How to stop staff fiddling expenses

Expending the company's money on entertainment after a deal has already been done and the transaction is already in progress could be viewed in a different light, too. The justification 'keeping the customer sweet' isn't the same as winning the order or contract in the first place.

6. Buddy building

Be very careful how you spend the company's money with colleagues in the employ of the same enterprise or group.

Team building or becoming better acquainted with colleagues is fine, up to a point, but extravagant outlay on, say, drinks, hotels, gambling and entertainment, when a conventional meeting would suffice, could easily be construed as an irresponsible waste of the shareholders funds.

7. High flyer?

Top people may need to be pampered but as a general rule travelling should be arranged on the basis of the most cost and time efficient method - not the most luxurious or pleasing method available.

8. Family affair?

There should always be a solid business justification for including partners, spouses, siblings, offspring or other relatives and any non-business connections in corporate event involving an expense account.

Their being present to add a little charm or glamour to the occasion is rarely considered an adequate reason these days.

9. Horses for courses

Take care to separate money spent on your hobbies and outside interests from your legitimate business spending.

Especially such things as overseas travel, the use of holiday homes, golf club membership and activity, horse racing, sporting events, gambling, boating, clubbing and the use of illicit substances or services in a non-business context.

If you're participating because these are things that you like to enjoy, that might just have a beneficial business consequence, you'd better be ready to explain exactly what those benefits are.

10. Whose money is it, anyway?

Being a major shareholder in, a director of, or even the outright owner of a business does not entitle you to treat the business's money as your own.

Other stakeholders in the business - like the bank, shareholders, HMRC, the local authority, the pension fund, suppliers, creditors and employees - have legitimate interests in the conduct of its affairs that may take precedence over yours.

You might think, quite rightly, that it's 'your' company, but its money is emphatically not yours to spend. You can spend the money it pays you, after tax, in salary, bonuses, legitimate expenses and dividends as extravagantly as you like.