This. I’d look out for other weird economy measures for confirmation that this is what’s happening. Cheaper coffee in the staff kitchen, a lack of toilet paper in the loos, pressure to take leave, that type of thing.
I think sympathetic but firm resistance is what’s called for. Sounds like your boss isn’t happy about the situation with the new corporate overlords, and is frustrated that he can’t get things approved the correct way in a timely manner, and is just trying to find some way of getting things done on time. Which means you should sympathize with him, and offer to try and work with him to fix the problem, including for instance, going with him to meet with his boss or whatever your boss thinks might help. But at the same time, politely and firmly continue to say that it is not a solution for you to front the company hundreds of dollars a month that won’t be paid back for a long time, if at all.
Can your boss submit an overall project budget (or six-month budget or whatever) and get the whole thing approved at once, so boss’s boss and the accountants don’t have to waste their time approving every single little $10 purchase? That’s a possible win-win.
My guess is the issue is fairly simple: Your boss doesn’t fully understand (or doesn’t like) the official expense-reimbursement process of the new company. Rather than take the time to really learn it, or accept that he has to use it, he’s using this workaround.
It’s not right to do, and I’m pretty certain if Accounting (or whatever authority tracks expenses in the new company) was aware he was doing this, he’d be reprimanded for it. Especially if the company is attempting to be frugal in its operations … hard to keep track of spending if it’s being done “off the books,” so to speak.
I’m going to guess that part of the boss’s reluctance to buy the stuff himself is the approval process. He can approve Tatterdemalion’s expenses (which gets them sent up the approval pipeline for presumably mostly pro-forma sign-offs (when everyone is in the office)).
But if the boss makes the purchase, then his boss needs to make the initial approval, which involves a whole different level of explaining why you needed a new USB cable.
Last time I took a business trip, I used the company credit card.
Being a shy mouse, I asked the server when I had a glass of wine with dinner that the wine be put on a separate tab so corporate wouldn’t have to pay for it.
I told a friend of mine about it who works at headquarters, and he busted a gut laughing. Of course I can expense a glass or two of wine. Hell, being in New York for two weeks they told me to expense my laundry. I doublechecked because the hotel was going to charge $40 to dryclean a dress, but I was told not to worry about it, get my clothes cleaned.
Point being, if this is a large corporation, you should not have to be financing the supplies for your project. Something else is going on here. Hell, when BossMan found out Secretary was paying for the team’s birthday cakes with her own money he flipped his lid and told her from now on to expense it.
If they can’t afford to cover a $10 USB cable then I would be shopping my resume.
I think you nailed it here.
I had a further talk with my boss this morning. And that’s pretty much exactly what he told me. Some how we’ll just both have to deal with it.
Yeah, this is not ok.
I semi-routinely buy stuff on my personal credit card and get it reimbursed by my employer, but:
- The forms are simple. It takes me 5 minutes to fill out and attach the receipt, then I drop it in my manager’s mailbox for him to sign and kick up the chain.
- Reimbursement arrives quickly and reliably.
Yes, sounds more like your boss’s problem than a company problem. Hope it all works out ok. Maybe he won’t be around that long.
In the 1980s, I got shafted for an entire business trip to Denver. Too long to go into details here, but it was a bad thing and involved bad decisions on my part.
Since then, I have a rule: If I need something and I’m willing to pay for it out of pocket myself (i.e., it will make my job easier to the extent I’m willing to buy it out of my own funds without being reimbursed), I’ll buy it. If I get reimbursed, great. If not, no way I’m paying. Give me a corporate credit card or set up an account with the vendor, but it’s not coming out of my pocket…no matter what I’m promised.
Oh, and if I don’t get reimbursed, I’m taking it with me when I leave.
No way in hell that I would front the money in that situation.
I set up a branch office in Japan for a US company and did it, BUT, I had a corporate card for most of the expenses and they were paying me the big bucks for my work.
The company needs to act like a company. If they can’t figure out a better way of handling a method of purchasing $20 cables, it means they have serious management problems.
How is the job market in your field?