Work expenses.

Hoenir

On a broader level I would have serious concerns about the financial viability of the employer. I can fully understand the circumstances in which they would operate in such a manner.  Out of neccessity rather than choice. 

theoretica

An 'imprest' might be one option - where the company advance him a sum for expenses which he then needs to account for with receipts in the normal way.  This has possibly less risk to the company than someone messing up with a credit card.

emmmmsb

Hoenir said:

On a broader level I would have serious concerns about the financial viability of the employer. I can fully understand the circumstances in which they would operate in such a manner.  Out of neccessity rather than choice. 

Yes that’s very true. Maybe things may change in time. Just tough when your In it you no. 

DullGreyGuy

Hoenir said:

On a broader level I would have serious concerns about the financial viability of the employer. I can fully understand the circumstances in which they would operate in such a manner.  Out of neccessity rather than choice. 

A former employer has a £11bn balance sheet and I was not only having to put my expenses onto my personal credit card but was also asked to put the travel expenses of 4 other people onto it to avoid VAT however:

1) I was happy to get the airmiles/points/cashback on the spend and fortunately had the credit limit to do it

2) No one could remember who the authoriser was for corporate cards as whilst a few Exec had the Centurion cards most people just used their own cards and claimed back. 

3) I was comfortable doing it as there were 2 expenses runs a month and payment was done within 2 weeks of submitting so no risk of having to personally fund next day business class flights to the US etc. 


Its not clear from the OP if the 4-6 for reimbursement is from the date of expenditure of from the end of the month after the claim has been submitted? If you're really talking about 2 weeks from submitting then it would hopefully fit to the repayment window on a credit card as long as it's dedicated to the business expenses. If you can get reward card then all the better... managed to get a vast amount of Avios through having £20k of expenses each month. 

Doshwaster

In the past when I've been in this situation I've just had a personal credit card (ideally one with cashback or points) which was only used for work expenses. Don't mix personal and work spending on the same card as it can be hard to keep track of which is which. Works as long as you trust hem to pay back expense claims before the credit card bill is used.

Hoenir

DullGreyGuy said:

Hoenir said:

On a broader level I would have serious concerns about the financial viability of the employer. I can fully understand the circumstances in which they would operate in such a manner.  Out of neccessity rather than choice. 

A former employer has a £11bn balance sheet 

RBS's balance sheet was some £4.5 trillion at the point it admitted it lacked the cash to continue to trade. The red flag to me is that clients are settling their bills before a refund of expenses is made. The increased employers NIC cost is going to put an even greater level of pressure on business cashflows. 

Savvy_Sue

Definitely get a credit card which he dedicates to work expenses: it makes sorting out what's what so much easier. If you get one which pays cashback, all the better! 

And one possibility might be to look at one which gives a few months with interest free credit, if you can. Get the discipline of claiming it regularly in place, and paying off whatever the company repays, rather than letting the amount owed build up and build up just because you can. This isn't foolproof, because eventually (when the interest free period runs out) you may have to pay before the company reimburses, but if it's only his work expenses giving you issues then this gives you a chance to build up a safety net towards this, maybe? 

And finally, if ALL the engineers say 'no, we're not doing this any more', there is strength in numbers. Especially if there's a union involved. 

DullGreyGuy said:

A former employer has a £11bn balance sheet and I was not only having to put my expenses onto my personal credit card but was also asked to put the travel expenses of 4 other people onto it to avoid VAT however:

1) I was happy to get the airmiles/points/cashback on the spend and fortunately had the credit limit to do it

2) No one could remember who the authoriser was for corporate cards as whilst a few Exec had the Centurion cards most people just used their own cards and claimed back. 

3) I was comfortable doing it as there were 2 expenses runs a month and payment was done within 2 weeks of submitting so no risk of having to personally fund next day business class flights to the US etc. 

My mind is thoroughly boggled! Especially by no. 2: getting the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it ... 

penners324

Make a complaint higher up the chain.

Is the employer now compliant with the new owning company in terms of expenses?

comeandgo

Are any of the engineers in a union?  They may help.

DullGreyGuy

Savvy_Sue said:

DullGreyGuy said:

A former employer has a £11bn balance sheet and I was not only having to put my expenses onto my personal credit card but was also asked to put the travel expenses of 4 other people onto it to avoid VAT however:

1) I was happy to get the airmiles/points/cashback on the spend and fortunately had the credit limit to do it

2) No one could remember who the authoriser was for corporate cards as whilst a few Exec had the Centurion cards most people just used their own cards and claimed back. 

3) I was comfortable doing it as there were 2 expenses runs a month and payment was done within 2 weeks of submitting so no risk of having to personally fund next day business class flights to the US etc. 

My mind is thoroughly boggled! Especially by no. 2: getting the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it ... 

The issue was that it was needed at pace and the first bill was going to be the really big one paying for 5 people to go business last minute to NYC and stay there just over a week inc all substance. I'm sure had we managed to work how to apply then AmEx would have sent it to the approver for agreement and that person would have made enquiries and ultimately approved it and maybe some backwards/forwards on the limit. Wanted to know who it was to ensure the application was put in the right way and to speak to them to ask 1) they get it done promptly and 2) ensure it had an appropriate limit for what I was being asked to spend. 


Unfortunately these things happen in big organisations, in my experience at least. Things are lost to the annuls of time... have on multiple occasions discovered with multiple clients/employers found that key documents are lost, RACIs for things have become terribly out of date when company structures have changed, people moved on etc.