Company slow to process expenses - what is reasonable

YBR

I am after opinions on what is reasonable for a company to pay back expenses which the employees pay and claim back.

Two facets to this:
Firstly with the new expenses system we were told it would be approved in 3-4 days then paid within a week. The reality is 3-4 weeks. As we are instructed to submit expenses claims no more than once a month I can be waiting 2 months to be reimbursed.
Secondly those (fortunately rare) weeks I travel (and thus spend) most I want to claim earlier when before the debt reaches an unreasonable level.

What would you say is reasonable?
I'd prefer to submit a claim at £150 given how long I may need to wait, It has been £300 that which I think is unreasonable (while I can budget for that, many will not be able to).

Ozzuk

Explain to your employer that this is creating hardship for you and request either company credit card, or paid in advance hotel/tickets - either should be a an easy option for most companies. If they won't do either then you may have to warn them you'll need to reduce travel (which could backfire on you). Maybe try and get a few people to say the same thing. And always better to be positive and offer solutions rather than just complain about a process.

engineer_amy

Do you have an expenses policy as part of your handbook that states processing times? Or when this new system was brought in, did they put anything in writing confirming that it would be a week after approval? That would be the first step to chasing up payment quicker.


Do you know where the hold-up is? is it with your line-manager/who ever approves them, or once they are approved is the hold up with the accounts team? Keeping on their case might speed things up.


We have a very clearly defined expenses policy where you must submit receipts and a signed claim form before the 24th of each month, payment will then be made before the end of the calendar month (barring any queries/unapproved items). If it is not submitted by 24th, it must wait until the following month. And you cant submit anything older than 3 months (except in exceptional circumstances). Every employee is handed a copy once they start, and if they fall foul of the rules and miss the deadline, it only happens once! They always make sure they get it in on time!


I believe most companies would suggest expenses claims once per month - it avoids extra burden on accounts staff having to process multiples times within a month. For some employees this may only be a few pounds, others could expense hundreds - it depends on the job role and what is expected of them and how much travel - so putting a monetary value on it may not always work

System

YBR wrote: »

The reality is 3-4 weeks. As we are instructed to submit expenses claims no more than once a month I can be waiting 2 months to be reimbursed.

This can happen at my place if I time it wrong. I can accrue expensives on say the 1st Jan and if my manager doesn't authorise by the 15th of that month, say due to a holiday period, I don't actually get the money until Feb's paycheck.


If this happens a lot consider a cashback credit card...in the US, it's typical to collect airmiles in this instance.

Exodi

Yeah every company I've been at processes expenses monthly. I feel like I've missed how it can be two months in specific circumstances, could you elaborate?

The reality of 3-4 weeks is good enough to use a personal credit card (at least that's what I've done in roles without a company card).

engineer_amy

Exodi wrote: »

Yeah every company I've been at processes expenses monthly. I feel like I've missed how it can be two months in specific circumstances, could you elaborate?

The reality of 3-4 weeks is good enough to use a personal credit card (at least that's what I've done in roles without a company card).

I get what the OP means - if he incurs an expense on 1st of the month, submits a claim form 29th of the month, then it takes up to 4 weeks before he receives the reimbursement, its close enough to 2 months. If he was submitting a claim every month, then theoretically on a rolling basis he would be receiving a payment every month, albeit related to 2 months previous. If the expenses claims are sporadic, I can see where people might get into difficulties with credit card statement dates and payment dates if funds were tight.

Exodi

engineer_amy wrote: »

I get what the OP means - if he incurs an expense on 1st of the month, submits a claim form 29th of the month, then it takes up to 4 weeks before he receives the reimbursement, its close enough to 2 months. If he was submitting a claim every month, then theoretically on a rolling basis he would be receiving a payment every month, albeit related to 2 months previous. If the expenses claims are sporadic, I can see where people might get into difficulties with credit card statement dates and payment dates if funds were tight.

Oh yes I see, thanks for explaining!

ohreally

Request a float or credit card.

getmore4less

Following pay cycle is quite common.

Many places will mitigate by offsetting the cutoff date to mid month.
Eg if you get paid end of month cutoff is 15th giving 2 weeks to authorise and get on pay role.

YBR

In answer to various comments:
There is a company credit card available but (1) Nobody can give me the T&Cs to read prior to signing that I agree to them, and (2) it is actually personal in that I am liable not my company. I am not prepared for my corporate spending to go on my credit record.

Expenses policy is for the whole global company and does not state processing times (I expect they use other processes in other countries). It is company policy that employees organise their own travel and consequently we no longer have any team organisers who used to be able to charge costs directly to the project.

Expenses are not paid through the same mechanism as payroll and they do weekly runs - approved by Tuesday, paid Friday.

Accounts dept have first approval and are the main hold-up. My line manager then approves and I can get that accelerated unless he's on holiday.

I haven't yet had a problem managing cash-flow myself, but I wondered what people considered reasonable! I can see that the timescale is not much more than other people experience.

YBR

P.S. I'm female, Engineer_amy, and an Engineer too!