Two receipts, two rules, one revised notice
Your company issues a revised travel and expense notice, effective April 1: receipts are required for any single expense of 3,000 yen or more (previously 5,000 yen); client entertainment of any amount requires pre-approval filed before the event; taxi rides after 10 p.m. require a stated reason on the claim form; and the notice applies to expenses incurred on or after April 1, regardless of when they are submitted. On April 3 a colleague asks you to check her claim: a client dinner on April 1 costing 4,200 yen with no receipt, and a taxi on April 2 costing 3,400 yen with a receipt but a blank reason box; the meter slip shows 10:40 p.m. She has no pre-approval number for the dinner and says her manager agreed to it verbally.
1. Assess the April 1 dinner claim: 4,200 yen, no receipt, verbal manager agreement, no pre-approval number.
Read the worked answer
Two failures under the revised notice. First, receipts: from April 1 the threshold is 3,000 yen and 4,200 exceeds it, so a receipt was required - the old 5,000-yen threshold does not apply because the expense was incurred on April 1, and the notice keys everything to the incurrence date. Second, pre-approval: entertainment of any amount needs approval filed before the event, and a verbal agreement with a manager is not a filed approval; the notice makes no exception for verbal consent. The claim cannot be paid as submitted. The receipt is correctable (a duplicate from the restaurant); the pre-approval is not, and that is the manager's call to escalate, not yours to waive.
2. Assess the April 2 taxi: 3,400 yen, receipt attached, taken 10:40 p.m., reason box blank.
Read the worked answer
It clears the receipt test: 3,400 exceeds the 3,000 threshold and a receipt is attached. Taxis are not client entertainment, so the pre-approval rule does not reach them. The late-night clause does: the ride was after 10 p.m. and the reason box is blank, which is a defect - but a fixable one, since she can write the reason and resubmit. The amount and the receipt are fine. This item is payable once the reason is entered, assuming no separate clause caps taxi spend; that is the only remaining thing worth checking.
3. She asks you to "just put them both through as March expenses." What do you say, and why does it matter beyond her claim?
Read the worked answer
No. Backdating falsifies the record, and the notice keys the rules to when the expense was incurred: a March date would drop the 4,200 dinner under the old 5,000-yen threshold and make the missing receipt harmless - exactly the outcome the new rule is written to prevent. Beyond her claim, this is the first month the notice applies; approving a backdated entry sets a precedent other staff will follow and exposes whoever signs it. The honest route: submit the dinner at 4,200 with a duplicate receipt if she can obtain one, flag the missing pre-approval to her manager, and let the manager decide whether to treat it as a documented exception.