# What is the purpose of corporations making employees fill out detailed expense reports? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 27, 2013, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-corporations-making-employees-fill-out-detailed-expense-reports/674900 "2013-11-27T07:29:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-corporations-making-employees-fill-out-detailed-expense-reports/674900/41 "2013-12-02T18:29:20Z")
> [@GameHat](#): > > I mean, my boss knows I was in Galveston, TX for a trade show for X number of days in November. Is it really that important that I have to scan a receipt for a coffee from Starbucks during that time-frame? What happens when your boss is in on the scam? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-corporations-making-employees-fill-out-detailed-expense-reports/674900/42 "2013-12-02T19:23:08Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > 90 bucks a day is sufficient. $90 a day just for food? It was a lot less the last time I spoke to someone on a government per diem. I retract my complaint. I don’t think I could even spend that. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-corporations-making-employees-fill-out-detailed-expense-reports/674900/43 "2013-12-03T15:57:39Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Yeah, well…I guess you never managed a sales department. 😃 > > Seriously though, much of expense reporting is about “control”. That’s why they call the person who exerts oversight over use of company funds a “controller”. It’s to control that you don’t spend company money on shit you ain’t supposed to. [Like this guy.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/29/expense-report-abuse-strip-clubs-haircuts_n_2037963.html) > You think filling out the expense reports is a PITA. Try managing multiple teams of traveling consultants, each with different client with different expense policies. Per diem vs actuals. Billable vs nonbillable. Receipts mandatory vs mandatory above some cutoff. Personal card vs corporate. Exchange rates. > > Plus all the inane questions I get… > “No, you can’t expense your long distance calls to the client because the company already reimburses your personal phone.” > > “I don’t know if you can expense your Metrocard between the office and a client in Midtown because it’s never come up because everyone here has an unlimited Metrocard makes over $100 k a year so they don’t sweat a $2.50 subway trip” > > Managing timesheets and expenses is my least favorite part of my job. Sales. Ugh. In the past, I’ve worked for a living making the company’s sold products work at clients sites and the clients happy despite the commission based thievery, incompetence and lies of sales. (Personally, I’m a firm believer that at least 10% of sales staff should be lined up against a wall and shot on an annual basis, but based on a metric _that they know absolutely nothing about_.) It does not surprise me a bit that they’d try to scrounge a $2.50 fare, but then it wouldn’t surprise me if they submitted the same receipt 20 times as well as all the gasoline receipts from family, friends, neighbors and unguarded trash bins on a monthly basis. In my experience, Marketing = Grifting, and as long as top brass knows this & keeps them sufficiently well leashed, the company will continue to be a going concern. I know its a cost control; I get that. And that its no fun for you either, granted. For all I know, in the corporate world, we’d get along pretty well. In truth, however, you are a Shining Star above some people (who really do exist) who get off on imposing double and triple work that ads no additional efficiency to the office and no profit to the bottom line. There really are those people who personally get off just on just giving people a hard time and want some “brownie point” to star when they blow their own horn on their self-review at the end of the year. I’m just glad that you never have to deal with any of _those_ idiots… ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-corporations-making-employees-fill-out-detailed-expense-reports/674900/44 "2013-12-03T17:06:07Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > $90 a day just for food? It was a lot less the last time I spoke to someone on a government per diem. > > I retract my complaint. I don’t think I could even spend that. Actually it’s $72.85 for meals, plus a further $17.30 for incidentals, for a total of $90.15 CDN per day. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-corporations-making-employees-fill-out-detailed-expense-reports/674900/45 "2013-12-08T12:44:28Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > My company uses [Expensify](https://www.expensify.com/) and I love it with all my heart Expensify looks pretty decent. I’m scheduled to be on the road for pretty much the rest of December. I’ll give it a try. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-corporations-making-employees-fill-out-detailed-expense-reports/674900.md?page=2)