How many people do you think try to pad their expense reports every month? According to an anonymous survey conducted by PayScale.com, more than 39% of respondents admitted to some unethical practice involving expense reports. Expense report fraud can range anywhere from "guesstimating"
the amount of money paid for a hotel room because you lost the receipt to trying to expense your new sun porch at home.
Unfortunately, many employees don't see anything wrong with exaggerating the amounts on their expense reports because, after all, it's just a few dollars here and there. The problem with this is that expense report fraud is no different from stealing in a roundabout fashion. Furthermore, in a corporation with thousands of employees, a few dollars on every expense report can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
According to Entrepreneur.com, the guidelines for filling out expense reports are quite simple. If you don't have a verifiable receipt for the purchase and if you aren't authorized to expense certain items, you're committing expense report fraud. Although some companies don't check reports as closely as they should, most are beginning to crack down on their policies to avoid this very problem.
The trick is to brush up on your knowledge of these policies and learn the boundaries you cannot cross. It can be difficult to determine exactly what you are entitled to expense, especially if corporate policy is vague. For example, your cellular phone bill might go on your expense report, but you are responsible for the $30 worth of text messages you sent to your girlfriend last month.
Expense report fraud encompasses a variety of fraudulent actions, including:
- Failing to provide a receipt for expensed items;
- Splitting the cost of a large item to avoid expense thresholds;
- Submitting duplicate receipts for two expense reports;
- Expensing personal items; and
- Using the company credit card for unapproved purchases.
Contributing article by: Steve Thompson, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/262888/guide_to_expense_report_fraud.html?cat=3
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