a scanner. If you get a receipt that looks suspicious—ask to see the original. Make sure your processors know they can ask for any original, whether they think something is fishy about the dollar amount or the way the receipt looks.  In fact, it’s a good idea to periodically ask a few employees for their originals even if you suspect nothing. This simple act can serve as a deterrent to employees who might be considering trickery as described here.

We recently held a webinar discussing practices to limit fraud in T&E while complying with IRS regulations. CDs of that event are available for purchase.

(c) 2009 Mary Schaeffer & CRYSTALLUS Inc.

Let’s start with T&E – one of the areas the IRS has announced it will focus on for extra special attention in its audits this year. To be perfectly honest, along with the rest of the accounts payable world, I was flabbergasted when I heard T&E had made the IRS hit list. But in hindsight, we shouldn’t be surprised. There have been, at least to my way of thinking, two major shifts in the way the corporate world views T&E expenditures. While there have always been organizations that took T&E seriously, many refused to enforce the policy uniformly allowing “special” employees to spend outside the policy. Here, we’ve always taken the view that this was totally unacceptable.

The enactment of the Sarbanes Oxley Act was the first wakeup call. This was documented in an Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow survey where 57% of the respondents reported tightening up their policy as a result of the Act, although only 30% of the respondents were from public companies.

The second death knell to lackadaisical T&E enforcement came, I believe, as a result of the cratering economy. Within the last 18 months, we started to hear much discussion about “zero tolerance policies” something that was never mentioned in the past. A growing number of companies no longer have a sense of humor about inappropriate T&E expenditures. Step over the line and you may find yourself pounding the pavement.

And, now the IRS is stepping up auditing in this arena. It’s as though a new moon is rising. If you have not taken a close look at your T&E policy in recent times, now would be a good time to do so. It would also be appropriate to review the IRS guidelines to ensure your organization is complying with them. That is just one of the topics that we’ll review and discuss in our Sept. 23 webinar on T&E Best Practices to Ensure Compliance with IRS Regs and Prevent Fraud.

For additional information or to register for the T&E webinar/CD

I recently wrote a story in our weekly ezine (signup at http://www.ap-now.com/ezinesignup.html) about being stuck at the airport (AGAIN - but that’s another story). While I sat and enjoyed a dinner purchased at Ben & Jerry’s, an industrious young man spread out his receipts and started doing his expense report - ahh, that I should be so industrious.

After that story ran, I had a note from a reader inquiring if I had noticed what software the young man was using. Needless to say I hadn’t - I mean which would you focus on T&E software or Coffee Coffee, Buzz Buzz Buzz ice cream?

Luckily, a few of our readers were more observant and wrote with descriptions of products that could be used away from the office. They are posted in the comments section after this piece.

Interested in Travel & Entertainment Best Practices? Take a look at our T&E resources at http://www.ap-now.com/travelandentertainment.html

© 2008 Mary S. Schaeffer, Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow, & CRYSTALLUS, Inc.

Here we go again. I almost couldn’t believe it. The Associated Press reported that the head of the Smithsonian Latino Center resigned after an investigation found she abused her expense account. Now, as those interested in accounts payable issues might remember, the Smithsonian has had trouble in this regard in the past.

So, what were the expenditures and should they have been considered inappropriate? My favorite was the limousine that was hired to drive her across the National Mall from one musuem to another. Her hotel of preference was the Ritz Carlton and the Four Seasons. Well, I like those places as well but rarely stay there - vor the obvious financial considerations.

Now, here is the best part - and probably the crux of the issue - not only for the Smithsonian but for every organization with traveling employees. She says her superiors always approved her expense reports and never questioned any of the expenditures.

This is a common situation. Managers signing travel reimburesement requests without checking what is on them. This is a very common practice. In fact, I recently gave a talk on T&E Fraud prevention with Chuck Buckner of InterplX and he admitted when we came to this issue that he never checked what he authorized. [Purchase the TE& Fraud Prevention and Detection CD]

There is a really simple solution to this problem. Make the approving manger responsible for any payments approved that should not have been made as they do not conform to company policy. Or, dismiss the approving manager. This has just got to stop. It’s not like it is a once in a lifetime occurence; it happens all the time. This policy should be put in writing and shared with every employee and manager. Let the employees know that they are putting their managers in the hot seat by putting spa treatments and the like on their expense reports.

Companies have to step up to the plate and make managers responsible. Yes, it is a little embarrassing - but not nearly as embarassing as having a story such as this slashed all over the newspapers and having to answer to upper management - and perhaps the board of directors.

What is particularly galling about this incident is the fact that it is tax payers money and the Smithsonian had a particularly embarrasing episode just a year or two ago. The fact that no one told her not to put spa treatments on her T&E is more galling. It reminds me of dealing with a misbehaving teenager - and believe me - just thinking about those times makes my hair stand on end.

Return to the Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow home page.

I had an inquiry about using private planes for business travel and what the reimbursement rate would be. To be clear, this refers to employees using their own private planes - not traveling on company owned planes. My first thought was, “it must be nice.” Of course that was not what the query was about.

I did not think there was a published mileage reimbursement rate but a littel research showed that once again there was something else to be learned about accounts payable. The last rate I found was issued in 2006 and it was for $1.07 per mile.

To be honest, this seems kind of low to me, especially if the plane in question is carrying more than two people. But, not being a pilot, perhaps it is not unreasonable. When I asked our ezine readers about this issue I received a note from one professional who indicated that his firm absolutely unequivocably did not allow employees to use their own planes for company business. I’m curious if other organizations address the issue of use of employee’s planes in their policy. I’m guessing most don’t have the need to - but would be interested in seeing what others have to say on this issue.