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Home | Business | Small Business It is unreasonable to expect your employees to pay for their own transportation, hotel rooms, and food when they are traveling for business. It can be a burden for them to pay the expenses out of pocket even if you plan to reimburse them for it later. The best solution is to offer them the use of a corporate credit card to cover all of those expenses. You will find plenty of different businesses will offer discounts when you use a corporate credit card as well. Common hotel chains such as the Marriott, offer free nights and discounts for those businesses that frequently stay with them and pay with a corporate credit card. Find out about these chain hotels so that you can pay less for rooms. The more often that your employees have to travel for business, the more money you will save being a part of such offers. Generally the cost of these expenses will be taken care of with the arrangements made in advance. The biggest area where corporate credit cards are misused is for meals. It is a good idea to set a limit for the cost of meals on a daily basis for each employee when they travel. They can charge meals up to a specific dollar amount daily, and then they will be responsible for the remaining charges. It isn't unusual for your employees to need a corporate credit card to entertain prospective clients so be prepared for this expense as well. You need to draw the line though at what events they can use the credit card for. Most employers are fine with a nice dinner out to discuss business but concerts and other perks are generally considered to be frivolous. It is the responsibility of accounting to pay attention to the charges on the corporate credit cards. All of the expenses should be business related and someone needs to make sure they are. You may want to require employees to submit log sheets or receipts when the travel so that everything can be accounted for. Find out how the credit card company is going to report the charges on the corporate credit cards to you. There is no reason for you to spend hours going over the statements to find out which charges belong to particular employees. If you have any concerns about charges on the corporate credit card you want to be able to easily identify the employee you need to discuss it with. Corporate credit cards are a good idea as long as they are used properly. Once they start being abused though it is very difficult to get spending under control. Don't wait until you have problems with corporate credit cards before you establish clear policies about using them. It will save you both time and money in the long run. Article Source: http://www.articlewheel.com
About the author: Robert Bain is a seasoned business author. Read the ups and downs of small business credit, obtaining business credit, aged and shelf companies and many more topics.
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