Are you foolish not to maximize your company expense account?

Is it wrong to spend as much as allowable on a business expense report?

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ (ACFE) 2024 Report to the Nations, one of the most common “occupational fraud schemes” in the United States and Canada involves expense reimbursement. Internationally, roughly 20% of businesses with fewer than 100 employees and 12% of business with more than 100 employees are affected by expense fraud according to the ACFE report.

Filing a fraudulent expense report is wrong, both legally and ethically.

But how careful should employees be expected to be when following the rules of spending their company’s money while doing company business?

A reader we’re calling Tuppence asked if she was being foolish because she tries to be as frugal as possible when traveling on her company’s dime. Whenever possible she eschews an overnight stay that would incur hotel costs and instead books an early flight to her destination and a late flight home. Tuppence also rarely spends the allowable amount on meals or other incidentals while traveling.

What caused Tuppence to ask her question, she says, is that colleagues regularly tease her for being so careful about incurring allowable expenses. Partly she believes they can’t understand why she would care about limiting how much of the company’s money she spends. But she also worries that they think she’s making others look like they might be spending too much.

If Tuppence’s frugality is getting in the way of her doing her job as well as possible, then she might reconsider her approach. If, for example, she regularly is exhausted at meetings while on the road because she arose at an obscenely early hour to catch a flight, then her efforts might not have the best outcome for the company. She also shouldn’t do anything that results in her being personally out of pocket for any expenses that should be legitimately reimbursed. And neither should she be expected not to eat a decent meal while away on company business. Vending machines might be handy, but Tuppence’s health is likely better served by finding something better to consume.

But if Tuppence’s frugality while on company business results from her belief that she doesn’t want to spend more of the company’s money than she has to, even if it’s allowable, she should have no second thoughts regardless of the teasing of colleagues or a fear of somehow not behaving as a hard-driving employee should behave.

The right thing is for Tuppence to do her job as best as she can while on the road and to continue to act in what she believes to be the most responsible way for her company. The right thing for Tuppence’s or anyone’s company is to make sure that when it asks an employee to be away from home that it reimburses them for whatever personal expenses they incur and develops an expense reimbursement policy that is fair, clear and helps ensure that its employees are safe while on the road.

Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice, is a senior lecturer in public policy and director of the communications program at Harvard's Kennedy School. He is also the administrator of www.jeffreyseglin.com, a blog focused on ethical issues.

 

Do you have ethical questions that you need to have answered? Send them to jeffreyseglin@gmail.com.

 

Follow him on Twitter @jseglin.

 

 (c) 2024 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. Distributed by TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

It’s time to share your stories of kindness

How do you choose to behave when no one is looking?

Around this time of year, the leaves that once hung from the trees in our yard find their way to the ground. It generally takes two or three days to rake up the leaves, bag them, and bring them to the town compost site. Since the compost site is only open on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, I try to time the raking just right so I can get the bags of leaves to the compost rather than have them sit in the yard or in the garage.

Some of my neighbors use a leaf blower to blow their leaves into a large pile in a corner of their yard, chop them up with their lawnmower, and let them decay. But I prefer not to do that. Others hire a crew to come and rake up the leaves. But I prefer not to do that either. I figure the exercise is good, and as long as I’m capable and can find the time, I’ll continue raking.

A few years ago, when the woman I’d eat bees for and I were away, we let a young couple we know stay at our house for a few days around this time of year. They were looking to get away from their apartment for a few days and our empty house was an affordable option.

When we drove up to the house and opened the garage door, we noticed that the garage was packed with several dozen filled paper leaf bags. The young couple had taken it on themselves to rake up most of the leaves in our yard. All I needed to do was to drive the bags to the town compost site.

The young couple never said a word but instead left the raked leaves as a surprise thank you for us. We didn’t expect anything from them in exchange for staying in the house. Nevertheless, they chose to make this expression of kindness. We were touched.

A few years ago when I shared a similar story of strangers or friends engaging in acts of kindness and asked readers to send me stories of their own, I received an email from a reader in Columbus, Ohio, urging me not to read too much into it if I didn’t receive a lot of responses.

“Please do not think there are not nice people doing kind things out there,” he wrote. “They might just not want to be recognized for it.”

The reader’s point made sense. Sometimes we simply do the right thing when no one is looking because we believe it’s the right thing to do. Nevertheless, many of you continue to share your stories with me of kindnesses given or received. And I will continue to share those stories not because you expect the recognition, but because it might continue to provide encouragement to others to do kind things when given the opportunity.

So tell me the small or not so small things you’ve done for others or others have done for you when no one is looking. Tell me who and where you are and send your stories to me at jeffreyseglin@gmail.com. If it’s OK with you, I may share some of your stories in the weeks ahead.

Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice, is a senior lecturer in public policy and director of the communications program at Harvard's Kennedy School. He is also the administrator of www.jeffreyseglin.com, a blog focused on ethical issues.

 

Do you have ethical questions that you need to have answered? Send them to jeffreyseglin@gmail.com.

 

Follow him on Twitter @jseglin.

 

 (c) 2024 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. Distributed by TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

At the holiday meal, share a little kindness

Should any topics be off limits at a holiday meal?

 

Every year around this time, I am asked for ideas on how best to navigate discussions around the Thanksgiving dinner table, particularly when you know that there might be some attendees who have strongly divergent viewpoints. And every year, I encourage people to try to find a way to talk to one another civilly and with respect.

 

People’s views on various issues do vary widely and differences are bound to find their way to dinner table discussion. In its third annual “The State of the Sides” report, Campbell’s Soup Company found that 56% of respondents to its survey said they’d prefer eating side dishes to eating turkey. Does this give guests free rein in criticizing the main dish served up on the platter? Certainly not. It is, after all, possible to think positively about one thing without tearing down another. It’s also good to remember to show some grace to the person who put the time into preparing the meal.

 

It's possible, for instance, to extol the virtues of a good stuffing or dressing, the number one choice for a side dish in the 2024 survey, without besmirching the homemade mashed potatoes it dethroned from its first-place perch last year. The report doesn’t distinguish between dressing and stuffing, although I will maintain that there is a clear and obvious distinction even if I am roundly challenged on this by dinner guests each year.

 

And it is still possible for there to be generational mutual respect even if Gen Z seems to be more drawn to the mac and cheese side (number five on this year’s list, down from third last year) than it is to the stuffing and dressing or mashed potatoes preferred by Baby Boomers.

 

While it examines favorite Thanksgiving Day activities including watching football or playing board games, nowhere in “State of the Sides” report is the appropriateness of discussing politics mentioned. Links to recipes for cheddar horseradish mashed potatoes, yes. Opinions on when it’s appropriate to start listening to holiday music, of course. But if you’re looking for insight into what most people talk about during the Thanksgiving meal, you’re on your own.

 

The right thing, of course, is for every family to set the tone or tradition. About 20 years ago, when he was 6 years old, right before dessert, our oldest grandson announced to the table that he thought we should go around and each offer either something for which we were thankful or sing a song. Given that it was also his birthday, that seemed both a timely idea and simple enough to do.

 

When asked, however, I remind people that when it comes to fraught issues like politics, they have the absolute right to change the subject if they’d prefer not to engage. Changing the subject without making the person feel small or like an idiot for bringing it up strikes me as the right way to go. And honoring that person’s request to move on to other topics is the appropriate response. You can’t really have a discussion if the other person doesn’t want to engage.

 

If your family loves a heated discussion, then have at it. Again, every family should set its own traditions. If you’re at a loss, consider showing some kindness with a song or story.

 

Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice, is a senior lecturer in public policy and director of the communications program at Harvard's Kennedy School. He is also the administrator of www.jeffreyseglin.com, a blog focused on ethical issues.

 

Do you have ethical questions that you need to have answered? Send them to jeffreyseglin@gmail.com.

 

Follow him on Twitter @jseglin.

 

 (c) 2024 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. Distributed by TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.