Employee Expense Policy

Employees’ expenses are often covered by the company when they are expected to travel for work. The processes for how expenses are approved, the reimbursement amounts and the guidelines for claiming expenses vary from organization to organization. Having an employee expense policy assists approvers and claimants determine reasonable and appropriate travel expenses.

The following are issues that should be considered when drafting an internal expense policy:

• How do you expect employees to make travel arrangements? Do they book on their own and submit expenses or do you have a designated travel coordinator?
• Are employees expected to fly business class or economy class?
• Who approves expenses?
• Who sets per diem rates? How often are they reviewed?
• What requires a receipt and what does not?