Hello,I (hopefully) will soon be working for Accenture and was wondering how the expenses policy works.- Do you get a corporate credit card or do you have to pay and claim?- How long does it take ACN to reimburse expenses?- How much on average is one week worth of expenses for you?- Is there a daily limit?- What can / can't you claim? Drinks?- Do you have to organise everything or do they use a Travel Agent (like Carlson)?- What's the standard of hotels they book you in?- What's the travel policy for UK travel (1st class train? what if you use your own car?) and for international travel (business class?)- Do you get to keep any air miles or any reward points?- how do you rate ACN policy against other consulting companies?- Any other tricks?Thanks a lot guys,E.

Why don't you either 1) ask them to send you a copy of their travel & expenses policy or 2) wait until you've actually joined them, then read their travel & expenses policy.

Oh, so sorry to bother you. 1) certain questions actually go beyond what I would find in the actual document and 2) I though people might be willing to discuss this sticky subject.

I think E that your question is representative of everyone as they start a new job with a new company.I agree, you want to know what is covered but feel a bit cheeky asking.

I agree that discussing which companies cover what as expenses would be a really interesting thread. So who is bold enough to list who they work for and what is covered in the expenses policy?

Ah, thank you.Ok, as benchmark or insight from another world, I work for a non-consulting company owned by a private equity firm (insurance) at management level.Bookings are made through BCD.Train is standard class, hotel is of Holiday Express Inn standard.Limit is £25 for meals per day (can't claim for drinks from the bar or snacks but can get supermarket receipt reimbursed).International travel is in economy if less than 6 hours and there's a lot of pressure not to use business class for longer trips.Eurostar is standard class too.I have to pay and claim but get my money back on the Friday if the claim is submitted before the Tuesday.I have to obtain special authorisation from a senior manager if I want to invite anyone on expenses.Pretty standard or pretty bad?

Deloitte Consulting.- Hotels vary depending on what has been negotiated with client, however, Hilton/Marriott's are my norm.- Train is standard class, unless over 3 hours whereby you can travel first class. Can blag 1st class for shorter journey's if you seriously have work to get done.- Plane is economy for short haul flights, business class for 6 hours+- We had an AMEX corporate charge card which you could earn points on- Expenses submitted are paid within one week (generally)

At accenture it's up to 30 a night for food (receipted) by the way. You get a 5 quid (unreceipted) per diem too for incidentals like laundry and the viz.

Anyone from CG?

E, sorry I couldn't provide a more comprehensive answer for you. But consider this: "I (hopefully) will soon be working for Accenture"You haven't even got the damn job yet, and you're worried about their expenses policy. Yes, it's very exciting to start your first job, and I'm sure you have lots of questions. But rest assured, they will all be answered in time.FWIW, every question you asked is addressed by my company's expense policy. Part of my decision to join my current firm was based upon the way they reimbursed certain expenses; I asked for a copy of the expenses policy before I joined the firm, and HR were happy to send along a copy.

Most of the big companies have broadly similar policies. Here's mine from a Big 4 -- I imagine ACN are the same:- Do you get a corporate credit card or do you have to pay and claim? Corporate card / Amex -- you are billed directly for charges incurred, you settle the bill, and you reclaim the expenses.- How long does it take ACN to reimburse expenses? My firm generally reimburses within 2 weeks.- How much on average is one week worth of expenses for you? Low week, no travel: £0Busy week, int'l travel: £4,000Hosting event/meeting: £20,000- Is there a daily limit? No. But everything must be justifiable, as a partner needs to sign it off.There are caps on certain items -- meals (£25), personal incidental charges (£10), etc- What can / can't you claim? Drinks? At my current company, I can only claim drinks when entertaining staff / clients. I cannot claim alcohol when I am travelling.- Do you have to organise everything or do they use a Travel Agent (like Carlson)? All travel is done by our travel agent or online via our travel portal. Senior staff travel is handled by their secretaries.- What's the standard of hotels they book you in? Generally 3*+ or 4* with the big chains. We have heavily discounted rates with all the big boys (Starwood, Hilton, Hyatt, Accor, etc)- What's the travel policy for UK travel (1st class train? what if you use your own car?) and for international travel (business class?) 1st class if confidentiality/privacy is needed, economy otherwise.Air travel is economy in UK/Europe, business class elsewhere.Eurostar is business class.- Do you get to keep any air miles or any reward points? Yes. Only proviso is that we must use company-negotiated airfares with preferred carriers and must take the most economical alternative. So you can't book the £6K BA flight just for the miles if the company-preferred airline VS offers the same flight for £2K. But you're welcome to accrue VS miles if you want.- Any other tricks? Don't lie on your expenses. You will eventually get caught.

Thank you everyone.Anybody else?

Hi,I am also interested in hearing what's permitted in ACN in terms of travel expenses, please.Thanks in advance

general tipsif the mileage rates your compnay pays you for using your own car is less than the approved rates from Inland Revenue (or whatever they call themselves these days) you can claim the tax back on the differenceif you pay for a professional subscription this is also tax deductableclaim everything you are allowed to claim, it adds up over a year, but don't be too obvious or your colleagues will think you are a tight ass never ever fiddle - you will get caught - I've seen itif you have a lot of booze with a meal just ask for a summary receipt, that way no one knows how much you had to drink (be sensible though)don't take you mates out fpr a meal and try and expense it - i've seen that tooclaim for mobile calls if you use your own phone

VI - why see the expenses policy before joining a big4? Is there really any doubt that they would not reimburse you. your posts always make good sense. keep posting

I live a long way from my office and most of my clients -- the mileage rate makes a big difference in my case.My former employer used to pay 12p if you had a car or car allowance, 40p otherwise. The differential, if you're driving nearly 1,000 miles a week, is substantial. Multiply it over a year and you're literally talking thousands of pounds of difference.

How about Capgemini? How is travel expense system there?

It does not matter WHAT the company pay the 40p for the first 10k miles is tax deductable, and always has been. If you have not looked into that on 40% tax then what have you been asleep?Go the HMRC and look up mileage, and there it is how much YOU can claim BACK from your tax bill on a monthly basis.Good times!As for those asking what the expense policy is, if you need to ask, then dont bother applying. I remember the old days where there was no corporate card and you had to pay up front and clkaim it all back later.Men were men in those days, today they are soft weak namby pambys attached to their i-pods and hair gel, sharing flats to pay rent and spending money on their cars rather than their property.....But then again I was very...very... drunk...

Taxman, Loving your work..

how about cg? how would you see their policy compared to acn in EU?

Taxman: claiming 40p is not the same as claiming 12p plus tax relief up to the 40p threshold.40p = 40p in my pocket12p + tax relief = 12p + ((40p-12p)*40%) = 23.2p in my pocketI drove 30K business miles last year. That's a difference of £5K a year in reclaimable expenses. It was important for me to know the impact and factor that into my salary negotiations so that I wouldn't be out-of-pocket relative to my current position.

40% of 40p = 16p40p less 12p = 28p thus 11p relief on the 28p12p (expensed) less 40% tax and 1% NI = 5p16pIf you get paid 12p per mile, and it is not tax deductable, then when you submit your claim to the taxman they will give you the 4p off your tax bill.Now company cars, we can talk about that later....

Oh and BTW if you done 30k business miles at 40p per mile expect a knock on your door :)10'000 miles at 40p for a 2litre car and 25p per mile thereafter.Then there is your CO2 emission band and the tax you pay on that.Post your CO2 band here and your mileage april 6th to april 5th and we shall see what we can do.Hows that for service old boy :)

Taxman - good thread. I have just ordered a company car and it's CO2 is 151g/km. It falls into 17% because of Benefit in Kind, p11d value etc. I also get 12p per mile back from the company on business mileage. I do roughly 500 business miles per week. Is this of any benefit to me? Thanks a lot.

Do you get a corporate credit card or do you have to pay and claim?A: YES Gold AMEX- How long does it take ACN to reimburse expenses?A: Every 15 days (twice a month with your time and expenses submission)- How much on average is one week worth of expenses for you?A: depends on the project. If you require hotel accomodation/travel/drinks everything is defined in a way by the client- Is there a daily limit?A: 5 pounds per diem for lunch and around 25-30 for dinner/drinks- What can / can't you claim? Drinks?A: See previous- Do you have to organise everything or do they use a Travel Agent (like Carlson)?A: You make ur own arrangements as it suits you. I used to rent a car every week. However they do have good partnerships like travel line and AVIS.- What's the standard of hotels they book you in?A: Posh ones like Radisson and Hilton- What's the travel policy for UK travel (1st class train? what if you use your own car?) and for international travel (business class?)A: Train - 1st class Hired Car - Reasonable size Own Car - Very good rate on mileage compensation- Do you get to keep any air miles or any reward points?A: Of cource urs to enjoy. I still have half a million Radisson points- how do you rate ACN policy against other consulting companies?A: Don't know. But street talk implies ACN is very good with its employees- Any other tricks? A: not really. Hope this helps. Please note that I had all these perks while on placement year with ACN. Based in London and sent to Liverpool/Manchester every week. Accomodation/travel/food all paid.Cheers.

thx for these detailed insights.how does this travel expense system compare to capgemini? is the acn system more generous?

Quick revival of this post to see how do these expense policies stand 5 years later.... Original question posted by E (09/05/2007 11:46)- Do you get a corporate credit card or do you have to pay and claim?- How long does it take ACN to reimburse expenses?- How much on average is one week worth of expenses for you?- Is there a daily limit?- What can / can't you claim? Drinks?- Do you have to organise everything or do they use a Travel Agent (like Carlson)?- What's the standard of hotels they book you in?- What's the travel policy for UK travel (1st class train? what if you use your own car?) and for international travel (business class?)- Do you get to keep any air miles or any reward points?- how do you rate ACN policy against other consulting companies?- Any other tricks?

Very little change in 5 years.

ACN's policy as of start of the year- Do you get a corporate credit card or do you have to pay and claim? You get a Gold Amex, but you settle the account and claim back the cash. I don't have a corporate card, I use a standard Gold Amex for the additional points (I used it for personal and business use)- How long does it take ACN to reimburse expenses? Couple weeks.- How much on average is one week worth of expenses for you? £500- Is there a daily limit? It would be made up of hotel limit, food, etc - What can / can't you claim? Drinks? Claim evening meal up to £30 and reasonable cost of dry cleaning etc if staying away for a while- Do you have to organise everything or do they use a Travel Agent (like Carlson)? There's a web portal where you make your own bookings, unless you're a MD and have a PA- What's the standard of hotels they book you in? You book your own hotel so it's largely up to you. I generally stayed in Hiltons and the occasional Holiday Inn Express - What's the travel policy for UK travel (1st class train? what if you use your own car?) and for international travel (business class?) Is the train over 2 hours and you need to work? You can travel 1st class, but your project may not like it. My policy was - if I go 1st class I will work, standard class I will not. The airline policy is pretty rubbish - no Business Class flights unless you're SM or above. If you're a lowly analyst, consultant or manager and the flight is over 8 hours you may be able to book Premium Economy.If you use your own car then it's 45p a mile ish.- Do you get to keep any air miles or any reward points? Yep- how do you rate ACN policy against other consulting companies? Not bad - Any other tricks? The time and expenses function are a pain in the bottom, do not go out of policy - you will be caught. Stay in policy and you will still be questioned. Here's a conversation I had with them (via email) T&E police "You stayed in a hotel from the 8th to the 10th and your bill was £190. The policy is £130/night so please offer justification or the expense will be reversed" Me "It was a two night stay @ £95/night, therefore in policy" T&E police (3 weeks later) "You stayed in a hotel from the 8th to the 10th and your bill was £190. The policy is £130/night so please offer justification or the expense will be reversed" Repeat. I had an Analyst work for me - he'd just started ACN, didn't have an AMEX and went pale at the prospect of paying the £600plus bill for a week's hotel. So I paid and claimed back both - explaining and justifying it to them was a pain in the bottom.

Thanks Frio. Funny conversation with the T&E police. I wonder if you were conversing with a human or a computer that cannot compute.

Why is Amex so popular with companies? I find Amex to be very inconvenient because so few places accept it as a method of payment.

[quote]Why is Amex so popular with companies? I find Amex to be very inconvenient because so few places accept it as a method of payment.[/quote]It may have something to do with global policies being decided out of the US where Amex is widely accepted. I have to say though that in terms of hotels, I've been able to pay with Amex in pretty much whichever country I went to for business. Restaurants or shops are a totally different matter.

It's almost certainly to do with Amex processing fees (i.e. % of transaction they charge the retailer) being much higher than Visa or Mastercard - and getting a proportionally bigger kickback from the card provider.

[quote]Thanks Frio. Funny conversation with the T&E police. I wonder if you were conversing with a human or a computer that cannot compute. [/quote]Took me 3 months to get my last expenses claim paid when I left - the T&E police wouldn't accept that "spa lounge" is just the name of the bar in the hotel I was staying at and I wasn't spending my evening meal allowances on massages! Had to get the MD (who I pissed off by leaving) to sign it off in the end which when you're no longer employed is very painful!

[quote][quote]Thanks Frio. Funny conversation with the T&E police. I wonder if you were conversing with a human or a computer that cannot compute. [/quote]Took me 3 months to get my last expenses claim paid when I left - the T&E police wouldn't accept that "spa lounge" is just the name of the bar in the hotel I was staying at and I wasn't spending my evening meal allowances on massages! Had to get the MD (who I pissed off by leaving) to sign it off in the end which when you're no longer employed is very painful![/quote]I'm replying to Accenture's latest questions about my completely legitimate expenses. As you said, very hard to do when you've left the company.

Accenture’s innovative myTimeandExpenses system provides a single platform for the collection of time and expense data from 204,000 Accenture professionals.

We'll certainly better than Artes. I'd query the number of "professionals" though ... Lol

[quote]We'll certainly better than Artes. I'd query the number of "professionals" though ... Lol[/quote]I miss ARTES, was one of the holdouts who still insisted on calling it "ARTES day" every 2 weeks...