Man left in tricky dilemma as he gains access to approve his own work expenses
Most people make sure to claim their work expenses so they aren't left out of pocket.
However, one employee has been left in a dilemma after realising he is able to approve his own expenses.
The man says their boss is currently off work due to long-term illness, so he's been given the authority of approving leave and expenses.
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However, he found out he currently does this for himself too, which he doesn't think is right.
The guy wrote in to Martin Lewis' website moneysavingexpert.com to ask for advice on the tricky situation.
He said: "My boss is off work with a long-term illness, and responsibility for approving leave and expenses for his team has fallen to me.
"I submitted overtime hours for work I did over Easter using our HR system, and they came straight back to me to approve."
The man added: "My instinct is to point this out to payroll and avoid any conflict of interest.
"But moving these approvals to someone else could take months – my employer is quite slow with stuff like that – and in the meantime, I won't get paid for my overtime or expenses. What should I do?"
MSE readers were quick to give their advice – with many saying he shouldn't approve the expenses.
One wrote: "I would recommend you don't approve these expenses. You will be breaking an internal financial control policy if you do. You need to raise it with HR as an urgent issue and I would dig your heels in and say that you will not do any work that would require you to raise expenses – so no travel anywhere."
While another agreed: "I would simply reach out to the boss of your boss – or perhaps the person who runs the finance team who has mandate to approve such payments. A simple email to explain the problem and the need to have expenses reimbursed in a timely manner is important to you.
"If the process to make the system work is likely to take months as you suspect, perhaps the suggestion that you email your expense details to someone who can give you the approval to approve your own expenses? That email is then retained and CC'd into your boss or the finance team for record?"
However, another person suggested a different method as they said: "This is what initially led to us having debt. In the early days my DH [darling husband] had to use his own CC for works expenses.
"They'd take months to be authorised and refunded, we couldn't afford to pay the CC bill in full ourselves as we had 2 young children and I wasn't working (and was unable to find employment around the hours of husband's work and it was these hours that meant he had these expenses). It was a huge sigh of relief when eventually he got a company cc.
"So though I see you dilemma if it's going to cause you financial issues I would just send an email saying something along the lines of 'just making you aware that since my boss is off expenses are coming through to myself to be signed off this includes me authorising my own expenses' I'd then make sure I kept copies of all receipts etc relating to any expenses I'd authorised for myself.
"I'd also check through any ts and cs your company has to make sure you're not going against any rules."
Let us know what you'd do in the comments section…
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