Cheating on expenses: Exaggerated claims

The most popular ways to fiddle expenses EXAGGERATING expenses—thievery of a sort—may become more popular as recession worsens. A recent survey for GlobalExpense, an accounting firm, found that 22% of Britons who were polled admitted to bumping up claims at some point. Nearly a third said that fiddling expenses was acceptable, for example because of below-inflation pay rises and other miserliness by employers. Three-quarters of dodgy claims were inflated by GBP20 ($30) or less, perhaps explaining why unwary bosses only challenged 4% of claims. Those who bump up their expenses are most likely to do so when claiming mileage driven for work, or for living costs. ...