If your company has been reluctant to set spending guidelines for T&E because of concern employees would complain, it’s time to reconsider. In a recent survey, among employees whose companies have spending guidelines, 90% said they thought the limits were reasonable. That’s the report from T&E Magazine’s 2008 Traveler Behavior Study.

Setting limits is a good idea because it reduces the chances of employees “accidentally” overspending or submitting receipts for expenses that shouldn’t be reimbursed. Without a policy in place, employees tend to rely on the excuse: “If it doesn’t say I can’t, I guess that means I can.”

And there’s no better time than now to take a second look at T&E expenses. With most companies looking to tighten their belts during the economic downturn, travel expenses are a ripe target for cost-cutting.

Tags: A/P, Best practices, Cost cutting, Employee communication, Internal controls, Policies, T&E