5 extra checks for senior management’s ( CEO/CXO/Director) expense claims

Recently we came across an article in a business daily about a reputed company alleging that one of its key senior management professional had claimed fraudulent fuel bill reimbursements. The spat between the company and the senior professional points to what could potentially be a big risk to the reputation of the organization.

At Expenzing we specialize in expense management and Expenzing Employee Expense Controller and Expenzing Travel Expense Manager are two of our products which help to impose finance controls on all employees including senior executives.
In addition here are some best practices and practical tips on setting up financial systems and processes to safeguard against embarrassing either the company or its employees:

1. Check the approval workflow rules for all your Directors and CEO. Ensure it has a genuine accountability built into the approval so that in case of any audit or asking uncomfortable questions in future, the audit trail is for all to see.
2. For senior management, ensure that the A/P is more particular about supportings – ensure that at least scanned copies are retained.
3. Check the narration which justifies why the fuel was spent – details of “from, “to” and “why” are important. For higher amounts have the number of kilometers/ miles also recorded. Check Google Maps if you need to.
4. Have you printed an “employee accountability” statement at the bottom of the form which says “I hereby certify that all expenses claimed in this form are true and accurate and for business purpose only”? Do that.
5. Each month, have someone in MIS/AP team look for reimbursements made to senior managers to check for any deviations from the normal-like a late claim submission, or a delayed approval, or a higher than usual amount being claimed, or a claim for a rare type of expense, etc. Point it out to your seniors to ask what additional supportings you can ask for, in case it is required to be audited in future.