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Ingredients of a Good Travel & Expense PolicySarabjeet KaurGlobal Groupware Solutions Ltd.January 20, 2012
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What is a Good Travel & Expense Policy ?
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Guiding Principals of a Travel & Expense Policy
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6 C’s for the Foundation of a Good Travel & Expense Policy
• Culture• Content• Comprehensiveness• Communication• Control• Compliance
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Culture
• An organization’s culture is reflected in all of its operating policies and procedures, including its business T&E policy.
• Decision makers in travel management are required to have an intuitive grasp of their company’s culture as it determines the traveling lifestyle of people.
• It can be considered as relaxed or restrictive.
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Content
• Critical topics need to be included in order to maximize the effectiveness of the policy
• General issues include1. Purpose of policy2. Scope of policy3. Enforcement of policy4. Responsibilities
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.• The essentials topics covered in the content are :-1. Travel Arrangements2. Lodging3. Conveyance or other transportation4. Meals/Entertainment5. Other Expenses6. Purpose of travel &expense7. Payment Methods8. Expense Reporting9. Process of filing the expense
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Comprehensiveness
• Comprehensiveness is the degree of detail provided under each head
• It gives travelers and expense approvers the information needed to follow the T&E policy and control expenses
• It ensures a tangible record of all ongoing travel management objectives
• For example a T&E policy is incomplete if it misses on general guidelines, language enforcement, deviations etc.
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Communication
• Communication measures the extent of T&E policy distribution
• It measures how effectively the policy is updated• Communication is also the measure of awareness of
knowledge of the T& E policy• It involves the all the parties involved like travelers, travel
arrangers, expense approvers, payers, newly hired employees, all booking agencies involved etc.
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Control
• Control measures the strength and effectiveness of specific policy language
• It also measures methods in place for monitoring compliance
• Enforcement strategies used in dealing with non-compliance
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Compliance
• Compliance measures how well the travelers are following the policy
• It ensures that your company achieves the financial and administrative benefits expected with a best-in-class T&E policy
• It is the ultimate measure of overall Travel & Expense policy
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Policy Summary
TRAVEL COMPLIANCE
High level of ControlComprehensive
InformationEffective
Communication
Appropriate Culture Recommended Topics
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Benefits of a Good Travel & Expense Policy
• Increases the effectiveness of implementation.• Help in lowering direct T&E costs.• Help travelers understand management’s expectations.• Cost reduction.• Maximize use of preferred vendors.• Used for monitoring, budgeting and forecasting. • Proper review
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So to Summarize…
• Understand the company culture and requirement • Prepare a policy manual that covers all the guidelines for
employee travel• Detail the entire process• Include acceptable price ranges and acceptable costs• Communicate the policy to all the employees in the
organization• Proper review and amendments of the policy from time to
time.
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• Refine the policy• Communicate the new policy with the effective date
stating the reasons for change• Take necessary feedback from employees
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Thank you!
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