Corporate travel: tighter rules placed on travel, says Amex.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: BusinessBRIEFS

Business travelers are dutifully paring down their lifestyle and conforming to increased corporate cost-control directives, a new American Express survey of international companies reveals.

A new study of more than 500 business travelers in the U.S. and Europe indicates that nearly half face tighter corporate rules governing how to spend their travel and entertainment (T & E) dollars, pounds and euros. Many travelers report being more careful than in the past about following their companies' travel rules. However, the survey also suggests that padding corporate travel expenses is common.

"Increasingly, corporations are stepping up efforts to track and halt out-of-policy spending and tighten their grip on T & E," said Mark Webb, senior vice president, Global Client Group, American Express Global Corporate Services. "Many of our corporate clients are mandating use of the corporate card as a way to track travel expenses because companies want a more complete picture of employee spending--enabling them to analyze expense patterns, monitor travel policy compliance and negotiate better rates with suppliers."

The survey found significant evidence that companies are cracking down on T & E spending by tightening policies...