BUSINESS FIRST INNER 39-82:Layout 1 9/6/08 16:54 Page 52
52 KNOWLEDGE
HOW TO LOSE A
BILLION POUNDS
– OR SAVE IT
British firms are losing a billion a year thanks to
cheating employees submitting phony expenses claims
MPs might be in hot water over their elaborate expenses at the More men, at
moment but new research has revealed they aren’t the only ones 22%, have used
living the high life on other people’s money. Cheeky British workers are their expense
swindling their bosses by over a £1 billion a year on spurious expense account to wine and
claims, including plastic surgery, a new car, a diamond engagement dine the opposite sex at prestigious restaurants compared with just
ring, escorts, council tax, a honeymoon, Viagra and even a goat! 9% of women.
A survey by the hotel chain Travelodge also revealed workers are Despite rampant claims fiddling, only eight per cent of employees
embezzling their employers’ money to add a touch of glamour to have been caught and sacked for fiddling their expenses. A
their homes in the name of work. Respondents admitted buying shocking 60% of managers have let their team members get away
furniture, home entertainment, refurbishing their homes with a new with making a false expense claim.
bathroom, kitchen, gym and even wallpaper and paint to spruce up
their homes. The top three expense scams exposed by respondents were:
• Ask for extra taxi receipts and use them to claim back false taxi
Listed below are some of the other outrageous items the respondents
transport
confessed to buying with money fiddled from their expenses:
• Add extra mileage when submitting an expense claim
• New motorbike
• Use a cheap restaurant to entertain a business client and use an
• Private number plate for a BMW
expensive restaurant for personal use. When submitting the claim
• Hiring a private investigator to find evidence to start divorce use the expensive receipt
proceedings
• A pet hamster called Barry for the office
PS. The goat was a charity gift via Oxfam
• Lap dancers
• £1000 hair extensions
• A new garden shed which was converted into an office
The research was conducted by OnePoll
• Charity donations
amongst 3000 British workers and Desk Demon
• Luxury holidays to Africa, USA and Europe in March 2008
• Dancing lessons
The report’s conclusions were reached via
The survey of 3000 British employees indicates the typical worker
the following calculations:
pockets an extra £17.00 each month that they claim. This means
claimants make an extra £204.00 a year through dodgy expense
• There are 29,000,000 workers in the UK
claims, totaling a whopping £9,078 over a working lifetime.
“In today’s climate, companies cannot afford to splurge money on
• 18% of workers, 5,222,000, confess to
ridiculous non-work related expense claims costing over £1 billion a
fiddling expenses
year,” says Guy Parsons, Travelodge Chief Operating Officer. “Even
tweaks on everyday claims such as taxis, mileage and the odd bottle
• Average person over-claims by £17.00 a month
of wine can really rack up a business bill over the year.”
• £17.00 x 12 months = £204 a year
Further research findings identified a smug 43% of British workers
believe swindling expense claims is a legitimate way of making extra
• £204 x 5,222,000 workers = £1.06488 billion a year
cash and 45% of people said all their colleagues are ‘doing it’. An
astonishing 84% of those polled said they didn’t feel guilty about
• £204 x 44.5 working years = £9,078.00 a lifetime
inventing claims.
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