Business Travel Expense Reporting Made Easy

My grandfather used to hammer racks of Gerber baby food jar lids to the underside of the shelves in his garage. Then he would use the jars themselves to store all sorts of various loose screws, nuts, and bolts. He had easy access to whatever hardware he needed by just twisting the appropriate jar loose. Even as a five-year-old boy, I knew this was the most anal-retentive thing I might ever see in my life. Especially during the Saturdays he would spend boiling the food labels off of the jars.

As crazy as his idea seemed at the time, it sure seemed to work. Grandpa was a building superintendent and whenever he had to repair, install, or build something; he never spent more than a minute looking for the right hardware. Therefore I've taken this approach to managing my expense reports, only without the jars -- I use envelopes.

Since I normally work three or four business trips in a row (back to back), it used to be tough to manage my receipts from trip to trip when I finally got around to doing the expense reports. I have finally established a routine that makes expense reporting a snap. Here are some of my tips:

Use One Card Only. Pick one credit card to use solely for expensing items while on business trips. Nothing gets charged to this account that isn't "expensible." I picked the American Express Travel card linked to Delta Airlines since I travel primarily on Delta, and since AmEx never grouses about how close I might be to a preset spending limit. When I applied for the card, I promptly called customer service to inform them that I travel a ton and they should expect to see the card being used in many states and countries. This is an important step; you don't want your credit card company canceling the card due to what their computer sees as "suspicious activity."

Organize with Envelopes. Now for every trip I take, I take a new business-sized envelope and write the trip name with dates on the front. For example, "Atlanta for DB class, 7/11-7/15." I make sure the dates encompass the period of time in which I would use the card to buy something. I keep these envelopes in my computer briefcase that rolls wherever I go. Every night before bedtime, I dump all my expense receipts (which is all of my AmEx receipts, receipts from places that didn't take AmEx, cash receipts, etc.) into the envelope. When the trip is over and the last receipt goes in, I put a paperclip on it to let me know "that envelope/trip is closed."

Make One Day Expense Report Day. Tuesdays are always "expense report" days for me. If a trip is over on a Friday (which is my usual gig), the receipts should have been reported to AmEx by the following Tuesday, so that's when I do my reports. Knowing all of the receipts have been reported ensures a reliable "match up" when I compare my paper receipts to the online statement. When the report is finished, I write the amount of the check I should receive on the back of the envelope and seal it. My company pays expense checks through auto-deposit. I set up the direct deposit for those checks to go right to my AmEx account. After the check is deposited, I file the envelope with all of the other ones from previous trips in case I ever get audited.

Using this method, my AmEx balance should always equal "zero" once my deposits and receipts are tallied together. Every once in awhile, I'll be home for three or four weeks and that's when all the checks finally make it in and over to AmEx and everything clears out to zero. The key is to have the discipline to use the card exclusively for travel expenses and not for personal expenses --ever!

I think about my Grandpa whenever I watch a fellow employee drop a load of receipts onto their desk and complain about losing some, never having their balance right, owing several hundred dollars for stuff they don't remember buying, etc. Sometimes I feel like the "anal retentive traveler" with my little envelopes in my bag, but things stay easy and organized. When money is involved, I like it that way!

EXTRA: If you have questions for Ken regarding business travel, hotels, airplanes, etc, please send him a "Tweet" on his twitter account.  You can also follow Ken on Twitter @foodbreeze!