Ethics and Travel Reimbursement (LO5)

Scott takes many business trips throughout the year. All of his expenses are paid by his company.

Last week he traveled to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, and stayed there on business for five days. He is allowed a maximum of $50 per day for food and $150 per day for lodging. To his surprise, the food and accommodations in Brazil were much less than he expected. Being upset about traveling last week and having to sacrifice tickets he’d purchased to a Red Sox baseball game, he decided to inflate his expenses a bit. He increased his lodging expense from $75 per day to $100 per day and his food purchased from $30 per day to $40 per day. Therefore, for the five-day trip, he overstated his expenses by $175 total. After all, the allowance was higher than the amount he spent.

Required Assume that the company would never find out that he had actually spent less. Are Scott’s actions ethical? Are they acceptable?

 (p. 26)