NORMAL RULES FOR THE REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES

As Sir Thomas Clegg knows full well, there are various systems of accountability for claiming reimbursement of expenses. Whatever the basis of the claim, repayment of out of pocket expenses with justifying vouchers, or pre-agreed forfeitory claims for rental charges and the like, where vouchers are frequently not available, every reimbursement claim must be signed by the claimant.

Delegating the work of preparing an expenses claim to a secretary can never absolve a claimant if there are errors, latent or not.

The next step is that the claim is normally authorised by the signature of the heirarchical superior of the claimant.

This signature and the underlying vouchers are then normally passed to the accounts clerk for payment. To justify and to retain the proof of the authorisation for the payment, the accounts clerk must then make photocopies of the documents justifying the expenses claim.

This means therefore that before any payment is made by the accounts clerk, he has a duplicate file of what is being claimed. If an accounts clerk cannot justify what he has paid out, he faces dire consequences.

When the press blithely reports that expense files of certain politicians have been accidentally destroyed, it makes me smile. Sir Thomas Clegg knows that accidents can happen: once, yes but twice with the same files ?

There must be other reasons or weaknesses in the system which have not been revealed !!!