The American Express Guide To Corporate Travel Management

Travel and entertainment is one of the fastest growing expense categories for U.S. businesses today. Although it is the third largest controllable expense (coming right after salaries and data processing), holding down travel expenses is for many companies an afterthought.
Now your company can realize substantial travel savings with the help of one of the industry's leading experts. The American Express Guide to Corporate Travel Management will help you avoid unnecessary cost overruns and find sizable travel deals that can slash your company's overall travel and entertainment budget by 10 percent or more.
Drawn from experience working with hundreds of companies, this book outlines the best practices known to date for controlling T&E expenses. Whether you're an executive secretary or chief executive officer, you'll learn how to develop a travel program using effective cost containment policies, purchasing practices payment methods, and expense reporting processes.
Whatever policies your company initiates, the collective support of all employees is essential. The American Express Guide to Corporate Travel Management will aid you in drafting a plan that balances your company's corporate culture with the controls necessary to achieve your goals. You'll discover how much your company currently overpays and find out how to choose a corporate travel agency; select vendors and negotiate the lowest possible rates; save 10 to 15 percent on meal and entertainment expenses; take advantage of money-saving travel opportunities and discounts; keep a lid on cash advances; decide whether to set up an on-site travel service; collect and report travel management data; design the ideal reporting and payment methods; and introduce the principles of TQM (total quality management) to travel management.
This hands-on guide doesn't just present the basics of corporate travel management. Packed with best practices, case studies, sample forms, and questionnaires, it shows you how to implement the right practices immediately. Other reference tools include a travel resource directory, a travel manager's job description, sample requests for proposals (RFP), and sample contracts.

Lang, AmEx's director of consulting services, recommends policies and activities to reduce the third-largest controllable corporate expense, travel. Though some might feel his suggestions are simply common sense, he buttresses his points about cost savings through case histories, which include Young & Rubicam's travel policy, Owens Corning's crackdown on meal receipts, and Goldeman Sachs' automated system for expense reports. Topics range from the philosophical (defining and communicating a company travel policy) to the eminently practical (the different payment methods for travel and entertainment). Perhaps the only drawback to Lang's text, other than dry writing, is the shortness of his chapter on total quality management, a subject that deserves more thought. Barbara Jacobs