Reading an Expense Policy Memo for What It Doesn't Say
Read this internal memo: From: Finance Director. To: All staff. Subject: Revised expense policy - effective 1 March. Following the Q4 audit, we are tightening travel expenses. Receipts are required for all claims above £20 (previously £50). Claims submitted more than 30 days after the expense will not be reimbursed unless the department head provides a written exception before the 30-day deadline. Client entertainment remains capped at £75 per head; alcohol is not reimbursable. The policy applies to all grades, including directors. Questions to Finance Business Partners. You are a team leader. A team member attended a conference, lost a £32 taxi receipt, and submitted the claim 34 days after the expense. Another team member claims £80 per head for a client dinner that included wine and has an itemised receipt. You must decide what to tell them and what to do.
1. What do you tell the team member with the missing £32 taxi receipt, and why?
Read the worked answer
Tell them it is not reimbursable, because the exception deadline had already passed. Reasoning: the memo allows a written exception only if the department head provides it 'before the 30-day deadline'. The claim was submitted at 34 days, so by the time you know about it, the deadline has passed; a retrospective exception does not fit the wording. Do not promise to 'ask Finance anyway' unless you are prepared to set a precedent. Explain the rule, show the date arithmetic (expense date to submission = 34 days), and offer a practical route: ask whether the taxi was paid on a company card or can be recovered from the conference organiser; if not, treat it as a personal cost. Then fix the process: a shared folder for receipts and a 21-day submission reminder. This is a judgement call because the amount is small, but the policy's deadline is the constraint, not the £32.
2. For the £80 per head client dinner including wine, what is reimbursable and what isn't?
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Only the food portion up to £75 per head is reimbursable; the wine is not. Reasoning: the memo caps client entertainment at £75 per head and says alcohol is not reimbursable. The bill is £80 per head including wine, so you cannot simply pay £75. Ask for an itemised receipt: subtract the wine, then apply the £75 cap to the food and non-alcoholic drinks. If the receipt is not itemised, do not guess in the claimant's favour; ask the restaurant for a duplicate or use a conservative split and explain it. Also check the number of attendees: £80 per head means the total depends on headcount, not the total bill. Tell the claimant before they submit, so they can adjust, and note that the cap applies per head, not per meal.
3. What does the memo leave ambiguous, and how should you resolve it?
Read the worked answer
Flag two ambiguities and resolve them in writing with a Finance Business Partner. First, 'receipts are required for all claims above £20' could mean claims totalling over £20 or individual items over £20; the safer reading is per claim, but a £19.50 taxi with no receipt still needs a manager's note. Second, the 30-day clock could run from the expense date or the submission date; the memo says 'after the expense', which points to the expense date. Third, the exception must be 'before the 30-day deadline', so there is no route for a late claim already past it. Ask for a one-page clarification and circulate it to the team. Do not rely on an informal answer; the audit trail matters. This is a reading judgement because the policy is tightened but not fully specified, and your team will test the edges.